Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1806 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Customer Reviews

Bring Fitzwilly to DVD
This is a great caper movie, and my favorite one to see at Christmas. It deserves to be released on DVD in widescreen format. I hope the powers that be release it soon.

Dick Van Dyke as a charming "Robin Hood" butler
Dick Van Dyke plays the title character of this 1967 comedy, a butler whose full name is Claude Fitzwilliam. He is in service to Miss Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), who comes from old money, which has now run out. Even worse, Miss Vicki is committed to a lot of philantrophic endeavors. However, Fitzwilly and the rest of the staff are dedicated to making sure she does not find out and towards that end they come up with creative (okay, criminal) ways of making money. Now, servants taking care of their mistress is an effrontery to Marxist thought if you are talking Karl, but if your leanings are more towards Groucho then you can appreciate the humor.

There is also a romantic subplot between Fitzwilly and Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon, in a credible first screen appearance for the co-star of television's "Get Smart"). But the part of this film that I remember most fondly is the "Dictionary for Dopes" that Miss Vicki is working on. Her idea is that people who do not know how to spell need a dictionary that makes it easier for them to find the correct spelling, working from all the possible phonetic spellings of a problematic word. The idea always appealed to me since my spelling is so atrocious that even spellcheckers are thwarted by my creativity, but there is also a nice little twist regarding Miss Vicki's dictionary as well. The project is what requires the hiring of Juliet, who cannot be entrusted to know what the rest of the staff is up to with their fun little capers.

This is an enjoyable film, mainly on the strength of Van Dyke's charming performance, which overcomes the dubious morality of the shenanigans that are going on. You will recognize a host of well-known character actors such as John McGiver, Cecil Kellaway, Norman Fell, Laurence Naismith and John Fielder. The score and song "Make Me Rainbows" are the work of young composer John Williams, who, for the last time, was credited as "Johnny Williams." Speaking of variations on a name, this film was known as "Fitzwilly Strikes Back" in the United Kingdom and was also released as "A Garden of Cucumbers."

Family Christmases Remembered
This is an excellent Christmas film for the nostalgic, as it does date back to the late sixties. There is charm and the Van Dyke mystic, plus a wonderful performance from (agent 99) Barbara Feldon. The plot is simple, the Butler (of course had to do it) must bring in money to keep the woman he works for (a mother figure to him) from knowing she was broke. He does this thru inventive criminal activity (stealing like only the rich can do). He must keep an outsider (the new secretary played by Barbara Feldon) from finding out and in the process falls in love, as does she, and so she doesn't run to the police when she finds out. I simply love the main caper, pulled at Gimbles department store pre-christmas. It is charming. Perhaps this was Gimbles answer to Macy's Miracle on 34th Street. It brings back my happy memories of Family Christmas time in the late sixties. A wonderful film!