V.I.P.s, The (1963)
Directed by Anthony Asquith, and written by Terence Rattigan (Separate Tables (1958)), this average drama earned Margaret Rutherford an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress on her only nomination. She plays an eccentric elderly British Duchess who is scheduled to partake in her first airplane flight, a transatlantic one to Florida, because she needs the money. The nervous, pill popping Duchess is perhaps the only passenger who is not upset that all the flights from the London airport are delayed indefinitely due to fog. The other passengers, played appropriately by an all star cast, each have their own reasons for wanting their flight to take off as soon as possible. The airport personnel, particularly the reception manager Mr. Sanders (Richard Wattis), and their friendly, accommodating behavior,give one a sense of days gone by.
Elizabeth Taylor's character is inexplicably eloping with a shallow career gigolo, Louis Jourdan, ending her 13 year marriage with her too busy famous financier husband, Richard Burton. The only reason given is Jourdan's need for her versus her capable husband's lack of same. Pretty weak, isn't it? Orson Welles's character provides the comic relief as a famous foreign movie producer-director, who claims British citizenship, that needs to get out of the country before midnight to save $1 million in taxes. Since all flights are ultimately delayed until the next day, his moneyman’s (Martin Miller, uncredited) fall back solution is for Welles to marry the bimbo actress (Elsa Martinelli) he's traveling with, to avoid paying the tax man. David Frost appears uncredited as one of the many reporters who hound the celebrities. Rod Taylor plays an Australian, who owns a tractor manufacturing business, that's just about sealed an acquisition (buying their #1 competitor?) deal that will solidify their company's success. However, he must get to New York immediately to complete the transaction and/or account for some last minute wrangling, lest he face some dire consequences. In the airport, he's accompanied by his trusty, proper secretary Miss Mead (Maggie Smith), who secretly loves him. For my money, actress Smith (in lieu of, if not) in addition to Ms. Rutherford should have been recognized by the Academy for her role, which provides the link between the two Taylors’ storylines, through Burton's character. Ironically, in the end, the Duchess doesn't have to fly at all per an arrangement she makes with Welles's accountant.
Purchase this DVD COLLECTION now at
Most Recent Additions:
Casanova Brown (1944) - full review!
I Want You (1951) - full review!
A Bill of Divorcement (1932) - full review!
Patterns (1956) - full review!
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) - full review!
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) - full review!
Hour of the Gun (1967) - full review!
To Sir, with Love (1967) - full review!
You'll Never Get Rich (1941) - full review!
The Actress (1953) - full review!
Mannequin (1937) - full review!
All My Sons (1948) - full review!
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) - full review!
State Fair (1945) - full review!
Billy Budd (1962) - full review!
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) - full review!
The Bachelor Party (1957) - full review!
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - full review!
The Southerner (1945) - full review!
The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)
Never on Sunday (1960) - full review!
The Arrangement (1969) - full review!
A Summer Place (1959) - full review!
Miracle in the Rain (1956) - full review!
Love Letters (1945) - full review!
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) - full review!
The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Come and Get It (1936) - full review!
The Prize (1963) - full review!
This Is the Army (1943) - full review!
Home from the Hill (1960) - full review!
Hangmen Also Die (1943) - full review!
The Shop on Main Street (1965) - full review!
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) - full review!
A Gathering of Eagles (1963) - full review!
This Happy Breed (1944) - full review!
Red-Headed Woman (1932) - full review!
Waterloo Bridge (1931) - full review!
Baby Face (1933) - full review!
Titanic (1943) - full review!
Cover Girl (1944) - full review!
Saratoga Trunk (1945) - full review!
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Young Philadelphians (1959) - full review!
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Pocket Money (1972) - full review!
Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)
Judge Priest (1934) - full review!
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) - full review!
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Angel Face (1952) - full review!
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) - full review!
Dallas (1950) - full review!
Springfield Rifle (1952) - full review!
Gaslight (1940) - full review!
The Gazebo (1959) - full review!
Passage to Marseille (1944) - full review!
The House on 56th Street (1933) - full review!
Annie Get Your Gun (1950) - full review!
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Lonelyhearts (1958) - full review!
Good News (1947) - full review!
Wild Rovers (1971) - full review!
Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) - full review!
[Home] [Hitchcock] [Oscar's Best] [Essays] [Essential Films] [TCM Picks] [Obscure Films] [Links] [Other Reviews] [Academy Awards] [Silent Films] [Movie Index]
