The Loved One (1965)
Robert Morse starred in this adaptation of a novel by Evelyn Waugh with a cast that included Jonathan Winters (in two roles), Milton Berle, James Coburn, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, and Liberace. The female characters were more or less unknown, because bleaugh.
Meanwhile, THIS MOVIE IS WEIRD. And when I say weird, I'm not kidding. It's odd in that way that isn't quite odd enough. It's itchy, but not painful. This film had a solid budget, so it's not B-movie "we couldn't afford mainstream so we milked it," and nor was it a Blake Edwards "flamboyant for then, downtown for now." There's just something unnervingly off about this film, like something from Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected but woven through the whole thing, not just the murderous twist ending.
Maybe it reminds me a little of Doctor Strangelove (1964).
The story is about a truly terrible young English poet who appears in Hollywood to make a place for himself. When his uncle (Gielgud) commits suicide, Dennis falls in love with his uncle's pretty young mortician, who is wholly devoted to her aesthetic death-and-chastity lifestyle. This becomes problematic when her lifestyle proves unstable. Things blow up. Some things fall down. He goes back to England.
I mean, that last bit is very Evelyn Waugh, especially if you've seen the recent adaptation of Decline and Fall (2017).
Meanwhile, I wasn't offended, but I was unnerved. Yes, that's the word - unnerved.
Watch it. Tell me what you think. Explain it to me, and maybe I'll be able to explain it back.
Meanwhile, THIS MOVIE IS WEIRD. And when I say weird, I'm not kidding. It's odd in that way that isn't quite odd enough. It's itchy, but not painful. This film had a solid budget, so it's not B-movie "we couldn't afford mainstream so we milked it," and nor was it a Blake Edwards "flamboyant for then, downtown for now." There's just something unnervingly off about this film, like something from Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected but woven through the whole thing, not just the murderous twist ending.
Maybe it reminds me a little of Doctor Strangelove (1964).
The story is about a truly terrible young English poet who appears in Hollywood to make a place for himself. When his uncle (Gielgud) commits suicide, Dennis falls in love with his uncle's pretty young mortician, who is wholly devoted to her aesthetic death-and-chastity lifestyle. This becomes problematic when her lifestyle proves unstable. Things blow up. Some things fall down. He goes back to England.
I mean, that last bit is very Evelyn Waugh, especially if you've seen the recent adaptation of Decline and Fall (2017).
Meanwhile, I wasn't offended, but I was unnerved. Yes, that's the word - unnerved.
Watch it. Tell me what you think. Explain it to me, and maybe I'll be able to explain it back.
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