Darling Lili (1970)

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

William Peter Blatty (writer)
Blake Edwards (writer)

Release Date:

24 June 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | War

Tagline:

For a spy, love is the deadliest enemy.

Plot:

Set during WWI, this movie is a cute spin on the Mata Hari legend.

Plot Keywords:

WWI | Spy | Cancan Dance | La Marseillaise | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Julie Andrews	...	Lili Smith (Schmidt)
Rock Hudson	...	Major William Larrabee
Jeremy Kemp	...	Colonel Kurt Von Ruger
Lance Percival	...	T.C. Carstairs
Michael Witney	...	Lt. George 'Youngblood' Carson
Gloria Paul	...	Crepe Suzette
Jacques Marin	...	Major Duvalle
André Maranne	...	Lt. Liggett
Bernard Kay	...	Bedford
Doreen Keogh	...	Emma
Carl Duering	...	General Kessler
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Otto Kraus - Kessler's goon
Laurie Main	...	French general
Louis Mercier	...	French general
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Sergeant Wells

Runtime:

USA:107 min (director's cut) | 143 min (with overture and exit music) | USA:136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Netherlands:AL | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company:

Geoffrey Productions

Trivia:

The manager in charge of hiring the extras to shoot a scene in the Palais De Justice (Superior court) in Brussels in lieu of the Paris railroad station gave away a fixed number of tickets and requested the ticket holders to come back for work around midnight. Some of the left wing activists (socialists) bought a roll of the identical tickets and passed them out to mostly students from the nearby University (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and asked them to show up before midnight. Because they were there early, they were able to get into the court house with no problem. They were given costumes almost right away, and when the real extras showed up, the guys in charge were puzzled that there were so many in line considering that the huge hall was already half full. It took them minutes before they figured that they had been fooled and outsmarted by the local activists. They were forced to turn away those who had the phony tickets and accept only few of the legitimate hired extras.

Quotes:

Lili Smith: But then, why DOES he drink?
Maj. William Larrabee: Because he's afraid to fly.
Lili Smith: Then why does he fly?
Maj. William Larrabee: Because he likes to drink!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

Soundtrack:

Keep the Home Fires Burning

A FAIRLY GOOD FILM IN THE DIRECTOR'S CUT

Blake Edwards' "Darling Lili" is not a great film, but it is better than most people give it credit for. One of the most maligned productions in history (the aerial sequences took 2 years to film, the budget swelled to 3 times the original budget, various cuts of the film only add to the muddle), my final analysis is this: an underrated film whose reputation should soar once it's more widely seen.

This film exists in three versions: the original roadshow version (190 minutes)which Edwards disowned, the general release version (136 minutes)and Edwards' personal director's cut (113 minutes).

Tones shift between versions. The roadshow version had more talky sequences and was a numbing bore. The general release version deleted these sequences and was an improvement, but was still missing something. Edwards' cut was a great improvement. It is more serious in tone than the previous cuts, but the story concucted by Edwards and William Peter Blatty benefits from that approach. Julie Andrews is simply great as Lili, the singer/spy and her singing is at an all time high. Rock Hudson is excellent as her American pilot lover. Only after his inclination was exposed, did people take him seriously as an actor. But he was great all along. The songs by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer are strong as is the cinematography (by Russell Harlan, in Panavision)

Sadly, "Darling Lili" is not available on tape or DVD. But luckily for us, AMC shows this very often.

Roadshow version: 1/2* General Release: ** 1/2 Director's Cut: ***1/2