Customer Reviews

The V.I.P.s [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The V.I.P.s" was one of the first of the 1960's looks into the lives of globe trotting elite that filled the popular magazines of the time. This film in particular focused its main attention on what was without a doubt the most famous couple of the entire 1960's decade, super stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Made in the aftermath of the 2 year filming of the monumental production of "Cleopatra" and while Elizabeth and Richard where still just travelling companions prior to their marriage, "The V.I.P.s" tells the glossy story of the interwoven lives of a group of diverse people who find themselves stranded at London Airport because of the heavy fog which has grounded all flights indefinately. Each has their own particular reason for needing to get to their destination by a certain time and most of the action focuses on the dilemmas that they now find themselves in. Prominent of course in this story is the triangle formed by Elizabeth Taylor playing Frances Andros who is planning to leave her distant husband Billionaire Paul Andros (Richard Burton) and go off with Louis Jourdan who plays an ageing playboy Marc Champselle. While far from being Elizabeth's or Richard's most memorable work I still feel both are excellent in their roles which in some ways mirrored their own news worthy lives at the time. Rarely has Elizabeth looked more beautiful than in this role with her lavish outfits and fur hooded jackets that create a stunning effect. Burton also is effective as the tortured man with supposedly everything who is in danger of losing his lovely wife through neglect.

The supporting cast of "The V.I.P.s" is superb with first and foremost the wonderful Dame Margaret Rutherford stealing every scene she is in as a penniless Duchess bound for Florida to do some work in order to maintain her ancestral home. Her performance as the forgetful but very loveable old lady constantly misplacing her passport or sleeping pills is a total delight and quite rightly won her the 1963 Academy award for best supporting actress. Orson Welles in a rare 60's performance plays a very funny supporting role as a movie producer desperate to get out of England by midnight so as to avoid British taxes. Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith round out the cast as a business man and his personal secretary who find themselves in a crisis over a bank loan that needs to be fulfilled in New York. Maggie Smith hadn't come into her own as a performer at this early stage in her film career however she is very effective as the super efficient but mousy assistant who secretly loves her boss and lives her life through her work with him.

The chief focus of this film will always be on the central story concerning Taylor,Burton, and Jourdan but also enjoy the film for the wonderful supporting performances that are all gems in their own varied ways. Ably directed by Anthony Asquith to maximise the potential of each performer "The V.I.P.s' made a fortune for MGM upon its release in 1963 and really began the incredible string of successes the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton enjoyed with their work during the rest of the decade. Elizabeth's beauty is something to behold in this film and if you like beautiful productions dealing with the problems of the beautiful people then "The V.I.P.s' is a great way to spend a couple of entertaining hours. Enjoy!

The V.I.P. lounge of the London Airport is cunningly designed to exploit the real-life Burton--Taylor romance... In itself, the film is competent rather than stimulating...

Liz (very lovely to look at) once again is the neglected wife, comforting herself with a lover... When he's threatened by his wife's departure, the husband, who has given diamonds instead of affection, shows he cares... Liz is unyielding, however; she wants him to suffer... Only when Burton decides to kill himself and she finds out does she realize he needs her... The couple are reunited: despite their great wealth, despite his previous indifference, despite her temptations (Louis Jourdan is waiting in the wings), they are respectable, conventional people after all...

The inevitable reconciliation is reached by means of improbable coincidences... But the details hardly matter... The Burtons behave like stars, he shamelessly working his speeches as though they were Shakespearean arias, she being very dignified and remote, on her best lady-like behavior after "Cleopatra." At the end, she has a tearful scene that gives her the kind of torrential emoting she had practiced since "National Velvet" and "The Courage of Lassie;" for the rest, she's cool and serene, her face undisturbed by normal human expression... Playing an instigator of male insecurity, she's not, for a change, altogether sympathetic here...

The Burtons by no means dominate the movie, and again, as in "Cleopatra," the chemistry isn't quite there... He has that deep sonorous voice he's so immensely proud of; she's working with her high, little-girl breathiness... He's stage-trained, an emphatic classical actor... She's movie-trained, skillful at not giving the camera more than it can absorb... His bombastic language and her movie-fashioned subtlety do not mix; often they don't seem to be occupying the same movie space...

