Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

SimonJack The only reason I can imagine that "Darling Lili" might not have been a big hit in 1970, was because the Vietnam War was at its height and it affected the public in many ways. Perhaps many no longer had a sense of humor about anything connected with war. And, perhaps most people no longer liked musicals (of course, since the golden years of the Hollywood musicals an occasional excellent musical comes along that makes a big hit). And, perhaps most of the fans of war and combat films (including war dramas, romances etc.) had disappeared. And, perhaps the pubic sense for wit, satire and spoofery had been dulled. And, perhaps romance was no longer of interest? Well, "Darling Lili" has all those components. It's a multi-genre film that is packed with entertainment. It's a fun and enjoyable film. The Academy Awards for 1970 have two war films nominated for best picture, with "Patton" winning the Oscar. There were romance and comedies in the running. But there wasn't another film that crossed over so many genres. Maybe that was it – it was too much in one package? This film even has a little drama in the mix. In the reviews I've read about the film, I've noticed just a couple who recognized its clear spoofing. Several objects of mild mockery are included – the Germany and German army of the time; the French government and its military intelligence. (Imagine giving a high award to a spy!) It spoofs the Allied pilots and their security. It pokes fun with a rendition of the Mata Hari episode of WWI. The romance and comedy are throughout the film. But, if for no other reasons, two things are sure to entertain most movie fans. The music and performances by July Andrews as Lili Smith are smashing. And the flying and aerial combat scenes of WWI aircraft are fantastic. The Irish Air Corps Flyers did the aerial work beautifully and believably. The DVD I purchased has extra scenes, and these have some added combat and action scenes that are tremendous. The two French Army intelligence men in plain clothes are hilarious. Jacques Marin plays Captain Duvalle (a major on the IMDb credits), and André Maranne plays Lt. Liggett. Lancer Percival as T.C. Carstairs and Michael Witney as Lt. Youngblood Carson are very good in their comedic roles. Jeremy Kemp is excellent as Col. Kurt Von Ruger, and Carl Duering is hilarious as the dastardly General Kessler. But the best humor, and the romance of course, come from Julie Andrews with Rock Hudson, as Major William Larrabee. Their squabbles over trust and truth are hilarious.The movie has rousing renditions of the popular songs of WWI – "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," "Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag," "Keep the Home Fires Burning," and "Mademoiselle from Armentieres." The movie was filmed in Belgium, France and Hollywood. Bill Larrabee and Lili each have riotously funny rejoinders for the other. Bill, "So what in the name of hell's vanity makes you think I'd compromise that in the name of your adolescent, narcissistic ego?" Later, Lili returns to her home after learning that Bill had fed her a cock-and-bull story. "The filthy, scheming, cheating, faking, lying, egotistic, self- indulgent, hedonistic, son of a …"This is a Blake Edwards film, made for his new wife, Julie Andrews. It's chock full of entertainment for those who enjoy comedy, romance, some war action, music and gentle poking of fun at people and events of the time.Here's a favorite line from the film. Colonel Kurt Von Ruger (Jeremy Kemp), "Try to look reasonably happy. After all, it isn't every day that a German spy is awarded the French Legion of Honor."

Naught Moses Regardless of which of the three extant versions one sees, there are simple facts about all of the Blake & Julie movies one can only ignore if one is locked in a time warp. Let's face it, Julie was a =terrific= technical vocalist of the archaic "bel canto" style. As well as an actress of the suspension-of-observation and buying-of- belief mode that was popular when bel canto singing was popular. If one likes Gilbert & Sullivan, Julie is truly one's cup of tea. However, if one expects to see something other than Andrews's standard, patently demure ingénue projection of feminine behavior, this will no more be the place than anything else she and Blake ever put together. Had the film laid on more of the pretty decent -- if at times fantastical -- aerial combat scenes and far less of the numbing melodrama, it might have almost been in a class with "The Blue Max" of more or less the same vintage. (The reliably Teutonic Jeremy Kemp, provided much of the character intrigue -- such as it was -- in both films.) One has to have a particular taste and value set to enjoy Blake & Julie movies. This is no different.

laurenat-1 I am an avid Julie Andrews fan and I just watched this for the first time on DVD -- the Director's Cut version. I was very surprised that it was rated G. How did they get bedroom scenes, a seduction story line, two strip tease acts, and war/shooting/blood into a G rating? Weird. I would rate it PG-13.Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was a beautiful showcase of Andrew's voice and talent. The acting was great. The storyline was a little weak, leaving gaps that could have been filled with some good dialogue. There were too many "no talking, just walking" scenes for me... I would have liked to see the the relationship between Julie and Rock blossom, so that the intense love would be more believable.

