REVIEW: Once More, With Feeling! (1960)

Title: Once More, With Feeling!
Release Year: 1960
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Yul Brynner, Kay Kendall and Gregory Ratoff
Plot: A stubborn narcissistic musical prodigy is forced to change his selfish ways inorder to win back his wife.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: I love everything about this film and Yul Brynner starring in it - being the handsomest person who ever lived - was a given bonus!

The film was an adaptation of the 1958 play with the same name by Harry Kurnitz, who also assisted in the production of the film. The broadway starred Joseph Cotten (Victor) Arlene Francis (Dolly) and Walter Matthau (Maxwell).

I am so curious as to how that turned out to be. Cotten wasn't the best actor but he might have been different on stage. Matthau is a great comedian, but Ratoff's thick Russian accent played a huge part in making his lines funnier in the film, so I don't know if it could've been as good without it. Francis was always flirty on television and seemed to know how to get her way, so Dolly's character was similar to hers but I don't think she was attractive enough for people to swoon over her. Of course she was actually chosen because her husband Martin Gabel was the producer but anyway, it wasn't a Hollywood film, so she probably was a good choice. Too bad, I'll never know.

Minor details, like the location in which the story takes place, were changed for the film. The director Stanley Donen, had moved to London, after he fell in love with it while filming Indiscreet, 1958, so he decided to change the setting of this film to London, instead of Chicago - though filming took place in France.

I think basing the story in Europe was a better angle, since it is where the birth of classical music took place.

Characters:
Brynner had played Victor Fabian - the egotistical and eccentric symphony conductor - to a t, and yet again proved to have possessed acting abilities exceeding that of any actor. Eventhough I was used to seeing him in dramatic roles, which he played with great precision, through this role I learned that he was capable of anything. Comical roles don't necessarily show acting skill, but great acting can be seen through comical roles, if they're not often played.

Although I'm never satisfied with the heroines that were cast opposite Brynner, I eventually accepted this one. Kay Kendall's acting was good for the role of Dolly Fabian, but the role required an exceptionally beautiful woman for it to be believable - that everyone drooled over her and accepted her impossible proposals. Then again, she was much more attractive than Francis. Of course, just like Francis's connections with the producer of the play, Kendall was cast because she was a close friend of Kurnitz's. Anyway, it turned out that, except for her annoying gruff screams, her acting wasn't so bad.

This was actually Kendall's last film. She died shortly after it was completed.
I read that when Rex Harrison (her husband) learned from her doctor that she had Leukaemia, he hid it from her and instead made her believe she had iron deficiency.
I do believe when someone lives without worries, no matter how ill they are, it surely won't show on their face. Maybe that's why I couldn't see any traces of her illness in her acting. If she was in any pain - for her death was approaching - it was obvious that she herself ignored it.

After more than half the film was finished, she did finally discover her illness after collapsing on set. She was then hospitalised and Donen decided to replace her, but Brynner urged against it.
Kendall was brave enough to pull through the rest of the filming, but unfortunately couldn't taste the fruits of her labour and passed away in 1959, before the film's release.

Gregory Ratoff, playing Maxwell Archer, the sly agent, was hilarious. He made me belly laugh all through the film with his "May I (this and that happen to me) if I'm not telling the truth" remarks.

Everyone was brilliant in this film, including minor characters, except for the 21 year old girl at the beginning. She was the worst "actress" I've ever seen.

Fashion:
Kendall's wardrobe was designed by Hubert de Givenchy himself.

Although I loved the outfits, the last dress she wore was a huge mistake. The dress was so big on her, that I almost mistook it for a tent. Her hideous hairstyle didn't help either.

Music:
Yul's character is a musical prodigy who grew up listening to classical genuises (like himself).

 

As a classical music fan, I was very satisfied to find music by Beethoven, Brahms, Tschaikovsky and Wagner - among others - played.

One of the funniest things about Victor Fabian, was whenever he listened to music, it would be blaring out of the speakers. It's the most unconventional way to listen to what is often seen as soothing music, but that's part of his unmindful personality, I mean "charm" hehe.

Art:
As the film was very comical, naturally so was Victor Fabian's home. I loved that his narcissism was transparent through his portraits. His house was filled with artwork of himself and none of his wife, nor of them together. In most of the scenes before he starts saying anything, he stands infront of an artwork and mimicks it and sometimes he just sits and stares at them in amazement. Of course as the story progresses, he stops noticing the art because the feeling of losing his wife made him less self-obsessed.

There were many styles of art because each piece of artwork was inspired by popular artists. Too bad I don't know enough about art to pick out the similarities.You can view some on this interview:

I wish I understood French so I'd know what the heck he's saying hehe.

This film is a must see for Yul Brynner fans or anyone with a sense of humour. It's a shame the film isn't as well known as other classic comedies because it's one of the best