Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Sharkflei
Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Phillipa
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
buffdean
It's been a little while since I saw this, but I felt like Cybill Shepherd and Elliott let down our side. They totally overacted.I wanted to let "I love handbags" know that there WAS a TV miniseries made in 1985 called Charters & Caldicott, and it is truly a gem. SO understated and British. It's been very hard to find copies of it but there are now DVD on Amazon UK. I had taped it on VHS when it was on PBS here in USA and cherish my copy. It was based on a short novel by Stella Bingham, which is also a treasure to have.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134240/?ref_=nv_sr_1
artboy34
Cybill Shepherd's performance in this movie is so bad, it overshadows the rest of the movie. I've seen more character depth in the chorus of a high school musical! Angela Lansbury was spot on in her performance, though. Too bad the pre-"Moonlighting" Cybill had to go and muck it up.The settings were beautiful, and beautifully photographed, but they weren't enough to save this train wreck (pardon the pun). There just didn't seem to be enough tension between the characters who were "in" on the plot and those who were oblivious to it.I'd watch the original (or a Finnish comedy with Polish subtitles) before I'd ever watch this again.
fkd1963
I think the main problem with the film is the casting of the leads against the screenplay. Gould is too old and somewhat fey and Shepherd is acting as though she were in a Carole Lombard film. The leads in the original film gave the roles more depth; perhaps it is also the fault of the screenplay.The overall production values are good and the supporting cast is wonderful especially Lansbury, of course, and Ian Carmichael--Lord Peter Wimsey in scenes with Cybill Shepherd!.I would buy this on DVD if available.
Steve Myers
I am completely amazed by some of the other comments here, which claim it's a flawed if reasonable movie. The film is a remake of a classic, which wasn't that great in the first place, but this is simply dire. Let's just think about some of its points:The Acting: I use the term loosely. I'm really not sure what anyone was on when this was made. I don't know if people didn't like each other, whether they were doing it for a bet or what. I have huge respect for all the actors: Angela Lansbury is a treasure (and is probably the only one to come out the film well), Elliot Gould tries his best with this nonsense and Cybill Shephard works her socks off to try to make the role something else. But somehow everyone ends up as though they know they're not in an danger of repeating a classic and so just walk through the roles. If you watch as Cybill and Elliot deliver their lines, whether or not it was ad libbing, lots of it just looks, sounds and is played like a rehearsal - and not a good one at that.The Story: It's a good mystery story, but it comes off as fake. There is nobody to care about, nobody to go along with. Cybill's character comes across as just a plain spoiled brat. What's with the million pounds bit? I know the rest of the casehave to believe she's a bit mad and that her story isn't true, but I really wanted HER to vanish, not Miss Froy! Updating it correctly so it has the Nazi references is good, but the Nazis are played as comic-book baddies, so it's just odd. And the English are comic book goodies too. Arthur Lowe and Ian Carmichael do the roles to perfection, but you do end up wanting to slap them.The Direction, Script, Production... I'm putting all the rest of what's wrong with this in the same place. Other reviews have called this a much maligned film, but it really does deserve maligning. There's almost nothing good about it, unless you count its comic relief potential. It's too bizarre for words - some of the scenes should not have made it into a finished project.This is just a bad film; everything's wrong with it from the stereotypes to the casting to the direction to the look of the whole thing. It would be nice to look at it now and forgive it its flaws, but there are just too many of them! Any film you can't watch without cringing doesn't deserve a good review.It gets 2 out of 10 from me because of its classic heritage and because of Angela Lansbury. Otherwise it wouldn't merit a score.
