Paul Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) is a painter living in Paris. He rooms with his friend Casey (James Garner), a writer. Paul has become disenchanted with painting and has decided to go home to America and his rich fiance, Laurie (Angie Dickinson). Casey sees his meal ticket flying the coop, so he gets Paul drunk and they toy with the idea of faking his suicide to increase the value of his paintings. When Paul jumps off a bridge to save a girl, Nikki (Ekle Sommer) who jumps before him Casey thinks he's gone and done it. Of course Paul is fine and rescues the girl and they end up on a barge floating downstream. Casey is distraught, but not upset enough not to capitalize on the "posthumous" success of his paintings. When Paul turns up alive in their flat, Casey convinces him play dead and continue painting so they can rake in the loot. Things get more and more complicated as Nikki comes back and Laurie flies to Paris. Nikki falls in love with Paul and Casey and Laurie start to spark. Out of jealousy Paul decides to frame Casey for his murder.
This film is, by no means a great one, but there are moments of charm to be had. Ethel Merman plays Madame Coco, the owner of a nightclub where Paul hides out. She's her delectable self. James Garner throws a wonderful tantrum in a jail house scene, Carl Reiner plays a delightfully unctuous lawyer and there are historical and literary references threaded throuhgout - Toulouse Lautrec, Madame De Farge...
This film is available in its entirety on YouTube but has not been released on DVD. Above is part one, uploaded by jkcPhog2001.
Obscurity factor: 8 (largely forgotten, not on DVD, available on YouTube)
I have been interested in seeing this movie for a long time, but as you write, it is largely forgotten. I will check it out on YouTube. I do not think this was ever on VHS, which is surprising, since there are legions of fans of all the four leads, as well as Ms. Merman. I imagine it was all filmed on Universal's backlot, and would have a look similar to "Strange Bedfellows" (which took place in London, but you probably know what I mean).
ReplyDeleteI must find this immediately, as I consider James Garner the pinnacle of manhood and will watch him in almost anything (including the less-than-stellar "Mister Buddwing" and "A Man Called Sledge" -- however, I draw the line at "The Notebook").
ReplyDeleteWell, truth be told, it's not great. As I said, there are some nice moments in it though. I had a little trouble with the playback on the YouTube video. It stuck and stuttered for me, though the sound was smooth. I thought it was my computer, so I restarted but it didn't fix it. Then I downloaded a segment and had the same problems in the same places, so I have to assume it's the source files. Let me know if you have a better experience.
ReplyDeleteHope you don't mind me chiming in on your page. I found the full move on youtube. Here is the link to Part A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MV_2QgvMw. It's in 10 parts and titled ARTFLVE parts A-J.
ReplyDeleteA little know fact is that all of the artwork in this movie was done by Don Cincone.
Hi Bob, thanks! Part A of that upload is also included in the post above...
ReplyDeleteThis film had it's World Premier in Cleveland ! (Ross Hunter's home town) and a whole 90 minute Mike Douglas Show was devoted to it. The premise for the film bythe way is taken from Arnold Bennett's novel "Buried Alive" which was musicalized as the enjoyable flop musical "Darling of the Day"
ReplyDeleteGreat information. Thanks!
ReplyDelete