Customer Reviews

The Millionairess [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

FoxLorber should be adviced to immediately withdraw their DVD-version of "The Millionaires" from circulation! Softer than soft and paler than pale, but worst of all: a pan and scan copy of a CinemaScope film! Abominations like this should no longer be allowed on DVD! Either it's the correct aspect ratio, or nothing! For years, I've been waiting to see this flawed but entertaining film again, but after five minutes the disc was taken out and returned to the shop where I bought it. And they were fully understanding. FoxLorber have issued some great, eagerly awaited stuff on DVD, and I thank them for that, but please make sure that we soon can look forward to a version of this film mastered from a decent looking print - AND in CinemaScope!

When first reviewed, this movie didn't score particularly well. It's a bit of a star vehicle for the two main characters and is a bit light on plot. As a comedy it is amusing rather than side-splitting, but does manage to hold the attention. Where it scores is its attention to detail in the area of 1960's fashion. Sophia appears in any number of outfits, and looks gorgeous in all of them. Sellers works hard as an Indian doctor, but doesn't come over with his customary brilliance. De Sica is excellent in his role of a backstreet sweatshop owner, but it's the female lead that this film is all about. Sophia is simply stunning, which is enough reason to watch.

As a movie, it's not great. Amusing to watch once on late night tv but that's it. I would give it 2 stars - one for Sophia who's fabulous and the other because it is mildly funny. But I gave it three and suggest you buy it for one reason only: The Clothes.

OH Those GORGEOUS Clothes! Yes there are many historical films out there with tremendous costuming (Anna and the King, GWTW, The Ten Commandments, etc.) but for a non-historical film showing contemporary clothing this is simply the best. Don't get me wrong, I am awed by Adrian, and enjoy watching Edith Head's designs come alive on screen but this is the best film for costuming and clothing EVER.

Yes, yes it's not a reason for a film buff to buy it. But if you're studying fashion design, or are a clothing historian or just want to kick back one night and fill your head with scrumptious eye candy, this is it.

Nobody seems to have reviewed this film for the last 5 years, so here goes. This play is a curious hybrid: a blunt political and satirical message promoted via haute couture, the uniquely gorgeous Loren, and the hyper-talented Peter Sellers. There are also a large number of very able English character actors, as well as the charismatic Vittorio de Sica. I thought the role of Corelli, played by someone called Charles Hill, was actually played by Alfred Marks --- perhaps he used an alias. Derek Nimmo popped up, uncredited. It IS slow-paced, as one reviewer has remarked, but it does hold the interest, as another also noted. Difficult to say why. It's very stagy. In fact, I'm virtually certain it's based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, hence the political paradoxes. Did Mankowitz supply the extra dollop of Marxism? I thought it was also well-known that Sellers and Loren ignited like glue on the set; and perhaps this gives it such a strong undercurrent of non-explicit sensuality, intensifying the voyeuristic sensation. Well, all that equipment really is a treat. The ending is flat and very weak: it just fizzles out into nothing much, as though the script-writer simply couldn't think of a neat way of wrapping up the loose threads. Not exactly four-star, but better than Saving Private Ryan.

This is a very slow-paced comedy with very few smiles. But anytime you have Sophia, it's not a total loss. However, this DVD print looks like it was made from an old bad print. The color is very faded and the sound is of static quality. A very disapponting DVD.

Sophia Loren plays the daughter of a multi-millionaire who dies and she then up and marries her tennis instructor because of his "back hand". The instructor, who only married her for money runs off with another woman and Sophia is forced to take a look at herself and determine why, if she had so much more to offer her husband, did he up and choose someone else? She then contemplates suicide and it's upon trying to commit suicide that she meets Peter Sellers. Sellers plays a doctor in England of Indian descent who is devoted to helping the providing and treating the poor.
Sophia wants to build him a clinic with every modern convenience but the poor feel when they go there they're treated like another number. They even have to answer stupid questions like "sex". They feel the doctor should be able to take one good look and know whether they're male or female.
Sophia falls in love with this doctor who is unimpressed by her money and they make a bet ....she gives him $500 Lbs. He gives her 39 shillings.....within 3 months they are to meet again and find out what they did with their money. This seems to be the only way that either of them can determine if the other is actually worthy. I cannot imagine any man turning down a marriage proposal from Sofia Loren. I know I certainly would not. I have read the reviews and discovered that the American print is not good. I have the British version which is a region 2. It is a beautiful print of the film. The film appears to be just made and released. Sophia is absolutely breathtaking and Sellers proves he can be comical or dramatic. This movie has it's humor but also has life lessons within it's plot.
The great Vittorio Di Sica is on hand as a man who is running a sweat shop that makes pasta and within 3 months Sophia converts him into a very rich man. It seems the millionairess learned from her dad how to make money and she has a natural knack for doing that to every one. It's Sellers who is unimpressed about her financial status that drives her desire even more about getting him. It's a wonderful movie. I'm sorry others did not get to enjoy it.
Perhaps motion picture companies should go into their vaults and release oldies like this for people to enjoy a nostalgic time at the movies.

There are obvious flaws in this film. For starters, it suffers from extreme staginess. It's socialist message is not so much delivered but bludgeoned home. I give this film a pass because of the appealing performances by the film's leads, Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren. Sellers gives a terrific low-key turn as the sweet humanistic doctor. Loren is earthy yet manages to humanize the spoiled heiress she plays. As written, her character comes of as unappealing but Loren manages to engender empathy. Good supporting cast that includes Alistair Sim as Loren's barrister, Vittorio De Sica as a sweat shop owner, and Dennis Price("Kind Hearts and Coronets") as Loren's psychiatrist. Stanley Kubrick fans should note the presence of Miriam Karlin(the catwoman in "A Clockwork Orange") as De Sica's wife.

You WILL see Sophia Loren in black stockings and a girdle.

In my opinion, this is Sophia Loren second best movie (a boy on a dolphin is her best).

Too bad this is pan and scan .The film is utterly charming but the pan and scan detracts from everything particularly the sets and of course the actors .A letterboxed edition is badly needed .Surprising from the previously reliable Fox Lorber .I bought this without checking .Too bad .

Several years before the "Pink Panther" series began, Peter Sellers seems to have gone through a silly period. This has to be one of his silliest films, making it a wonder how he could go on to such success with the "Pink Panther," "Dr. Strangelove," and "Being There."

Movies, like anything else, are products of their time. In 1960, when this film was produced, the Cold War was in full swing and economic recession gripped the U. S. So humor may have been hard to come by, or at least, that's what I'm trying to tell myself. For this story to be based on the writing of Geo. Bernard Shaw, the Irish Marxist, an edge of irony might be expected. But, instead, what we get is a hopeless mishmash that is really not funny, ironic, or anything in between.

Comparing this film with the 1972 production of the same name, starring Maggie Smith, is hopeless. At least that movie has the witty dialogue and social edge one would expect of Shaw. The Peter Sellers-Sophia Loren version has almost none of that. It is just plain silly and a waste of time.

Giving this film one star is extremely generous. It has to be one of the poorest movies since Peter Ustinov tried to play Charlie Chan. Bad, bad, bad.