Something for Everyone

Thank god I had the good sense back in 1984 to video tape this movie. I got all but the last 2 minutes of it and I kick myself every-time for not adjusting the clock on my video recorder. I paid $750.00 for that VCR back in 1984 because it had fast forward, slow motion and freeze frame capabilities. Now, when I look at my $199.00 Sony HD video pocket camcorder I think back to how times have changed.

This movie is such a classic I am surprised that it is ignored by TCM, the Independent Film Channel and every other cable movie channel out there. It is just unbelievable what a mistake they are all making in not showing this movie. The rant by Angela Lansbury after the party is one of her greatest scenes and I show it to everyone young person who think they know all there is to know about her. It seems none of them have even heard of this movie. What a shame that fact is.

"Something for Everyone"'s plot has already been described. So, I'll REVIEW it instead. Angela Lansbury wonderfully typlifies the aristocracy that existed at the end of WW II..and someplaces, even today...at least in some people's minds.

York's character, Konrad, is both charming and convincingly conniving doing whatever he has to do to achieve his goal. "Can you sleep with anyone?" , Helmut asks. "If I have to" Konrad answers.

Angela has two specific speeches that leave you breathless...making the dialog pure prose, or if you will, Arias. Her struting, expressions and attitude make the basic point of the film more obvious and comedic.

York is as smilingly disarming as the rouge as Matt Damon was in "Ripley --". Anthony Higgons as Helmut was convincing too. But something must have ended up on the editing floor that would have helped his participation.

Hal Prince's talent direction is wonderful, but either the camera direction or editing is somewhat ordinary at times.

Music theme is by John Kandor (Kandor-Webb who created "New York, New York" and "Cabaret")is fun, memorable and perfect for the film's style time and content. However, I wished Hal Prince had him underscore the film....at times the film is slow and needs some mood music.

"Something for Everyone" is an overseen classic - storywise and performance wise. I had the chance to express my opinion to Angela and she smiled wonderfully at me. York too told me he loved the character and the story and like me, wished the film got more notice.

Hal Prince's Something For Everyone is perhaps one of the most looked over American classics of the 70's. The blackest of comedies the title might, if taken literally, be misleading since it is, obviously NOT for everyone. Prince's theatrical touch can be felt and lends a strong hand in the telling of the tale and keeping tight reigns on what could easily have become an out-of-control experience (i.e., "Happy Birthday, Gemini"), a taut, thrillingly wry comedy – one of the best of its type. Combining the fantasy of fairy tale with the social repression and economic dire straits of a Post-II World II Bavaria the film provides a vastly entertaining (and darkly hilarious) look into subject matters verboten at the time of the tale including the Nazi issue, social pariahism, class distinction and sexual appetite.

The dichotomy between classes has never been more closely paralleled in film: on one hand there is the starving, eager and willing to do anything young Konrad (Michael York) and on the other the Countess von Ornstein – she of by gone nobility. Countess or now, she too is starving, clinging to a past which has not only faded, but threatens at any minute to disintegrate. Her prospects poor she does what she must. Lansbury's Countess is priceless and she plays it with an unlikely combination of superego and hopeless despair – and she is brilliant. A tour-de-force.

If released today – the film would be at the top of every best 10 list and be talked about salaciously at every Starbucks.

With nazis hiding in the woodwork, sexual weaponry, misplaced romantic feelings, murder, social climbing combining with delicious Bavarian countryside, castles, beer gardens, stunning mountain vistas and even Wagnerian opera, Prince gives us a fairy tale gone wrong. Wondrously, terribly and gloriously wrong.

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This movie tickled me to the bone.

I can laugh decades later just thinking about Angela Lansbury greedily but daintily scarfing down strawberries.

Michael York is infinitely sexy and sinister at the same time. Just the memory of his performance gives me goosebumps.

Everyone in the cast is such a juicy distinctive being and such fun to watch.

It seems funny ranking this movie up there with Citizen Kane as one of the greatest movies of all time, but in terms of sheer enjoyment, for me, it ties with Cabaret (another Michael York movie) as #1.

Angela Lansbury as a decadent noblewoman, glaring out into her shaky future is nothing short of sensational. One of the most entertaining performances ever put on film. She has to overcome two massive obstacles, wooden Michael York as a co-star and Broadway legend Harold Prince as her "film" director. She succeeds and overcomes both problems with the help of a scrumptious script and a personal zest that it's pure Lansbury. She has been, consistently, one of the most startling actresses to come out of Hollywood, she is, often, the only redeeming quality of some indifferent movies. Unfortunately, the enormous success of "Murder She Wrote" has overshadowed her powerful impact as an actress. To introduce her to a younger audience that knows her only as Jessica Fletcher is always a thrill. From "Gaslight" right up to "Nanny McPhee" As a piece of trivia...Did you know she was offered the part of Nurse Ratchet in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"?