Product Description

A German spy masquerades as a singer during World War I to obtain secrets from an American pilot and she begins to fall in love with him.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: G
Release Date: 25-OCT-2005
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9724 in DVD
• Brand: ANDREWS,JULIE
• Released on: 2005-10-25
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 136 minutes

Amazon.com
A welcome new DVD life might be in store for Darling Lili, an underrated film whose reputation is mostly locked as one of the big, expensive flops that helped reshape Hollywood at the turn of the seventies. Julie Andrews was still at the height of her popularity when she began shooting this musical-comedy-drama with new husband Blake Edwards directing; budget overruns, studio interference, and the changing box-office climate all doomed the movie's disastrous 1970 release.

Even fans of the picture would have to admit that the weird storyline had something to do with it, too. Andrews plays a World War I singer in London and Paris who's actually a spy for the Germans (part of her cover is singing popular patriotic songs, such as "Pack Up Your Troubles" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"). Her new assignment is to get information from a famous pilot (Rock Hudson), but naturally she falls in love with him along the way. The movie's WWI aerial sequences (shot in Ireland) are a little like the film's approach: soaring, graceful, and disconnected from any carnage that might be happening in the trenches. However, if you can appreciate Edwards' slapstick prowess and commitment to the screwball-romance style of filmmaking, there's much to admire.

For one thing, Edwards photographs Julie Andrews with the loving devotion of a new husband. For another, his feeling for the widescreen frame as a big playground for lush color and busy action is well-served by the DVD release--this is a visually gorgeous movie. The new songs by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer include the superb opening number--evocatively shot--called "Whistling in the Dark." The DVD is billed as a "Director's Cut," but is shorter than the original release, a result of Edwards himself reportedly retooling the picture after 1970 (the disc has a whopping hour's worth of additional scenes). Whichever way it's sliced, Darling Lili was always going to be a strangely mixed movie, with Pink Panther-style bits sitting next to Mata Hari skullduggery. Fans of Julie Andrews and the vanished elegance of visual storytelling will find much to savor nevertheless. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

DVD Finally Rescheduled for October Release!
Paramount Home Video had originally scheduled to release "Darling Lili" on DVD in April, but it was pulled from the release schedule with no explanation. Now they have just announced that the film will be released October 25, 2005!

As you probably know, this movie bombed when released in 1970, and it was never released on home video in any format. However, anything with Julie Andrews in it has a cult following, and I've always felt that it was just a matter of time before this film was finally made available.

Darling Lili is not a great movie by any means, but it's quite enjoyable with pretty music, nice cinematography, costumes, and set design. The story's not especially memorable, but Julie and Rock Hudson have good chemistry and give it their best shot. This was the sort of sophisticated, light comedy/drama that was popular in the Sixties and, if made just a few years earlier, would have starred either Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, or Shirley MacLaine. However, by the time of its release in 1970, this type of film had fallen on hard times--plus being a musical did not help its appeal at the box office.

Let's hope that Paramount decides to finally release the full-length version on DVD soon (as opposed to the shortened version that turns up occasionaly on cable) and gives us a beautiful transfer that is sharp, saturated, and free from debris.

"Often I think this sad old world is whistling in the dark..."
DARLING LILI is a positive delight, though sadly the film was a huge box-office flop and virtually sunk Andrews' film career until "10", S.O.B. and VICTOR/VICTORIA came along a decade later. This film stars Andrews as Lili Smith, a beautiful and adored singing star in England who moonlights as a WW1 German spy. One night, "Uncle Kurt" (Jeremy Kemp) gives Lili her latest assignment: Major Bill Larrabee (Rock Hudson). Lili must make Larrabee fall in love with her, and hopefully let slip some important confidential information that could come in handy for the Germans. Once Lili has Bill firmly in her sights, it becomes clear that this is not her usual "kiss-and-tell" seduction job....she has truly fallen in love with him.

Julie Andrews simply glows as Lili, and delivers a deft performance. Although she indeed plays a spy working for the "Enemy", the audience oddly enough loves her anyway and wants her to escape in the tension-filled final sequence. Rock Hudson is a comical and romantic delight as Larrabee. The support cast includes Lance Percival, Gloria Paul, Jacques Marin, Doreen Keogh and Bernard Kay.

The musical score by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer is truly beautiful, one of the best of the entire decade. When Andrews emerges out of the blackness in the first scene to sing "Whistling Away the Dark", it is indeed one of those chill-inducing moments. Andrews' musicality in this film was quite accomplished; she sings with a smokey timbre in her voice which she rarely displayed before or after DARLING LILI. Other choice moments come in the Music Hall-schmaltz of "I'll Give You Three Guesses" and the sobering "Girl in No Man's Land". Costume designer Donald Brooks decks Julie out in a splendid array of period-perfect ensembles (he also costumed Julie in STAR!).

The film was nominated for 3 Academy Awards that year: Best Costume Design (Donald Brooks); Best Song "Whistling Away the Dark" (music Henry Mancini, lyrics Johnny Mercer); and Best Music Scoring (Henry Mancini).

I simply adore this film. DARLING LILI was never made available on videocassette, and appeared only rarely on cable. Director Blake Edwards, in a bid to make the film more palatable for audiences following it's disastrous theatrical release, re-cut the film in a "Director's Cut", and that is the version you get on this DVD. The original theatrical length was 136 mins (the "Director's Cut" runs for a brisk 107 mins, not counting Overture and Exit Music sequences). The transfer is very sharp and the audio is offered in both 5.1 and 2-channel stereo. The cut scenes are all offered as bonus material, so in effect the entire film is here, albeit in pieces. Paramount might hopefully release the uncut LILI one day, but until then, you could do a lot worse than the "Director's Cut". Highly-recommended from this corner.

POSTSCRIPT (29th May 2007): DARLING LILI is now available in it's original uncut form, via the new Paramount DVD editions from the UK and Australia.

Darling Lili
This is one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time! It has a hauntingly beautiful musical score that is the perfect vehicle for Julie Andrews at her best. Blake Edwards has equalled this riotously funny level only with the Pink Panther series. The romance with the Rock Hudson character (a WWI pilot) is funny, yet convincing--you want it to work! The espionage story line is cleverly woven into the high-jinks.
The real mystery is that this film did not do well at the box office, & Julie Andrews has even been embarrassed as a result! PLEASE make it available!!!!!