Obviously ripped off by the hit Broadway musical and its non-musical film version, "Irma La Douce", this is a fairly amusing but empty farce that has all the ingredients except for the fizz. It's about the phony suicide of struggling artist Dick Van Dyke who pretends to be dead to increase the value of his paintings. Hiding out at the bordello of Madame Coco (Ethel Merman!), Van Dyke becomes jealous when his scheming pal James Garner romances his grieving fiancée (Angie Dickinson) but is comforted in the presence of Elke Summer, a suicidal girl he rescued from the river after he took his drunken fall.
Starting off with cartoon credits that reminds me of a "Pink Panther" short, this seems all too familiar in its plot devices, especially when Garner's scheme lands him on trial for his pal's murder. The performances are exactly what you expect them to be, with rubber legged Van Dyke doing his typical schtick. While it's obvious that the singing and dancing girls working for Merman do more than wear colorful costumes, the script never confirms it.
There were dozens of French set films involving artists in the 1960's, so this is nothing too spectacular, but there are some funny moments especially from the multi color haired Merman. She even gets a musical number (music by Cy Coleman) complete with can can girls. It's colorful and sexy yet generic, the type of film that haunted neighborhood movie theaters on their first run rather than play the big movie houses, and would ultimately end up haunting the late show where I first saw it back in the mid 1980's. A lot of 60's clichés abound, but professionally directed by Norman Jewison, it's amusing fun that won't bore you but won't stimulate your brain either.
Starting off with cartoon credits that reminds me of a "Pink Panther" short, this seems all too familiar in its plot devices, especially when Garner's scheme lands him on trial for his pal's murder. The performances are exactly what you expect them to be, with rubber legged Van Dyke doing his typical schtick. While it's obvious that the singing and dancing girls working for Merman do more than wear colorful costumes, the script never confirms it.
There were dozens of French set films involving artists in the 1960's, so this is nothing too spectacular, but there are some funny moments especially from the multi color haired Merman. She even gets a musical number (music by Cy Coleman) complete with can can girls. It's colorful and sexy yet generic, the type of film that haunted neighborhood movie theaters on their first run rather than play the big movie houses, and would ultimately end up haunting the late show where I first saw it back in the mid 1980's. A lot of 60's clichés abound, but professionally directed by Norman Jewison, it's amusing fun that won't bore you but won't stimulate your brain either.