# Notorious Landlady, The (1962)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

NOTORIOUS LANDLADY, THE (director: Richard Quine; screenwriters: Blake Edwards/Larry Gelbart/story by Margery Sharp; cinematographer: Arthur E. Arling; editor: Charles Nelson; cast: Kim Novak (Carlye Hardwicke), Jack Lemmon (William Gridley), Fred Astaire (Franklyn Ambruster), Lionel Jeffries (Inspector Oliphant), Estelle Winwood (Mrs. Dunhill), Maxwell Reed (Miles Hardwicke), Philippa Bevans (Mrs. Brown), Richard Peel (Sgt. Dillings); Runtime: 123; Columbia; 1962)

    Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A rather mild comedy/mystery, filmed in B&W, featuring the bumbling comic antics of Jack Lemon and the ravishing beauty of Kim Novak. Under Richard Quine's laborious direction, the film plods along until it perks up for its surprising ending, which is a takeoff on those slapstick silent comedies. The film failed to catch my interest even though the actors seemed to be giving an all out effort to make this turkey have legs. The main problem lies in the ridiculous script. Poor Fred Astaire comes off the worst of all the actors, he's stuck as a fawning American embassy chief, afraid a scandal would ruin his career. His part was so wooden, you could have thrown it into the fireplace for kindling wood.

After William Gridley (Jack Lemmon) lands in London as a low level American diplomat, he rents a flat in the exclusive Grey Square section from fellow American Carlye Hardwicke (Kim Novak). What he doesn't know, is that six months earlier she was suspected of killing her husband, but since there was no body found, Scotland Yard has not charged her with the crime but are keeping her under close observation.

Gridley finds this out from his boss Franklyn Ambruster (Astaire), who arranges with Inspector Oliphant (Lionel) for him to cooperate with Scotland Yard and act as an undercover agent. The conflict for Gridley is that he fell in love with her and only wants to snoop on her if he can prove her innocence.

The hilarious moments come, as Lemon bumbles around while courting the mysterious Kim. There are a few frantic ha-ha's here, as he nearly burns her flat down while lighting the outdoor grill, which gives him the publicity in the newspapers his boss said would remove him from serving in England, an assignment he covets since coming from Saudi Arabia. The mystery develops as we try to figure out what Kim is doing by pawning her expensive candelabra.

Spoiler to follow in the next paragraph.

It all comes clear when her husband turns up alive and she shoots him accidently as he tries to kill her for the pawn ticket, as they wrestle for the gun. She is about to be convicted of the crime when a witness Mrs. Brown suddenly appears and clears Kim of the murder. But it turns out Mrs. Brown had an ulterior motive for doing so, she knows Kim's hubby was a jewel thief and hid the jewels in the candelabra. Which results in the slapstick climax, set in an old age resort by the sea. The funniest moment is when the one who could truly clear Kim of any crime, the wheelchair-bound Mrs. Dunhill, is being pushed down a cliff by Mrs. Brown and Lemon is running after her to stop her fall.

Its offbeat comedy just didn't resonate with me. I found the production too dry and hardly on par with those Buster Keaton vehicles it tried to emulate and the mystery story was too lame-brain an effort to cause any fuss over. This one's watchable only for those fans of Kim or Lemon. I do not count myself as being one of those fans.

    REVIEWED ON 11/29/2000     GRADE: C-

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

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