Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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.

TheLittleSongbird Darling Lili may have been a major flop at the time, but to me it is not a bad film. Not great, uneven is a good way to describe it, but it is much better than its reputation. It is overlong, the comedy/slapstick scenes at times feel out of place and compared to the other themes that make up the film at odds with the rest of the film, the film can get muddled, the film can drag and Rock Hudson while likable is rather stiff- compared to his usual performances- and doesn't have the strongest of chemistrys with Julie Andrews(though not without its moments). Julie Andrews though is great though, her acting and presence are charming and she as ever sings like an angel. Lance Percival shines also in possibly his best film role and one of his best performances. The film looks gorgeous, the highlights being the marvellously shot aerial dogfight sequences and the visuals that accompany the song Whistling Away the Dark. The music is distinctive Henry Mancini, it fits the film adeptly and is a very memorable score and one you can re-visit more than once. Much has been said about the hauntingly beautiful Whistling Away the Dark, how Andrews sings it(like an angel and with so much nuance and emotion) and how it's staged and for good reason, simply put it's a beautiful song that is beautifully sung and beautifully staged. The script and the story aren't great but they're not disastrous either. The script is intelligent with some snappy moments, it didn't feel that talky, and the story at least has some entertainment value despite moments being muddled and the spy thriller, drama and musical themes being far more convincing than the comedy and romance ones. Overall, uneven but Darling Lili a decent film and is much better than it's made out to be, though it's somewhat easy to see why it was a flop. 6/10 Bethany Cox

ptb-8 David Bryce's comments nearby are exceptionally well written and informative as almost say everything I feel about DARLING LILI. This massive musical is so peculiar and over blown, over produced and must have caused ruptures at Paramount in 1970. It cost 22 million dollars! That is simply irresponsible. DARLING LILI must have been greenlit from a board meeting that said "hey we got that Pink Panther guy and that Sound Of Music gal... lets get this too" and handed over a blank cheque. The result is a hybrid of GIGI, ZEPPELIN, HALF A SIXPENCE, some MGM 40s song and dance numbers of a style (daisies and boaters!) so hopelessly old fashioned as to be like musical porridge, and MATA HARI dramatics. The production is colossal, lush, breathtaking to view, but the rest: the ridiculous romance, Julie looking befuddled, Hudson already dead, the mistimed comedy, and the astoundingly boring songs deaden this spectacular film into being irritating. LILI is like a twee 1940s mega musical with some vulgar bits to spice it up. STAR! released the year before sadly crashed and now is being finally appreciated for the excellent film is genuinely is... and Andrews looks sublime, mature, especially in the last half hour......but LILI is POPPINS and DOLLY frilly and I believe really killed off the mega musical binge of the 60s..... and made Andrews look like Poppins again... which I believe was not Edwards intention. Paramount must have collectively fainted when they saw this: and with another $20 million festering in CATCH 22, and $12 million in ON A CLEAR DAY and $25 million in PAINT YOUR WAGON....they had a financial abyss of CLEOPATRA proportions with $77 million tied into 4 films with very uncertain futures. Maybe they should have asked seer Daisy Gamble from ON A CLEAR DAY ......LILI was very popular on immediate first release in Australia and ran in 70mm cinemas for months but it failed once out in the subs and the sticks and only ever surfaced after that on one night stands with ON A CLEAR DAY as a Sunday night double. Thank god Paramount had their simple $1million (yes, ONE MILLION DOLLAR) film LOVE STORY and that $4 million dollar gangster pic THE GODFATHER also ready to recover all the $77 million in just the next two years....for just $5m.... incredible!