The tangled lives of very important people are caught up in a London fog in The V.I.P.s. The second film to feature the tempestuous acting duo of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor gave audiences what it wanted. You had glamourous people in various romantic escapades. Business deals in danger. Dotty old duchesses. The V.I.P.s is a smorgasbord of romance with a hint of tawdriness.
In other words, it is entertaining if a bit silly.
In other words, it is entertaining if a bit silly.
London's Heathrow Airport is where all our stories collide. The main story is a love triangle. Millionaire businessman Paul Andros believes that his wife, Frances (Elizabeth Taylor) is content in their marriage. She is not. Frances has decided to flee her marriage and run off with her lover, professional gambler Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan).
Meanwhile, movie producer Max Buda (Orson Welles) is desperate to get out of the United Kingdom. He will face a heavy tax bill if he is not out of the country by midnight. Buda is taking his protégé, Italian bombshell Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli) with him, vague promises of making her the star of his latest production dangling above her. Australian businessman Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor) thinks he has enough funds to save his company a hostile takeover. Alas, he does not. He too needs to get to New York in a hurry. Mangrum is appreciate of his loyal Girl Friday Miss Mead (Maggie Smith) but is oblivious to her private yearnings for him.
Into all this is also the Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford). The financially poor and dotty Duchess is on her way to Florida to work at a hotel. This is the only way to save her home, Thaxmead Hall, from being sold. All of our characters are desperate to leave. All of our characters, however, are forced to stay when a fog grounds all flights.
Paul, having discovered Frances' farewell letter, takes advantage of the grounding to try and persuade her to stay with him. Easier said than done, as she and Marc are set on leaving for a new life in America. These disparate and desperate people will find themselves in situations amusing and terrifying as they await the fog to lift. Will Max find a curious way out of his financial straits? Will Her Grace save her home? Will Mangrum save his business and find a good woman waiting? Who will Frances ultimately end up with?
Screenwriter Terrence Rattigan is supposed to have been inspired by a true-life incident for our Paul/Frances/Marc triangle. Allegedly, Rattigan knew that British actress Vivien Leigh had planned to run off with her lover, Australian actor Peter Finch, abandoning her husband, Laurence Olivier. Like Frances and Marc, a fog had delayed them at the airport. Olivier then arrived in time to persuade Lady Olivier to return to him.
For good or ill, I think it is this central story that is the most interesting. It is the one that carries the most drama because the stakes seem genuine. Mangrum's efforts to save his company are not unimportant. They just do not have as much interest as this torrid interplay between Paul, Frances and Marc. The other two stories, that of Buda and the Duchess of Brighton, do not seem important at all. The audience at The V.I.P.s are here to see the beautiful people fight it out over love. Seeing this heavyset producer and the dumpty, scatterbrain duchess sort out their financial situations does not hit the viewer much.
I think it is because the Paul/Frances/Marc story is the only one not involving finances. It involves romance. Who will Frances choose? Will Paul persuade her to remain at his side? Will Marc use his Continental charm on our beautiful woman? The other stories, while not terrible, feel almost like filler. It is as if Rattigan needed other elements to extend The V.I.P.s runtime.
The irony in all that is that Margaret Rutherford ended up winning Best Supporting Actress for her comic turn as the Duchess of Brighton. She was the film's only Oscar nomination. She was also nominated against three actresses from Tom Jones, which won Best Picture that year. All these factors made Rutherford's win all the more unexpected. Rutherford is a standout in The V.I.P.s. Her dotty Duchess always seems on the edge of humorous collapse. Perpetually unaware of things about her, Rutherford is the comic relief of the film. She is amusing, even charming, as Her Grace the Duchess of Brighton. Every time Margaret Rutherford is on screen, we end up smiling. Rutherford even has a brief scene with her real-life husband Stringer Davis, which was surprisingly dramatic.
Rod Taylor got to speak in his native Australian accent in The V.I.P.s. His Les Magrum was full of bluster, making those moments of weakness and fear more impactful. Maggie Smith has a great scene with Richard Burton when Miss Mead dares approach the multimillionaire businessman for help. Apart from that though, Smith's character had little to do save for looking adoringly at our hunky Aussie. I would not say that neither Taylor nor Smith gave bad performances. They just did not have major parts or characters that would be of interest.
Orson Welles probably fared the worst. His story of the harried Hungarian film producer was the least interesting and probably the most forgettable one. The film does give Welles a chance to ham it up for all its worth. Rattigan even got in a fat joke at Welles' expense. Early in The V.I.P.s, an airport employee tells him, "Aren't you a little overweight?". The employee was referring to Buda's luggage. However, I think audiences would have figured that it was about Welles himself.
Elizabeth Taylor for her part seems to have decided to be as overly dramatic as she can be. She could be with Burton and be a bit overwrought. She could be with Louis Jourdan and be a bit overwrought. Somehow, I do not find Taylor's almost permanent overwrought performance a hindrance. Far from it, I find it surprisingly entertaining.
Louis Jourdan oozes charm and sophistication as Marc. He plays Jourdan as a man aware of what he is, which is a gigolo and gambler who may have finally found love. There is an elegance in Jourdan's performance where one can believe that Frances would leave her wealthy husband for this relatively poor ne'er-do-well.
The V.I.P.s has an interesting opening credit section where we get bits of information about the characters. For example, we see Paul and Frances on a yacht entertaining their guests. He is happy. She looks like she is faking her happiness.
An added element that makes The V.I.P.s good viewing is Miklos Rozsa's score. It matches the mood of the film: lush and romantic. Rozsa even threw in a nice, cute theme for the Duchess of Brighton, a little light music whenever she came in.
The V.I.P.s is not something that I would call a great film. It is an entertaining film. We see Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in all their grand and glamourous manner. Ultimately, that is what people want to see. As such, The V.I.P.s show that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are Very Important People.
BURTON AND TAYLOR FILMS
Cleopatra
The Taming of the Shrew
Boom!
Under Milk Wood
Hammersmith is Out!
Divorce His, Divorce Hers
No comments:
Post a Comment
Views are always welcome, but I would ask that no vulgarity be used. Any posts that contain foul language or are bigoted in any way will not be posted.
Thank you.