Product Details

• Actors: Maggie Smith, Alec McCowen, Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Stephens, Cindy Williams
• Directors: George Cukor
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304005970
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,317 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

The steady hand of George Cukor and the grand manner of Maggie Smith bring Graham Greene's lovely novel to spiffy life. Smith, fresh off her 1970 Oscar® win for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, plays the larger-than-life Aunt Augusta, free spirit and committed eccentric (a role originally considered for Katharine Hepburn). She drags her starchy nephew (Alec McCowen), whose biggest adventure in life thus far has been tending his fine English garden, into a series of globe-trotting escapades. Cukor, one of Hollywood's most accomplished veterans at this point, keeps the episodic action moving while incorporating flashbacks to Augusta's flamboyant career as a bon vivant. He also creates a stage for Maggie Smith, who swells into the largeness and age of the role--she's actually almost a decade younger than Alec McCowen. Equally good is McCowen, who did delicious work as the dogged inspector in Hitchcock's Frenzy the same year. --Robert Horton

From the Back Cover

From Academy Award-winning director George Cukor comes an enchanting tale of an unconventional lady who brings style, class and grace to smuggling, hustling and swindling. At her sister's funeral, Aunt Augusta (Oscar winner Maggie Smith)-a spirited woman of indeterminate years-befriends her bereft nephew, Henry (Alec McCowen)-a stodgy middle-aged banker who's only passion is caring for his prize dahlias. But before poor Henry can say "green thumb" twice, Aunt Augusta whisks him into a series of bizarre misadventures, which transport them throughout Europe and transform Henry into a virile and vibrant man about town.
Scripted by Jay Presson Allen and Hugh Wheeler from the best-selling novel by Graham Green, Travels with My Aunt is a "delightful, sophisticated fare" (Movies on TV and Videocassette). Co-starring Lou Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentlemen) and Cindy Williams (American Graffiti), this "grand rollicking adventure... is a hilarious yet poignant offbeat romantic comedy that is a triumph of exquisite style and sensibility" (The Los Angeles Times).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious, delectable, a feast of magical characters on film, July 26, 2000

By	Kali "bengaligirl" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Maggie Smith is deliciously wonderful as the unconventional Augusta, a woman with a shady and colorful past. Arriving at the funeral of her sister after man years absence, she plucks her staid stick-in-the-mud nephew from his humdrum existence in suburban England and drags him with her on a journey of self-discovery, introducing him to her many Bohemian friends as well as her West Indian lover Wordsworth played brilliantly by Louis Gossett Junior. Augusta's nephew is played with excellent British stuffiness by Alec McCowan who finds out to his horror that there is more to his own past than that of his Aunt. Compelled by a sense of duty mingled with confusion he sets out to help the madcap Augusta in her bid to raise the funds to free one of her old flames Mr. Visconti who is being held to ransom by a band of desperate men. This film is delectably funny, quirkily humorous in a sardonic come sartorial way whilst at the same time maintaining equilibrium in the form of its characters who are larger than life but totally human and believable. Maggie Smith however steals the show with her portrayal of Augusta a woman with a past as colorful as a patchwork quilt. There are little twists and turns that add to the piquant essence of the whole film, such as Henry's true parentage both maternal and paternal, and Augusta's own self-interpretation of her life and actions over the years. The final scene will bring tears of laughter to your eyes and you should be left with a good feeling because "Travels with my Aunt" is a feel good with a bit of a difference.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels With My Aunt, December 13, 1999

By	Lynn (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

Though quite hammy at times, Maggie Smith delivers a stellar performance as Aunt Augusta in "Travels With My Aunt." She takes her nephew on a series of zany adventures all over the world. It's definitely a fun way to spend an evening!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sheer Delight., March 30, 2005

By	the wizard of uz (Studio City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Directed by George Cukor and though it's not in the same league as his famous hits such as " The Philadelphia Story " or " My Fair Lady " I still have to agree with every other reviewer on Amazon and give this little known gem 5 stars.

Maggie Smith plays Aunt Augusta, a wild septuagenarian scoundrel who incarnates life itself. No small acting feat, especially when she also portrays her as a teenager in flashbacks. Even with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by comparison, this is still her greatest achievement. Robert Stephens, her sometime real life husband, another great actor and co-star from The Prime plays her one true love, Mr. Visconti.

Too many magical moments to mention, though the scene when we first encounter Visconti at 'the most romantic railway station in Europe' as the present dissolves back to their first meeting is indescribable.

Oh yes, I haven't told you the plot have I?

Well let's see Alec Mc Cowan plays Henry, her nephew ("Be that the whole truth, woman?"--Louis Gosset) a middle aged banker who is set in his ways and---

---Oh, never mind! Just leave your dahlias behind in the garden to fend for themselves and climb aboard the Orient Express with Aunt Augusta.

And by all means, go first class. You never know when poverty might strike, like influenza.