Hot off their successes with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And The Taming of the Shrew, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton chose this vehicle, about a woman who struggles against her own mortality and the man who helps her to accept her fate, in a very roundabout way.
It's a bizarre and perplexing movie, and maddening in its slow pace, especially at the beginning. How long can one watch water swirl around a rock without screaming? But it gets better as it goes on. The location is a big, big plus, some anonymous Mediterranean island with steep, white cliffs surrounded by a blue, blue sea, dripping in technicolor. It's a place where anyone would want to live, and the interior sets are just as beautiful. There are even some of those giant Easter Island moai statues in the hills in some of the long shots. Really, what more could you want?
There's Liz, chewing the scenery as only she can, and Dick, a hammy, over the hill Robert Wolders type. A crazed little person who controls several giant Scotty dogs (I have no idea what the breed really is) that spell trouble for Richard Burton's character when he arrives on Liz's island. There's a monkey, a myna bird, an attractive secretary, plus several exotic servants that follow Liz's barked orders without question.
Noel Coward shows up about a third of the way through the film as the 'witch of Capri' but it's clear that he is really the queen of Capri. For those who don't know, Coward was a playwright, songwriter, and sometimes actor, but was equally famous for being perhaps the most visible gay socialite from the 30s to the 50s, at least. Sort of like Andy Cohen, but with style and talent. He looks mostly bewildered in this film, but his scenes are still fun.
The whole thing is overheated, self indulgent and abrasive, but there are some truly beautiful moments in the film, and Liz and Dick are outrageous enough to draw laughs. So really this film, though serious in tone, is for those that appreciate camp history. By the end, you'll either be in pain from laughing or want to throw something at the screen, but I can guarantee that you've never seen anything like it and never will again.
It's a bizarre and perplexing movie, and maddening in its slow pace, especially at the beginning. How long can one watch water swirl around a rock without screaming? But it gets better as it goes on. The location is a big, big plus, some anonymous Mediterranean island with steep, white cliffs surrounded by a blue, blue sea, dripping in technicolor. It's a place where anyone would want to live, and the interior sets are just as beautiful. There are even some of those giant Easter Island moai statues in the hills in some of the long shots. Really, what more could you want?
There's Liz, chewing the scenery as only she can, and Dick, a hammy, over the hill Robert Wolders type. A crazed little person who controls several giant Scotty dogs (I have no idea what the breed really is) that spell trouble for Richard Burton's character when he arrives on Liz's island. There's a monkey, a myna bird, an attractive secretary, plus several exotic servants that follow Liz's barked orders without question.
Noel Coward shows up about a third of the way through the film as the 'witch of Capri' but it's clear that he is really the queen of Capri. For those who don't know, Coward was a playwright, songwriter, and sometimes actor, but was equally famous for being perhaps the most visible gay socialite from the 30s to the 50s, at least. Sort of like Andy Cohen, but with style and talent. He looks mostly bewildered in this film, but his scenes are still fun.
The whole thing is overheated, self indulgent and abrasive, but there are some truly beautiful moments in the film, and Liz and Dick are outrageous enough to draw laughs. So really this film, though serious in tone, is for those that appreciate camp history. By the end, you'll either be in pain from laughing or want to throw something at the screen, but I can guarantee that you've never seen anything like it and never will again.