Word: ustinov
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Elfin and Chinese. The Mozart was assigned to Peter Ustinov. Directing a full-length opera for the first time, he tackled The Magic Flute with warnings ringing in his ears. "Some pointed out that it was the most difficult opera of all to stage," said Ustinov. Their point was well taken, since The Magic Flute is a stylistic hodgepodge: there are dazzling coloratura arias, sunny folk songs and slapstick scenes. It is a curious melange, and the fact that it is based on a solemn Masonic morality play only adds to the confusion...
...Millions--Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith are just fine in this gentle suspense-comedy written by Ustinov and Ira Wallach. At the ASTOR, Tremont St. near Boylston...
...Millions--Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith are just fine in this gentle suspense-comedy written by Ustinov and Ira Wallach. At the ASTOR, Tremont St. near Boylston...
Needless of say, all is not happiness. There is Willard K. Knatpole, who tries to uncover Ustinov's illegal schemes and steal his woman at the same time. Bob Newhart plays the part, and, believe it or not, he's funny. Oozing nauseating lechery out of his beady eyes, he makes his rotten ugliness a splendid contrast with Ustinov's lovable ugliness...
...Millions is not an ugly movie. Director Eric Till manages to capture the non-ugly features of his characters and the charm of the middle-class London settings. (And he does it without resorting to the gratuitous flashiness of a Norman Jewison work). The jokes provided in the Ustinov-Ira Walach screenplay are unfailingly gentle, and, in the case of some bits involving Robert Morley and Casar Romero, quite funny. What the film lacks in physical beauty and glamour, it replaces with humour and heart. I'll take two inarticulate bumblers falling in love while their dinner burns over...