samstokes2000
If you are studying film or film creation, this is an excellent movie. One wishes that the storyboard was available to compare to the final product, but it is likely to be an exact match. There are several plots moving through the film, and it is a well done "soap opera", each frame is emotional. There is little tension that has become common in current digital films, just actors playing parts showing society at large. Heathrow is one of the actors by the way, this was entirely filmed (with the exception of the hotel rooms) at Heathrow in 1962/63. Brief green screen of the jet airliners shows off the inefficient jet exhaust systems in use at the time for the aero-techs. In one brief scene there is a shot of the 707 cockpit or more likely a simulator cockpit that had the feel for the tightness of a true cockpit, again for the aero-techie. Orson Welles appears to have simply shown up and was told to act normal. Maggie Smith is a wonderful actress playing against Rod Taylor. Scenes with 'Liz Taylor and Richard Burton also appeared to following the instruction: "Liz and Richard, just act normal when drinking." And they did. There is a 3D quality to the film in some shots that is amazing. But 1963 was a harsh year with excellent tools, productions and acting, the competition for best films was tight. Compared to the overly CGI movies of today, it is a piece of art that shows a part of society we normally didn't see. As to the "Airport" movie that was later produced, the fog was a gentle device compared to the battle against snow in "Airport" to keep the airplanes on the ground. If you are used to modern movies, you might want to split the viewing of this movie into a few days or it will bore you.
mifunesamurai
I had to watch this again because I just read Sammy Davis Jr's Hollywood In A Suitcase. In the book he describes some wild nights with Burton & Taylor, and I think it also occurred in England, maybe during the making of this film. So since this movie was on television, I thought it would be fun just to watch Burton & Taylor in action pre-Virginia Wolf. And how campy were they? Taylor did her usual Hollywood camp trademark of acting while Burton camp it up theatrical style. I'm sure they were laughing it up during the making of the movie (possibly between drinks with Sammy). What really got my interest was the story involving Rod Taylor and the young beautiful Maggie Smith. Rod plays an Australian entrepreneur and he gets it right with the larrikin accent and mannerisms. How a petite English secretary falls for him is understandable because what you see is what you get, and that is a rough Aussie bronze male who shows his true emotions. I'd wish they had shown more of that story than the melodramatic one of Burton & Taylor.For extra pleasure there is the little side story of The Duchess of Brighton, played by the delightful Margaret Rutherford. This eccentric character spends her time popping pills to either stay awake or put her to sleep. There is no other real purpose for this side story beside tying up with the other small story involving the homosexual film producer played with humor by Orson Welles. The stories of these two characters is superficial but total fun compare to the soap opera of Burton & wife.Watching this in widescreen on a pristine print also makes a big difference, because I saw this thirty years ago on a small television and thought it was total rubbish. This time around I enjoyed it more and appreciate the little subtleties that make it all worth the while.
qormi
Elizabeth Taylor is having an affair with Louis Jourdan, a gigolo who has bedded around 500 women. Yet they never did it. She's running off with a professional gigolo and he hasn't managed to get her in the sack yet. Elizabeth Taylor. This gigolo must really be slipping. Richard Burton, as usual, reads names out of the phone book as if he's on the stage doing "Hamlet". Rod Taylor plays a businessman with a flashy wife who seems ready to dump him and a doe-eyed, matronly Girl Friday who saves his butt. I have to tip my hat to Rod Taylor - excellent Aussie accent. Orson Welles, who looked like a walking Burger King franchise, was very funny as the airhead Elsa Martinelli's companion. Then there was the frumpy old British dame with her own theme song and a chin that makes Jay Leno look like Beau Bridges. The movie had its strange moments. Elizabeth Taylor argues with Burton's character and he slams her hand against a glass closet door, cutting her. Instead of throwing a shoe at him and screaming, this somehow bonds her to him and they're on the road to reconciliation. But it takes Paul (Burton) to threaten suicide for her to finally go back to him before the plane takes off.
highwaytourist
I saw this back during the 1980's and it's OK. "The VIP's" was written by the distinguished British playwright Terence Rattigan, whose works include "Separate Tables." It's a multi-character programmer about various wealthy people who are stranded by fog at an airport while their lives are at a crisis point of one kind or another. The big story is the marital discord of a powerful businessman and his pampered but neglected wife, played by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Their real-life affair and subsequent marriage had made front-page news around the world at the time of this film, and it was clearly made with the intent of capitalizing on their notoriety. There are other characters with problems, played by Orson Wells, Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar), Elsa Martinelli, Maggie Smith, and Rod Taylor, but that was just filler material. The result is a glamorous but routine film with nothing going on that you wouldn't see in an episode of "Dallas" or "Dynasty," but it's still easy to watch and the time passes painlessly.
AD
