jacobs-greenwood Directed and produced by Blake Edwards, who co-wrote the story with William Peter Blatty, I would hardly classify this unique film as a Musical, but I do agree that it's difficult to nail down to a single category.Yes, Edwards's wife Julie Andrews is its star and she does sing a number of songs, but the plot is more espionage, with a corresponding romance, during World War I, than anything else. Plus, though it does contain the director's humorous touches not unlike those seen in his Pink Panther movies, the overall tone is quite a bit more serious.The film, which received Academy Award nominations for its Costume Design, Score, and the Henri Mancini-Johnny Mercer Original Song "Whistling in the Dark", bombed at the box office which may be the reason Ms. Andrews didn't make another one until The Tamarind Seed (1974).Andrews plays Lili Smith, aka Schmidt, a German spy who's well known as a patriotic British singer in Paris during the war. Smith was actually born in the "motherland", but raised since she was 10 in London. Her controller, and lover, is German Colonel Kurt Von Ruger (Jeremy Kemp), who works for General Kessler (Carl Duering), who's not sure he trusts the Londoner. Her latest assignment involves seducing an American flight commander, Major William Larrabee (Rock Hudson), to learn his squadron's plans. Larrabee's biplanes have had regular aerial conflicts with their German counterparts, one of which is the notorious ace Baron von Richtofen (Ingo Mogendorf), aka The Red Baron. These dogfights sequences are pretty good, though they do consume a lot of screen- time. It's at that point during World War I when these so called "silly little planes" have become strategic weapons, particularly for the Allies, while the Germans are still using Zeppelins for their bombing raids. Hence, Lili's assignment is to get information from Larrabee, whom she calls Bill.During the course of the film, Andrews's character sings many songs: when performing one night at a theater, she engages the frightened (by a German bombing run) London crowd into singing a rousing rendition of "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile"; she even gets some British soldiers to join her on stage. Another time, she sings at a hospital for some injured soldiers. A young lieutenant (Michael Witney) gets Lili to sing "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary" in a Paris restaurant. The French even bestow upon her a "medal of freedom"-type honor for her patriotic deeds. It's safe to say that Lili is beyond reproach. In fact, two French secret service agents (Jacques Marin & André Maranne) actually ask for her assistance in their investigation of Major Larrabee as a possible spy! Herein lies most of the comic relief, since these two characters are a milder version of Inspector Clouseau; one of these actors (Maranne) was a Pink Panther series regular. The other slapstick scenes involve one of Larrabee's squadron members, dubbed T. C. (Lance Percival), who's mostly in a drunken haze.Director Edwards chose to show the romance develop between Lili and Bill with largely wordless scenes (e.g. the two walk in the park holding hands while one hears only the film's score). It becomes clear that Lili has let her personal feelings affect her professional judgment. For instance, there is an important bit of information that Lili must extract from Bill, about an operation called Crepe Suzette. But, based on some information that Lili receives from Colonel Von Ruger, she suspects that Bill is two- timing her with a Paris striptease artist also named Crepe Suzette (Gloria Paul). The scene in which Lili witnesses Suzette perform is both sexy and funny, and prompts Lili into exhibiting herself during her next on-stage performance. There is a painfully long scene at a French château, during the rain no less, where Lili and Bill have escaped for a romantic weekend. Von Ruger turns up to give Lili some vital information while the French agents, Maj. Duvalle (Marin) and Lt. Liggett (Maranne), are also there to spy on the couple. After a falling out between the lovers, followed by some extended action sequences, everything works out fairly predictably in the end.Bernard Kay and Doreen play Lili's butler and maid, respectively, who are also part of the spy team; Vernon Dobtcheff plays an assassin who works for Kessler.