Maciste_Brother Years ago, when DARLING LILI played on TV, it was always the pan and scan version, which I hated and decided to wait and see the film in its proper widescreen format. So when I saw an inexpensive DVD of this Julie Andrews/Blake Edwards opus, I decided to purchase and watch it once and for all.Boy, what a terrible film. It's so bad and on so many levels that I really do not know where to start in describing where and when it goes so horribly wrong. Looking at it now, it's obvious to any fans of movies that Blake Edwards created this star vehicle for his wife simply because so many other directors had struck gold with Andrews in musicals (MARY POPPINS, SOUND OF MUSIC, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, etc) but also because Andrews was snubbed from starring in projects made famous on stage by Julie herself (CAMELOT, MY FAIR LADY, etc) because Hollywood thought she wasn't sexy or glamorous enough. So Blake created this stillborn effort, to showcase his wife in a bizarre concoction of spy story/war movie/romance/slapstick comedy/musical. DARLING LILI suffers from multiple personalities, never knowing who or what it is. Some specific scenes are good or effective but as a whole, it just doesn't work at all to a point of it being very embarrassing.Mind you, the version on the DVD is the "director's cut", or in this case, "let's salvage whatever we can" from this notorious box office flop. In releasing the DVD, Edwards cut 19 scenes (19!!!!!!!!) from the original bloated theatrical version into this more streamlined and yet remarkably ineffective version. The film moves along with no idea of what it is. We are 25 minutes into it and we still don't know what's going on or why we're watching what's going. What kind of spy is Lili? How powerful is she? Was she ever responsible for someone's death? Instead we watch a thoroughly bored looking Rock Hudson trying to woo a thoroughly bored looking Julie Andrews. Things aren't helped much with the inexplicable reason why the two fall in love. Why does Julie fall for Hudson? Why him and not other men she got involved with? There should have been one of her ex hanging around, trying to win her back or trying to decipher her secret. This would have given us some much needed contrast to the muddled action. It would also have given us some impetuous to the sluggish proceedings. There's no catalyst in this story.One only has to look at the cut scenes to clearly see that Edwards and the writer just came up with ideas inspired by Andrews' (and Edwards') previous successes. The best (or worst) example is the scene when Andrews and Hudson follow a group of children who sing in the middle of a forest. Edwards channeling SOUND OF MUSIC. It's no wonder he removed it from the DVD. Back in 1970, that scene might have worked on a certain level but today, that moment reeks of desperation. There are other plot elements directly inspired by Andrews/Edwards other films. The endless scenes of dogfights is inspired by the much better MODERN MILLIE. The musical moment "I'll give you three guesses" was created just to make fun of Julie's MARY POPPINS persona, which is turned "raunchy" with Julie doing a striptease in the act. The ending, bird's eye view of Julie running towards Hudson's plane, is another "wink" at SOUND OF MUSIC.The whole thing is confusing. Julie plays a singer, born from a German father and British mother, who lives in England but sings her (English) songs in Paris. You never know exactly where the story takes place. Some moments are just badly edited. Like when Julie and her "uncle" are on horseback. They talk and talk and then Julie suddenly sprints off in mid-sentence. I'm like "what happened here?"The comedy bits are unfunny and cringe-worthy. Every scene with the French police are pathetic. Where's Peter Sellers when you really need him. The action is badly thought-up. When Julie and her "uncle" are on their way to Germany on that train, Hudson's squadron and the German squadron reach the train (in daytime) at the same time even thought the train has been moving for hours and they left the night before. The French/German border is not that far. Anyway, that's one slow moving train there. The 'climax' is an entirely poorly executed moment.The musical moments. The beginning is the best part of the entire film (and the reason I gave this film 3 stars) but its effect is diminished considerably because it's repeated at the end. Speaking of redundant, did we really need to see a can-can dance, Crepe Suzette stripping scene and Julie stripping too? The "Girl in no man's land" is OK even if it's bleeding obvious, but that moment just doesn't make any sense whatsoever because Lili sings it to a group of injured soldiers at a French hospital, making me wonder: how many soldiers there were injured indirectly by the result of her spying?The whole project is listless and without energy. The romance is 100% unbelievable. Rock Hudson is way too old and tired looking (check out the museum scene). Julie looks dazed, like she's on Valium. But what really kills this ill-conceived project is Julie playing a German spy. Edwards desperately wanted to dispel the Mary Poppins syndrome afflicting his wife and believed that playing a traitor was a good career decision. As much as I like Julie, she's no Greta Garbo, who pulled it off so beautifully in MATA HARI. Funny enough, even if Julie plays a German spy, she still comes across as cloying and cute.How bad is DARLING LILI? Even after 37 years since its release, Blake Edwards felt he still needed to work on it for its DVD release.