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.
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.