Bottom line, which version of DARLING LILI is the more worthy one: the musical version Blake said he was forced to make, or the one without music that Blake actually prefers & is generally considered to be superior?
shareI guess the longer one wins out, but still, this is a film that shows where Hollywood was at in 1968-1970. Movie-making by committee rarely produces a successful product and this is no exceptoin. There is enough talent here to launch a rocket, yet the whole thing fails to hold together. The thought was after THE SOUND OF MUSIC throw money and Julie Andrews in anything and cash registers will be ringing. What the powers that be at Paramount did not understand was that SOUND OF MUSIC was a proven property, a succesful Broadway play with a begining, a middle and an end, with rising action and several dramatic climaxes. DARLING LILI looks lke frazzled film making - a musical, a love story, a spy story, a Clueasau film, a WWI adventure, a spoof. Now Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards can do all of the above but they cannot do them all at the same time in the same movie. More is the shame because there are such good things in DARLING LILI.
shareI believe that the Directors cut of the film is the better version (as opposed to the Roadshow version). This is the version that was released on DVD with the deleted scenes in the bonus section.
The film-as made by Edwards-was supposed to be a comedy with music (much like VICTOR/VICTORIA). The studio had other ideas and took the film and put as much into it as was filmed, thereby ruining the initial intent of Edwards and making a disaster of the, otherwise, good movie.
I`ve alwas believed that if the studio had let Edwards alone that DARLING LILI would have been as much of a hit as VICTOR/VICTORIA was 12 years later.
The musical vers IS a weird combination of happy-go-lucky music and serious war story. I knew it would be a little wacky right from the start... Turner Classic version starts with FIVE minutes of Overture, with solid black background, then another FOUR minutes of Miss Julie singing in a little tiny circle, surrounded by black background, then we get pulled into the film. Oscar nominations were for best costumes and best musical scores. Must have been a fun film to make... was filmed in some great locations acc to imdb. Note the various run times - TCM film database has it listed at 136 minutes, which is already pretty long. IMDB shows 107 and 143 min versions. One reviewer on imdb also references 113 and 190 min versions. Music by Mancini, who also did the music for "Charade", and in several sections, you can hear very similar melodies used here. Trivia section shows they wanted Benny Hill to play a role here...too bad they didnt get him.
ksf-2
The "director's cut" of DARLING LILI had music - just not as much as the original roadshow version. Blake Edwards' cut eliminated the extraneous "Little Birds" number (sung by a children's choir), and its loss was a gain. However, also lost were a number of flying sequences (introducing the Major Larrabee character) which looked spectacular on the big screen at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome theater.
The "director's cut" is a better, tighter film, but the original roadshow version had its pleasures - though I wouldn't count "The Little Birds" among them.
I agree. I also think that the film was almost destroyed by the the terrible antics of Lance Percival's character and thankfully most of the bufoonery has been eliminated from the DVD version. The 'Little Bird's' number is OK but I agree that it was completely extraneous in the original version. It's quite strange that Darling Lili, to my knowledge, never shows up on any UK television station....maybe due to copyright issues?.
shareI have the G rated version and it ran 136 minutes off Comcast Channel Flix on 12/10/2010
shareThe director's cut is definitely the better version on the whole. It's tighter, more focused and faster-moving. There are 4 scenes I prefer in the longer version though: the extended scene at the Cafe Can Can where Lili meets Youngblood Carson and the rest of the Eagle Squadron and they all sing another rendition of "It's A Long Way to Tipperary", the SOUND OF MUSIC-ish "Little Birds" Number, the closeup of Lili after von Ruger suggests "Crepe Suzette" is another woman and her flashback montage, and the scene at Chateau Chantilly (later used in the James Bond film A VIEW TO A KILL) where Lili receives the French Legion of Honor medal and they sing "La Marseilles". Thankfully, they're all on the deleted scenes of the "Director's Cut" DVD.
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