Burton was one of the finest classical actors of his generation, but as a movie actor in movie star material, he was no match for his wife... When they have good scripts, with equally weighted parts, as in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," and "The Taming of the Shrew," they are truly responsive to each other...

In "The V.I.P.s" Burton gives too much and Taylor just barely gives enough, but it doesn't matter... It's Old Hollywood pretentious and a big-cast movie like this is only as good as its supporting actors... Maggie Smith, as the unsophisticated secretary with a crush on her boss, and Margaret Rutherford, as the eccentric duchess, stole the show and won a Best Supporting Oscar...

This l963 all-star homage to the l932 classic, "Grand Hotel" doesn't quite match the old Garbo-Barrymore masterpiece. But it's still tremendous fun with an all-star cast, trying to out-act the other. Liz Taylor had just married Richard Burton and this was, in fact, the first movie they made together after Cleopatra. Liz looks ravishing in her silk gowns and Alexandre de Pairs hairdos. She's having an affair with Louis Jordan whose breath was reportedly so hideous in real life that Liz had to wear hidden nose plugs. Richard Burton is subdued but charismatic as her billionaire husband. Margaret Rutherford is a knockout as the poverty-stricken duchess/countess. Rod Taylor is so gorgeous and sexy you can understand his secretary's (maggie smith) glazed-eyed adoration of him. Orson Welles makes a typically hammy cameo as a HOllywood producer with Elsa Martinelli his current favorite starlet. Fantastic musical score, with each star having their own motiff. Knockout fashions by Givenchy/Edith Head/etc. Tremendous gloss and style. Wonderful pic to watch on a rainy day (which in the movie is a foggy day which keeps all planes from leaving London's airport--where all the action occurs). Might to want to watch this, along with "Grand Hotel" and then the Rod Taylor (yes, the fabulous, gorgeous Rod)in the swanky, more hard-edged "Hotel" which plays occasionally on American Movie Classics. But you simply gotta see Liz in her post-Cleopatra effort. Her beauty is still surreal.

Okay, okay... Maybe the Vips isn't the best film ever made. Maybe it wasn't even the best film the Burtons made together (what can surpass Virginia Woolf?), but I was entertained every minute of this film. By giving more importance to the many sub-plots made the long expanses of Elizabeth-Richard less overwhelming.

I am 62 years old and the movies made during the era of this film are familiar and comfortable for me. I enjoy the "soap-opera" style and all the money that used to be poured into glamorous films with big stars in lead and supporting roles. I rather miss the alure and illusions that Hollywood (and other Movie Studios worldwide) used to create and maintain through the "Star System.". I liked watching Actors that I recognized and admired.

Besides... The fabulous Emerald and Diamond earings (and matching broach) that Ms. Taylor wore in the film were her own. She bought them as a gift to herself for making The Vips. The Emeralds were valued at 5 times what she earned making this film.

Dame Margaret and Dame Maggie are two very strong reasons to see this film.

Personally, I have always thought that Dame Elizabeth should have been granted a "National Treasure" Status. It's not too late.

this movie was successful because of the love affair of liz and richard after their "cleopatra" encounter. the story of "the v.i.p.'s " is well crafted. it is the stories of different characters who found themselves stuck in a london airport because of the london fog. the climax is very touching and the story line is very credible. it has a superb all star cast who showed great acting prowess. highly recommended.

The VIPs is a criminally ignored masterpiece of set decoration, though the acting leaves a lot to be desired. Orson Welles makes fun of his own reputation as a spoiled and egotistical director, but it's largely painful to watch thinking of how many great movies he never got to make because people believed the role was for real. Because he is only in the movie to provide the ultimate plot twist for a more interesting subplot involving duchess Margaret Rutherford, the role might as well have been played by Stringer Davis--or left out of the film altogether. I suppose his appearance casts a cold eye for the 1950s-1960s mania for international film-making, during which time many, many movies were set overseas for tax reasons, but then again that what he was all about, wasn't it, the nomad, the cosmopolitan Mr Arkadin, man without a country. I wonder what country The VIPs was actually filmed in, the fogged in airport looks glamorous and evocative, reminding today's viewers there must have been an era in which a plane trip was something worth getting dressed up for.

