Darling Lili (1970)

A welcome new DVD life might be in store for Darling Lili, an underrated film whose reputation is mostly locked as one of the big, expensive flops that helped reshape Hollywood at the turn of the seventies. Julie Andrews was still at the height of her popularity when she began shooting this musical-comedy-drama with new husband Blake Edwards directing; budget overruns, studio interference, and the changing box-office climate all doomed the movie's disastrous 1970 release.

Even fans of the picture would have to admit that the weird storyline had something to do with it, too. Andrews plays a World War I singer in London and Paris who's actually a spy for the Germans (part of her cover is singing popular patriotic songs, such as "Pack Up Your Troubles" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"). Her new assignment is to get information from a famous pilot (Rock Hudson), but naturally she falls in love with him along the way. The movie's WWI aerial sequences (shot in Ireland) are a little like the film's approach: soaring, graceful, and disconnected from any carnage that might be happening in the trenches. However, if you can appreciate Edwards' slapstick prowess and commitment to the screwball-romance style of filmmaking, there's much to admire.

For one thing, Edwards photographs Julie Andrews with the loving devotion of a new husband. For another, his feeling for the widescreen frame as a big playground for lush color and busy action is well-served by the DVD release--this is a visually gorgeous movie. The new songs by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer include the superb opening number--evocatively shot--called "Whistling in the Dark." The DVD is billed as a "Director's Cut," but is shorter than the original release, a result of Edwards himself reportedly retooling the picture after 1970 (the disc has a whopping hour's worth of additional scenes). Whichever way it's sliced, Darling Lili was always going to be a strangely mixed movie, with Pink Panther-style bits sitting next to Mata Hari skullduggery. Fans of Julie Andrews and the vanished elegance of visual storytelling will find much to savor nevertheless. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

Darling Lili

Very good movie. The songs by Julie Andrews from the WWI era are wonderful. September 9, 2008

great music!

Julie Andrews in her best voice! Cute story; lots of humor as well as pathos. August 29, 2008

Pointless 'Director's Cut'

Granted, this was never a great film, but Julie Andrews gave an engaging performance. The revised edition released on DVD lops off over half hour of film. The studio has wasted their time to release this edit; those familiar with this film want the original, regardless of how 'not great' it may be. I will wait for the proper release which should include both versions. March 28, 2008

disappointed by directors cut

I saw this movie when it played in a theater and I totally enjoyed the movie. I was looking forward to its release on DVD.
Rock Hudson and Julie Andrews, along with Jeremy Kemp and a host other performers, were wonderful. The movie had a good combination of war, comedy, romance, music, adventure, scenery,and more to make it an very enjoyable movie to see.
Had I read the reviews beforehand, I never would have bought the Directors Cut. I was greatly frustrated and disappointed to find all the scenes that I remembered seeing in the original, theatrical release, were cut out. The movie had 30 minutes cut out of it. They were added as a Special Feature of Deleted Scenes.
I went on to [...] to buy the British PAL version of Darling Lili, which is the complete, full version of the movie.
Even though I don't have have a multi-region dvd player at the moment, I can still play the movie on my computer which accepts both NTSC and PAL
Formats.
Hopefully, somebody, with a proper state of mind, will restore this beautiful movie to it original, full-length theatrical release version.
Playable here in Region 1 areas, NTSC formats.

March 25, 2008

The Complete version is available

This just to inform all those who have been complaining about Paramount releasing the so-called Director Cut of Darling Lili, which is about half an hour shorter than the original cinema release:

For those in the US who have a DVD player that can play discs from several regions, it ought to be interesting to know that not only the Australian, but also the British/European release is the original movie at 137 min. The British/European release is subtitled in English, Danish, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. Jut like the American version, it is in widescreen, and can be obtained from the British Amazon branch at a very low price.

The move itself is not a masterpiece, but certainly much better than expected, considering that it was such a bomb when it was originally released. «Whisteling away the dark» is one of the most beautiful ballads ever written for the screen, and ought to have been a great standard. It probably drowned because it was not fashionable at the time. 1969 was the big Janis Joplin year! And it is very, very difficult to sing, which may explain why just a few younger singers in the jazz and musical tradition have recorded it. October 9, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...