Masquerade

I love this film. It was sold as yet another Bond-spoof (like Bond NEEDED spoofing) but was so much more.

In addition to more location work than was usual at the time, it boasted a roster of stars that was incredible.

Cliff Robertson was young then and had STYLE, Marisa Mell was all leggy and gorgeous, Jack Hawkins was in his element, Michel Piccoli was bizarrely menacing, Bill Fraser was normally associated with British sitcoms, but excelled here in a dramatic role. Then you had British stalwarts Charles Gray, John Le Mesurier, Felix Aylmer and Ernest Clark, all topped off with Tutte Lemkow.

Philip Green's music was fantastic and Basil Dearden's direction quirky and atmospheric.

The film takes a whole reel to lift off, but when it does, it's a classic.

But since seeing it at the cinema and couple of times on the telly in the Seventies, this minor epic has VANISHED. And to add salt to the wound, there are other, LESSER films with the same title (which is annoying if your satellite listings magazine only lists films' TITLES).

So where the hell IS IT??? I can find no trace of a DVD - or even a VHS. There is scant mention of it anywhere and even THIS esteemed service has little additional info.

Is it a "lost film"? Anyone?

There is some terrific writing in the script. The politics is sophisticated, and all these years later illuminating. The number of twists will keep you guessing. Hawkins is wonderful. All the British actors are.

However. Robertson is boring, not charismatic, not sexy, not funny . In the hands of a more appropriate actor this movie really could've been something.

From the film summary, you might be expecting more of a Ransom of Red Chief -type story , but it is not that . It is all about the adults and their shenanigans.

Good story marred by poor choice of lead actor and sluggish pacing, possibly the editor's fault.

Still, worth a watch.

Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli and Jack Hawkins were my reasons for seeing the film. Disappointment! All three are wasted in a banal, uninteresting, predictable story. Just a waste of time.

Nor Michael Relphs for that matter. The script is an incoherent mess.

You think that the film is going to get better but it just gets a lot worse.

Poor old Jack Hawkins is there smoking himself to death. How can you believe that Cliff Robertson served with him in World War2.

There's an assassination and a change of power in a Middle East country. Suddenly the British oil rights are at risk. So they get Jack Hawkins to kidnap the prince, and he hires old WWII associate Cliff Robertson to help him out. As usually happens in these caper movies, things don't go according to plan.

Robertson was born in 1923, so he certainly was of an age to serve in the Second World War. He also looks far too young for the role, in his early 30s at the latest. Still, he does a good job, as does everyone, even though this busted caper movie is not terribly engrossing. The satirical edge is a little weak.

I suspect the story got a bit muddled. It was originally intended for Rex Harrison, but he was busy, so they got in Hawkins, and decided they needed an American. Sometimes a lot of rewrites polish a script. Sometimes it makes it worse.