Reviews

Though it is fairly obvious that Rex Harrison is the creepy husband, Doris Day looks beautiful and gives the performance of her career. She is just fabulous and should have, at the very least, been nominated for her role as wealthy Kit Preston. Myrna Loy, John Gavin, and even creepy Roddy MacDowall are all superb. I read in her autobiography that she very nearly had a nervous breakdown during filming. Game gal that she is, she went on to make one of her best comedies, "Lover, Come Back" Ah, these were movies. And to think that Oscar went to Liz Taylor in "Butterfield 8", a complete waste of an award and, by Taylor's own admission, total crap. So much for awards.

This is not to say that it is her best film or that it is my favorite Audrey Hepburn film. I think the film is very good, an interesting tale well told and superbly acted. Peppard and Hepburn have wonderful chemistry and the supporting players (Martin Balsam, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen) are all marvelous.

I think it is the ultimate Hepburn film because it is a love story, Hepburn, whose appeal was always more to women than to men, (the ultimate woman's woman) wears fabulous Givenchy dresses and it takes place in the sophisticated Upper East Side of New York of the early '60's. Hepburn has one of her best roles and her execution of the role is first rate. I wonder if she should have won her second Oscar as Holly, but that should have happened two years before, in 1959, for "The Nun's Story." Still, when one thinks Hepburn, one immediately thinks of Holly Golightly and her "mean reds." The film is racy and sexy and I am so happy that it was made in 1961. Think of how explicit it would be if it were made today. A classic, I can see it time and again. Finally, it has, perhaps one of the best, if not the best opening sequences of any film. It's a terrible pun, but "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a real gem.

I love this film because it is so reflective of the mid-50's sensibility and the glamour of New York at that time. All of the actors have wonderful chemistry, and Celeste Holm is a stand out as Sinatra's "fiancee" Debbie Reynolds is adorable as a 22 year old ingenue who wants a career in the theatre, but only for a brief time. She has a plan to get married, have three children and live in Scarsdale, which everyone knows has the best school system in the country. Sinatra and David Wayne are old friends and the married Wayne comes to New York to take a vacation from his wife. He becomes interested in Holm and falls in love with her. Sinatra falls in love with Debbie Reynolds and their scenes are just lovely. Complications ensue, but in the end, it all shakes out. This is one of the best adaptations of a 1950's stage comedy and it is most enjoyable and certainly worthwhile.

I think that this series is absolute perfection. The acting is magnificent, the story is fascinating and the characters are so real that one thinks that one is actually watching a documentary about the final days of the Raj. It is a marvelous adaptation, not a spare scene and it is beautifully directed. It is tightly woven and tells its tale with enviable clarity. I can not find one flaw in this stupendous series. Literate, complex, compelling, this series is singular and an out and out classic. I fear that we will never see anything like this again. Given the current vapid and stupid landscape of American and British television, "The Jewel in the Crown" is THE exemplar of the height of drama.