Something for Everyone

I haven't seen this movie in a long time. I've seen it more than once, so I must have rented the VHS when it was available. I did see it when it was originally released theatrically. If you weren't that lucky, let me tell you, when Angela Lansbury appeared on screen about to board a train in her white satin traveling suit and matching (stewardess-style) cap, there was a collective gasp from the audience--admittedly mostly gay men. You'd never seen anything like it EVER. And you never saw anything like it again until Dynasty in the 80s.

Furthermore, Jane Carr utters one of the best lines in all of cinema history: "There's nothing like a bit of pre-breakfast chocolate cake."

The movie is pitch perfect, and I'd say required viewing for gay people, even though that theme is a small part of the movie. Hunt it down and see it! And pray for Criterion to get the rights!

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"?

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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Once upon a time there was a young, handsome, fair-haired commoner who dreamed of being a young, handsome, fair-haired prince. In fact, while the Britisher is bicycling through Austria, he sees the very castle described in the fairy tale picture book his mother gave him when he was young, and that he now carries with him at all times. Encouraged by this vision of splendour, the young drifter sets out to fulfill his life's dream.

Doesn't this sound like a lovely, whimsical, touchingly optimistic tale about believing in one's destiny and having the courage to seek it out? Normally, yes. But in the hands of director Hal Prince, this darkly comic tale takes another direction altogether. Michael York plays the clever, enigmatic young opportunist who is willing to seduce, charm, outmaneuver, even murder whoever he has to in order to become "king of the castle."

The afore-mentioned domain is inhabited by none other than the Countess Von Ornstein (the wonderfully eccentric Angela Lansbury) and her brood. The widow has fallen on hard times since the death of her husband and realizes she must marry into money once again to return to her former glory. But with a homosexual son and chubby, homely young teenage daughter left to carry on the family dynasty, prospects look truly abysmal.

To say any more would be a dastardly move on my part. Suffice it to say that the sharp, highly astute performances alone make this seldom-seen little gem worthwhile. There are enough twists and turns to keep things compelling from start to finish. Director Prince takes full advantage as well of the breathtaking Bavarian landscape.

York, as Konrad, has seldom had a meatier role as he first becomes a footman to the castle, then proceeds to eliminate all the other human elements that interfer with his rise to the social top. Lansbury steals every scene she is in, while given a number of deliciously wry monologues to remind viewers that the Jessica Fletcher character she played in "Murder She Wrote" was a popular move but a real step down. Jane Carr, who the year before gave a touching, timorous performance as the ill-fated student in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," does a 100% turnaround here as the dry, sardonic "plain Jane" daughter who is wise to York's game from the very start. And Anthony Higgins as the smitten gay son and Heidelinde Weis as an amorous young heiress are quite effective as two of Konrad's romantic pawns.

"Something for Everyone" definitely HAS something for everyone. A real find in my book.

One of my favorites of 1970, this intelligent script certainly took me my surprise back then. I've never been an Angela Lansbury fan (except for The Manchurian Candidate and Gaslight), but she's finally perfectly cast and Michael York actually had a persona back then (two years before Cabaret) and gave some interesting performances in the 1970's.

I imagine this is available on DVD and video. Even the unknown films of the 70's had some expert screenwriters and this one probably didn't even make a dime. Beautiful terrain and cinematography make this a delightful piece with real wit and class. An 8 out of 10! Best performance = A. Lansbury.