Elizabeth Taylor takes advantage of this by wearing a giant turban hat, like a beehive, and an enormous, striking coat. She's tiny and determined as she moves this exaggerated outfit down streaming acres of Pan Am industrial carpeting. I saw this as a boy and always wanted to go to Heathrow. Imagine my surprise when I did go there, and bad connections forced me to spend the night at the airport, looking for the kind of glamour Taylor and Louis Jourdan seem to pick up everywhere they go. Even Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith, desperately strapped for cash, and Margaret Rutherford, poor as a churchmouse, find themselves in vast cathedral-like spaces of cultural amenity, cocktails proffered sympathetically, someone to fuss at their every need and the décor a Vincente Minnelli dream of throw pillows in three contrasting 60s colors. (I did wind up having a manicure at midnight from a Polish emigree.) I have to confess that every time the scenario dwelt on the Taylor-Burton-Jourdan love triangle I dozed off a little, till we hit on the idea of placing wagers on how many minutes into the movie would it take for Taylor to change expression. For the record it doesn't happen until 1.27.13, but keep your eyes peeled, it's a doozy.

This l963 all-star homage to the l932 classic, "Grand Hotel" doesn't quite match the old Garbo-Barrymore masterpiece. But it's still tremendous fun with an all-star cast, trying to out-act the other. Liz Taylor had just married Richard Burton and this was, in fact, the first movie they made together after Cleopatra. Liz looks ravishing in her silk gowns and Alexandre de Pairs hairdos. She's having an affair with Louis Jordan whose breath was reportedly so hideous in real life that Liz had to wear hidden nose plugs. Richard Burton is subdued but charismatic as her billionaire husband. Margaret Rutherford is a knockout as the poverty-stricken duchess/countess. Rod Taylor is so gorgeous and sexy you can understand his secretary's (maggie smith) glazed-eyed adoration of him. Orson Welles makes a typically hammy cameo as a HOllywood producer with Elsa Martinelli his current favorite starlet. Fantastic musical score, with each star having their own motiff. Knockout fashions by Givenchy/Edith Head/etc. Tremendous gloss and style. Wonderful pic to watch on a rainy day (which in the movie is a foggy day which keeps all planes from leaving London's airport--where all the action occurs). Might to want to watch this, along with "Grand Hotel" and then the Rod Taylor (yes, the fabulous, gorgeous Rod)in the swanky, more hard-edged "Hotel" which plays occasionally on American Movie Classics. But you simply gotta see Liz in her post-Cleopatra effort. Her beauty is still surreal.

The VIPS is in a word overdone, overacted, and a heavily veiled soap opera... Burton, Taylor, and Jordan all give performances way beneath their normal high quality range. These three seem to be sleepwalking through the production. At least Taylor looks wonderful; that's something. Fortunately, the film is saved by the terrific Margaret Rutherford as the Duchess, who walks off with the entire production and an Academy Award...Brava!!! In all fairness, Maggie Smith gives her usual solid performance;but it is Rutherford's film.

Taylor and Burton were at the height of their passion for each other when this was filmed. It's fun to watch such a talented cast, which includes the funny and incomparable Margaret Rutherford, the sexy Rod Taylor, the charming Louis Jourdan, and the perfect Maggie Smith when she was a young woman and not a character actress yet. This is high-class soap opera but well done, and Rutherford provides a splash of needed comic relief. I've really missed out by never being invited into a VIP lounge in an airport, apparently! Just remember, Taylor and Burton were like Tracy and Hepburn, Olivier and Leigh, Branagh and Thompson, Newman and and Woodward, Brad and Angelina. Magnetic and fun to watch knowing their chemistry in real life. Next to Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf, I think this is my favorite Taylor/Burton film.

This adaptation of Terrence Rattigan's play works or at least it worked for me. Much like Rattigan's "Separate Tables", "The V.I.P.'s" gathers a group of disparate individuals in a secluded setting and over the course of time these guarded characters shed layers of their personalities. The film cleverly juxtaposes drama and comedy for a delicious stew. Liz Taylor gives a good account as a neglected industrialist's wife and goes miles to show why she was considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The best parts are the supporting ones offered by Orson Welles' as a tax evading film producer, Margaret Rutherford as a dotty ducchess and most notably a young Maggie Smith as a shy aide to an Australian tractor magnate. Nothing groundbreaking here but a good way to while two hours away.