Executscan Expected more

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

writers_reign This is the sort of thing Terry Rattigan could turn out between stage plays and dramatists who were stealing his thunder on the West End stage couldn't turn out to save their lives. Essentially it's froth, Grand Hotel with runways but as Grand Hotel had shown there's something about a group of top actors and/or top 'stars' rubbing stories in confined spaces that appeals to film fans and so it is here. Arguably the selling-point at the time was Burton and Taylor, newly married and already appearing in Cleopatra and the thinking at MGM was clearly while everyone and his Uncle Max wanted to get a look at the newly- weds not everyone wanted to devote four hours of their life to do so and would happily settle for a more manageable half that plus some half-decent supporting roles. Margaret Rutherford rejected Rattigan's original screenplay telling him the role lacked substance; incredibly he listened to her and re-wrote it into an Oscar winner. Though produced in an era when we 'never had it so good' it has all the hallmarks of 'depression escapist fare' and is no worse for that.

jjnxn-1 Lush, plush, silly but fun. Everyone is terribly rich and terribly troubled but of course everything is happily resolved in just two hours, if you like that sort of thing this is for you. Liz and Dick are the featured couple of course but theirs really isn't the most compelling vignette. Still Elizabeth looks great and Burton is appropriately intense. Orson Welles is aboard in a plot that doesn't go anywhere until the end but he adds an amusing performance to the film so it isn't that much of an intrusion. The two best bits belong to Rod Taylor and a very young Maggie Smith, who is excellent-she gives the film's second best performance but the absolute standout is Margaret Rutherford in an Oscar winning part as a dotty but oddly touching Duchess who has to go to work to save her home. She's utterly brilliant, the very definition of what a supporting performance should add to a film.

ianlouisiana Rattigan and Asquith were old chums whose respective styles fitted like well - worn slippers.Both were terribly English and never quite at home with "foreign" characters,keen and knowledgeable observers of the British Class System with a marked preference for those who inhabited its upper echelons. Asquith knew how to make movies his audience would flock to see and Rattigan wrote plays mainly about people from Cheltenham for people from Cheltenham.Thus,comfortably ensconced together,they laboured and came forth with "The V.I.P.s" a sumptuously silly and irresistible old - fashioned star - studded Big Picture to which - forty six years on,time has added its patina of loss and regret to the extent that it now seems much better than it did in 1963. Although basically the camera seems happy merely to point at the Beautiful People and let them talk,Asquith's direction is subtle enough to persuade us that the personal difficulties experienced by the rich and famous stranded at Heathrow are important enough to engage our sympathy. Everybody overacts gloriously - indeed the whole thing is like a feature - length episode of "Dynasty" seen through the wrong end of time's telescope - and the whole effect is similar to overdosing on comfort food. All one's critical senses are overwhelmed by the positive plethora of pulling - power.These are the A - Lister's A List,believe me. Campy,frothy and entirely unbelievable it may be,but by golly it's entertaining and I was happy to pay my 3/9 in 1963 and I'm even happier to see it on TV today. With the arrival of the Swinging Sixties Big Pictures like "The V.I.P.s" became soooo last year sweetie,craftsmen like Asquith and Rattigan were mocked and a media - induced frenzy saw new heroes created and the tearing up of rule books that these new heroes had never had the intelligence to understand in the first place. With that in mind,perhaps "The V.I.P.s" should be regarded as the last picture show of the 1950s.I'm pretty sure Rattigan and Asquith would be happy with that.

Nazi_Fighter_David Much of the action focused on a romantic triangle involving a pampered wife, a wealthy husband, and a penniless playboy lover… Liz once again is the neglected wife, comforting herself with a lover (Jordan)… When the destitute husband is threatened by his wife's departure who has given her diamonds instead of affection, Burton shows he cares… Liz, unyielding however; wants him to suffer… Taylor's performance is cool and serene… Her face undisturbed by normal human expression… Playing an instigator of male insecurity, she is, for a change, altogether lovely to look at… Maggie Smith plays the trusty secretary in love with her Australian boss Rod Taylor… Orson Welles's arrogant character provides the comic relief… Margaret Rutherford won a Best Supporting Oscar for her delightful role as the eccentric elderly duchess