A Matter of Time

I saw this when it first came out and haven't seen it since. I do remember that some of it was typically Minnelli-beautifully composed and gorgeous, other parts were obviously stock footage and not very attractive at all. The whole film had a disjointed air to it which wasn't surprising since it was well known before the movie was released that "the powers that be" took the film out of Minnelli's hands in post-production. What a shame-even if the film wasn't first rate I certainly would've preferred to see Minnelli's version. I vividly remember the "Do it Again" number. I thought it was beautifully done and the equal of Minnelli's work in his heyday. I've never seen it included in any of the documentaries on Minnelli's work and it should be. Just because the movie as a whole isn't perfect it doesn't mean that some parts aren't worthwhile.

Film star Nina (Liza Minnelli) remembers her early days as a maid in an Italian hotel. There are many eccentric guests including Contessa Sanziani (Ingrid Bergman) who is longtime estranged from her husband Count Sanziani (Charles Boyer).

This is the last film from director Vincente Minnelli, Liza's father. This is rather flat. Maybe it could have been turned into a full fletch musical. Liza keeps singing but as a musical, it keeps holding back. Maybe it could strip away all the jumping around to get to a simple female friendship story. There is a dullness to the rundown hotel set. The various eccentric guests have an uncontrolled randomness to it all. The 'rape' scene shocked me at first. It's a bit of a mess. There is a good film here somewhere.

So much talent behind and in front of the camera to lay such a big egg. The whole thing reeks of decay and that seeps into the tenor of the film. There's no strong narrative flow to the film just a collection of scenes that lead nowhere. Liza is all over the place and only registers in a positive way twice, in the final hospital scene and most of all during the musical performance of the song Do It Again-really her only powerful moment. Of interest more for its cast of second generation performers than any merit or entertainment value of the actual film. Beside Liza there's a brief appearance of Isabella Rossellini in her screen bow and as Liza's cousin Tina Aumont, who was the daughter of B movie star Maria Montez and Jean-Pierre Aumont. Nonsensical mess was the unfortunate swan song of both Vincente Minnelli and Charles Boyer. Such a missed opportunity.

Ingrid Bergman is excellent in this unfortunate misfire, gruesomely "re-edited" by the clueless American-International studio. Vincente Minnelli disowned the finished project, and other directors (such as Martin Scorsese) took out ads in Variety protesting the re-cutting of the project. Liza's performance is all over the place, although she does have a few affecting moments. Overall, an intriguing mess.

Director Vincente Minnelli's final bow--one that was taken out of his hands by nervous studio chiefs and rearranged completely, resulting in disaster. The main plot, about an eccentric Contessa taking an Italian chambermaid under her wing, is fairly intriguing and well-performed (especially by a luminous Ingrid Bergman). However, the film, as it now stands, stupidly uses all the main action as a flashback, framed by useless footage of the chambermaid--now an international celebrity--riding around in limos and giving gooey advice to fawning youngsters. It's a near-travesty. I did enjoy the bits of fantasy that allow Liza Minnelli's character to travel about in her imagination, putting herself in the Contessa's place; and much of Geoffrey Unsworth's cinematography is truly evocative (like all those black birds taking flight at once as seen from Bergman's window). But the bungled editing doesn't allow this thing to ever come together or absorb the audience. It's no wonder this was a box-office failure. *1/2 from ****