Contrived and ultimately predictable comedy-drama that nonetheless manages to be entertaining and involving. Georgy's story is basically a modern Cinderella story, a cross between Room at the Top(59) and A Hard Day's Night(64), it's an old fashioned story employing modern attitudes and film technique. The characters and the script are inconsistent: Why does Meredith(Charlotte Rampling) have a baby(after "destroying" 2 others) only to put "it" up for adoption? And why marry the tiresomely antic Alan Bates only to leave him? Neither Bates departure, leaving his child with Georgy, nor Georgy's marriage to James Mason is particularly convincing. The relationships are tenuous, and the characters, like the film, go in and out of moods at the drop of the hat.
To keep things moving the director Silvio Narizzanno, who directed Die!Die!My Darling(64), has Redgrave and Bates do a lot of running and leaping about. Bates drops trou several times for comic effect but, doesn't really have a character to play. As the oafish Cinderella, the late Lynn Redgrave in her most famous role is endearing. The striking Charlotte Rampling creates the film's most memorable (and contemporary)character; her scenes are sharp and funny.
Somewhat overrated;the film's parts are better than the whole. The ambiguous final scene (listen to the soundtrack) seems influenced by Room at the Top, and reminds me of The Graduate(67)as well in casting doubt on the couple's future. A likable and worthwhile film; its enormous success at the time of its release is understandable. Lynn Redgrave received an Oscar nomination which put her in competition with her sister Vanessa, nominated for Morgan!. in a tie vote, Lynn Redgrave and Elizabeth Taylor(Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)were named Best Actress by The NY Film Critics Circle.
To keep things moving the director Silvio Narizzanno, who directed Die!Die!My Darling(64), has Redgrave and Bates do a lot of running and leaping about. Bates drops trou several times for comic effect but, doesn't really have a character to play. As the oafish Cinderella, the late Lynn Redgrave in her most famous role is endearing. The striking Charlotte Rampling creates the film's most memorable (and contemporary)character; her scenes are sharp and funny.
Somewhat overrated;the film's parts are better than the whole. The ambiguous final scene (listen to the soundtrack) seems influenced by Room at the Top, and reminds me of The Graduate(67)as well in casting doubt on the couple's future. A likable and worthwhile film; its enormous success at the time of its release is understandable. Lynn Redgrave received an Oscar nomination which put her in competition with her sister Vanessa, nominated for Morgan!. in a tie vote, Lynn Redgrave and Elizabeth Taylor(Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)were named Best Actress by The NY Film Critics Circle.