53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of My Favorite Classic Movies, December 2, 2003
This review is from: Reluctant Debutante [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I just love this movie. It's one I watch over and over.
Sandra Dee plays Jane, a young American woman who goes to London to live with her father (Rex Harrison) and new stepmother, Lady Broadbent (Kay Kendall). When Lady Broadbent finds out her snooty relative Mabel Claremont (Angela Lansbury) is launching her daughter in the very last London Season, Lady Broadbent is determined that Jane will have a perfect coming out. Though Jane tries, she is bored to tears by the dull men she meets, until she sees a gorgeous drummer with a very questionable reputation.
This is a very humorous movie, and one of the first that Sandra Dee was in, so this is a great flick for fans of her work (another of my favorites with her is "Gidget"). Rex Harrison, as the charmingly tolerant father & husband, is probably best known for the roll of Henry Higgens in the movie of "My Fair Lady," and if you liked him in that classic, you'll likely enjoy this movie as well. And of course, a much younger Angela Landsbury is very fun to watch as she and Kay Kendall play off each othr as highly competitive but exceedingly polite social rivals.
This is a great one to watch with your girlfriends, or your mother/daughter, or to just curl up on the coach with some good ice cream on a Sunday afternoon. Being a movie from the 1950s, it's very tame, with no course language or nudity, and the sexual content doesn't go beyond a few kisses, though there are a few implications when Lord & Lady Broadbent speculate on what could be keeping their daughter out so late with her young man.
I'd also recomend it to those who enjoy the subtle dry social wit of the recent movies based on the works of Oscar Wilde: "An Ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being Earnest".
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Old-Fashioned Politically Unself-Conscious Fun, January 25, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Reluctant Debutante [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Imagine Patty Duke going to live with Cathy's parents in London, instead of vice versa, and you have the idea for the movie - straight down to the Frankie Avalon type with whom she falls in love. It is a great movie to look at - incredible furnishings, rich clothes, impeccable manners. It is enjoyable mainly due to Harrison and Kendall (whose pratfalls and facial expressions are worth the price alone). When Dee and Saxon are on screen, it is frankly drippy. All the viewer's sympathies are with the "morally wrong" Kay Kendall who simply steals the movie. It also has a great "wouldn't I like that life?" quality to it all. The world of debutantes and balls, of secretaries arranging all one's social appointments, of unthinking wealth more than sufficient for this lifetime, yet not impinging on one's enjoyment of all. The movie has a wonderful politically unaware feel to it - sort of "Before the Fall" of old mores and manners and dress of the mid-60s. It's not non-stop laughter, but amusing all the way - and you'll remember Kendall and Harrison's charm.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful 1950's British Society Comedy, March 24, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Reluctant Debutante [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE" is the kind of champagne that is unfrotunately no longer served. Based on the London stage hit, this American made (MGM) production brings together the elements of both a young American star (Sandra Dee) and two consummate British performers, Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall, married in this film and also at the time. With support from a handsome John Saxon and a delightful Angela Lansbury, as a cat-in-tweeds, this film serves as testament to the stylish, sophistcated comedies of manners which are staples of the British theatre and cinema. More than anything, this film is proof of Kay Kendall's talents as a comedienne who turns every gesture into a witty ballet of wit and grace, and as a reminder that her death in 1959 robbed the cinema of one of its brightest talents. This film recalls a time when pictures were lovely to look at, delightful to the ear, and aspired to be nothing more than charming distraction. While Dee and Saxon are the weaker links, Kendall and Harrison are to be studied as examples of impeccable timing and chemistry.
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