A Little Romance *** (1979, Laurence Olivier, Diane Lane, Thelonious Bernard ) – Classic Movie Review 6985

Director George Roy Hill’s sweet and entertaining 1979 romantic comedy movie stars Laurence Olivier as Julius, an old storytelling pickpocket who befriends a couple of teenage brats and gets them to run away with him to Venice to swear eternal love in Italy so it will last forever.

For better or for worse, it is yet another enjoyable ham role from the elderly Olivier. The 14-year-old Diane Lane (in her first film) plays the American girl Lauren and Thelonious Bernard plays the French boy Daniel. They go to school in Paris, meet and begin a little romance.

If director Hill, the maker of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), finds making this movie uphill work he does not show it. Indeed, he makes it purr smoothly along.

Fortunately, the movie can boast at least two other advantages: Broderick Crawford appears amusingly as himself (Brod) and there is sweet music from Georges Delerue who was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Original Score. He was also Golden Globe nominated and Olivier was nominated too, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture. The screenplay by Allan Burns is based on the novel by Claude Klotz (billed as Patrick Cauvin).

Bernard won both the Jackie Coogan Award for Best Juvenile Actor in a Motion Picture and a Youth in Film Award (First Annual) for his role.

Also in the cast are Arthur Hill, Sally Kellerman, David Dukes, Andrew Duncan, Claude Brosset, Graham Fletcher-Cook, Ashby Semple, Jacques Maury, Claudette Sutherland, Anna Massey and Peter Maloney.

A Little Romance is directed by George Roy Hill, runs 108 minutes, is made by Pan Arts and Orion, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Allan Burns, based on the novel by Claude Klotz (billed as Patrick Cauvin), is shot by Pierre-William Glenn, is produced by Yves Rousset-Rouard and Robert L Crawford, and is scored by Georges Delerue.

It was one of four films studied as young love story templates by Wes Anderson for his Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

Lane went on to a still glowing movie career, but Bernard starred in only two films: A Little Romance and Allons z’Enfants (1981). He decided to quit the film industry and go back to being a student. He became a dentist and now lives in Nantes with his wife and children.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6985

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