DARLING LILI
US, 1969, 136 minutes, Colour.
Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp.
Directed by Blake Edwards.
Darling Lili was a musical designed by Blake Edwards for his wife Julie Andrews. It was an attempt to spur on Julie Andrews career after her success with Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, and her comparative failure with Star. However it not give a great boast to Julie Andrews film career.
She is paired romantically with Rock Hudson in a World War I setting and a bit of espionage - if one can imagine Julie Andrews as a kind of Mata Hari. There are songs, romance, the Red Baron, everything, including spies. However, everything seems to be laid on, an over-loaded helping that may delight for the moment but certainly does not have a lasting value as so many other musicals made by Julie Andrews did.
1. Was this an enjoyable film? As a war film, spy film, musical comedy? Which was the best quality of the film? Which aspect predominated?
2. The focus of the title on Lili? Lili as a spy ? how credible? Lili as a character? How well developed? or was the character subordinated to Julie Andrews’ personality and style?
3. Comment on the value of the war sequences: the aerial photography and their interest and excitement? Rock Hudson's role, the Red Baron? The serious side of war, the humorous side? How valuable a setting for this particular film?
4. How interesting was the spy aspect of the film? Did it ring true? Was it more a satire on spying? Lili's techniques of spying? Serious and humorous? The basis for the love story? The final resolution?
5. How serious was the film in its presentation of the Germans? How conventional were the they? Cardboard figures? The presentation of Von Ruger? Jeremy Kemp’s personality and style? His continuous reappearance singing patriotic songs?
6. How well did the farce with the French policeman fit into the whole film? how humorous?
7. The role of Crepe Suzette? The twists of the plot, the ironies? Music and dancing?
8. How interesting, a character was Lili? What determined her character, how credible a person was she?
9. How credible a character was Larraby? Rock Hudson’s style? a cardboard hero? A satire on such heroes?
10. Comment on the quality of the comic scenes, eg with T.C.?
11. How exciting were the adventure aspects of the film? The spy escapes, the train, the air warfare?
12. How important was the music? The quality of the beginning and end? The, recent songs and Julie Andrews’ presentation of them? How well did they fit into the film? The use of the old songs for patriotism and nostalgia?
13. What do people expect from musical comedies? how well were expectations fulfilled?
