CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Michael_Elliott Lady L (1965) ** (out of 4) Lady Louise Lendale (Sophia Loren) recounts her younger years and the relationship she had with two different type of men (Paul Newman, David Niven).LADY L was a box office flop when it was released and it's never really been beloved by fans of any of the three leads or director Peter Ustinov. Later in life Ustinov blamed a lot of different things for the film's failure including the fact that the Loren and Newman apparently didn't get along and the director also said the budget was simply too big for the type of film it was.I actually agree with both of those statements. For starters, the story itself is extremely flat and there's just no energy, no spark or any real point to anything we're watching. Loren and Newman sleepwalk through their roles and I'd agree that there's not an inch of chemistry between the two. The first portion of the film is like a bad comedy but when Niven enters the picture is just becomes boring and flat. I really don't recall too many times where the three leads were as bland as they are here.Another major problem with the film is that it looks terrific but there's no substance to it. Perhaps this is why the director blamed the budget. I'm going to guess that his main focus was on making the picture look like a big budget instead of getting anything better on the page. LADY L certainly didn't destroy the leads careers but at the same time it's easy to see why the film has pretty much been forgotten.

whpratt1 Enjoyed seeing a very young Sophia Loren, (Lady L) and a very handsome Paul Newman, (Armand Denis) both playing unbelievable comic roles. Lady L is a woman who takes in laundry to make a living and visits a bordello to collect dirty clothes and meets up with Armand who manages to fall in love with her and it is not too long before they have a baby. Lady L finds that Armand is more interested in making a bomb and and joining a secret spy ring that wants to kill a nobleman in high office. Lady L meets up with David Niven who owns a great deal of money and wants to marry her even though she is already married to Armand. As soon as Lady L obtains fancy jewelry, Armand wants to give it to the poor like a Robin Hood of his day. There are flashbacks as Lady L recalls her past to a man who wants to write her biography, however, it is so immoral, he decides to change his mind. A real crazy comedy, but enjoyable from 1965, enjoy.

Nazi_Fighter_David Newman is a charming, Robin Hood-style thief in turn-of-the-century Paris… He meets Loren in a bordello, where she works as a laundress, and they fall in love… Then he joins an underground revolutionary movement in Switzerland, and plans to assassinate a prince; in the meantime Loren meets a lord (David Niven), who offers to save Newman from the police if she will marry him… She makes an arrangement whereby she can have both men—a bizarre ménage-à-trois that lasts for decades… Witty, elegant, stylishly photographed in color, and beautifully detailed in sets and costumes, the film is entertaining moving from the dignified to the eccentric, from full seriousness to a rather crazy way, from sentiment to cynicism, from nostalgic romanticism to anti-romantic parody

rollo_tomaso I had stayed away from this film because the critics panned it so viciously. Serves me right, because it was absolutely wonderful from beginning to end. Ustinov punctuates the rich satire in the script just perfectly with his grandiose direction. The cinematography is lush, and Sophia is outrageously good, as the strongly principled woman ahead of her time, who sees and is amused by all the rich ironies of life. Cecil Parker gives the movie it's opening tone and it never misses a best. But the writing is the strongest single aspect of the work, always remaining true to its characters, while making pungent observations on UK moral codes, class struggles, the battle of the sexes, the institution of marriage, and many others. Enjoy! 10/10