mark.waltz Julie, Barbra and Liza all had musical film genius, but unfortunately, they came too late in the game. Julie managed a few years, while Barbra turned to comedy and Liza to concerts and Broadway to stay marketable, but other than Liza in "Cabaret", by the time this musical farce was made, musicals were really only for the gays and the grays. Fortunately, tides have turned, but for a while, it appeared that Julie was finished in film.Realizing that the tides were turning in film themes, Julie wisely took on the opportunity to be a little more naughty. She was fun, but temperamental, as the real life stage legend Gertrude Lawrence in " Star!", and spoofs her goody goody image in this World War I spoof, playing a British singing star who is secretly (God forbid!) a spy for the Germans. But will love and jealousy for American pilot Rock Hudson change her tune? It's a friggin' Julie Andrews movie, so that answer is obvious!Always ladylike even when showing off her boobies, Andrews gets to bare almost as much here. A gorgeous opening with the award winning song, "Whistling in the Dark", sets up her character, and she's soon calming down an audience with war standards. Julie sings more, and after a Disney like production number, "I'll Give You Three Guesses", is forced to burlesque it because of the raunchy act who might steal Hudson from her.The flaws here are mainly some really dated comic stereotypes, reminding me of veteran European character actors such as Felix Bressart, Herman Bing and S.Z. Sakall, with one very close to the nefarious looking Conrad Veidt. Sometimes the farce is just too forced, like a man in a wheel chair suddenly flying by Julie as she finishes a song and two spies on the roof in the rain keeping an eye on Julie and Rock as they have a fight. Jeremy Brett has a few amusing moments as Julie's German contact, but as predicted, it gets a bit complicated and ends too smoothly. Director Blake Edwards needed to try a bit more subtlety, but for the most part, World War I films have generally been a hard sell.

bkoganbing Recognized with three Oscar nominations Darling Lili was a big flop at the time and helped seal the fate of big budget musicals and Julie Andrews's career in them. They were getting just too expensive to make with all the talent that used to be under contract to a studio now charging full market value for services. Whatever else Darling Lili is it's a full market value musical film.Set in the era of World War I, Darling Lili's best asset is its music. Two of the three nominations were in the music field for best overall score and to Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the song Whistling In The Dark. That one is an incredibly beautiful number that Julie Andrews sings perfectly. The original songs are integrated so well into the film that they fit perfectly in the era. More traditional World War I era songs are also used, no doubt all in the public domain by 1970.Would that the score was attached to a better story. Wholesome Julie Andrews is a popular entertainer of the era, singing for the troops on the western front. She also doubles as a German spy. Her assignment which she accepts with gusto is to get involved with American air ace Rock Hudson and learn some military secrets. I think you can guess the rest.Darling Lili lurches back and forth from cloak and dagger espionage to slapstick comedy in the extreme and it's an uncomfortable ride in the process. One of the characters is Lance Percival playing a drunken pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. I mean really, this guy should never have been in the RFC, the comedy which is good is severely out of place.Film buffs will recognize some similarity to The Firefly and the British classic Dark Journey so if you know those films you know how this one ends. Fans of Rock Hudson and of Julie Andrews will like this and her singing is divine. The rest of Darling Lili is on a lesser plain.

writers_reign The main selling point for me was the fact that the score was the work of the M & Ms, Johnny Mercer and Hank Mancini. The duo had a knack for writing individual songs for movies beginning with Breakfast At Tiffaney's (Moon River) followed by two title songs (Charade, Dear Heart, on the strength of which they were tapped to score a whole movie. On paper it had a lot going for it - though the choice of William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, as co-screenwriter with Blake Edwards was not, perhaps, an obvious one. Both Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson - well over a decade before he contracted AIDS - were draws at the box office, the First World War setting allowed for lush photography plus, of course, two proved songwriters. Nevertheless it flopped badly and after buying the DVD it seems - to me at least - that it's neither fish nor fowl and nor can it make up its mind which one it wants to be. Not enough attention is paid to the back-story of Lili Schmidt/Smith, the Andrews role. She doesn't appear to have a strong enough reason to act as a German spy; she is not zealous or passionate about the German cause nor is she being blackmailed in any obvious way. Clearly a highly successful entertainer presumably she would be sufficiently fulfilled in that role to moonlight as a spy. There's so-called comic relief via a pair of 'stage' buffoons, and people do get shot and on top of this we have the burgeoning romance between Andrews and Hudson but no pudding can stand being over-egged on this scale so we are left to mourn what might have been.