Darling Lili *** (1970, Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp, Lance Percival) – Classic Movie Review 7745

Darling Lili or Mata Hari – The Musical! Producer-director Blake Edwards’s 1970 Darling Lili is an appealing and attractive World War One Mata Hari spoof romantic spy drama with songs. It stars Julie Andrews, who gives a darling performance as Lili Smith, a German spy who is sent to squeeze what she can out of Allied Major William Larrabee (Rock Hudson), and who, naturally, falls for him.

It was nominated for three Oscars: Best Costume Design (Donald Brooks and Jack Bear), Best Original Song (‘Whistling Away the Dark’ by Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics)) and Best Original Song Score (Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer).

This costly, infamous box-office flop proves a revelation for those few who have actually seen it. It is bright, vivacious fun, and infused with Edwards’s usual, silly knockabout sense of humour (though back in the day he did have great success making deadly serious dramas too, like Experiment in Terror and Days of Wine and Roses). The Oscar-nominated ‘Whistling Away the Dark’ production number is outstanding, with Andrews at her best.

On a huge $25 million budget, the US gross was only $5 million.

Two decades after Darling Lili’s release, Edwards re-cut the film for the TNT network, shortening it by 22 minutes and changing its tone. This director’s cut runs 114 minutes.

Also in the cast are Jeremy Kemp as Colonel Kurt Von Ruger, Lance Percival as T C Carstairs, Michael Whitney as Lieutenant George Youngblood Carson, Gloria Paul as Crepe Suzette, Jacques Marin as Major Duvalle, André Maranne as Lieutenant Liggett, Bernard Kay, Doreen Keogh, Carl Duering as General Kessler, Vernon Dobtcheff as Otto Kraus, Laurie Main, Louis Mercier, Arthur Gould-Porter and Niall MacGinnis.

Darling Lili is directed by Blake Edwards, runs 136 minutes, or 114 minutes in the director’s cut, or 143 minutes with overture and exit music, is made by Geoffrey Productions, is released by Paramount, is written by Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty, shot in Technicolor by Russell Harlan, produced by Blake Edwards, scored by Henry Mancini, and designed by Fernando Carrere, with choreographing and staging of the musical numbers by Hermes Pan.

Edwards had to suffer continual studio interference and re-shoots, hence Hudson’s hair cut and sideburns are much shorter in some interior scenes.

It is available on DVD [Region 1] [US Import] and Prime Video.

Charles Boddington, who worked on Darling Lili and The Blue Max, was killed on 15 September 1970 when his S.E.5 spun in a low-level manoeuvre over the airfield during the filming of Von Richthofen and Brown 1971 [The Red Baron].

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7745

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