Product Description

The funeral business gets a giant raspberry in this wickedly wacky, resplendently ridiculous farce based on Evelyn Waugh's macabre comic masterpiece and directed with inspired verve by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones). But the American way of death isn't the film's only target: sex, greed, religion and mother love are also in the crosshairs of its satirical shots. Robert Morse plays a bemused would-be poet who gets entangled with an unctuous cemetery entrepreneur (Jonathan Winters), a mom-obsessed mortician (Rod Steiger) and other bizarre characters played by such adept farceurs as John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Tab Hunter, Milton Berle, James Coburn and Liberace. If The Loved One doesn't make you laugh, call the undertaker!

DVD Features:
Featurette:Trying to Offend Everyone
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11311 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-06-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 122 minutes

Features

• The funeral business gets a giant raspberry in this wickedly wacky, resplendently ridiculous farce based on Evelyn Waugh's macabre comic masterpiece and directed with inspired verve by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones). But the American way of death isn't the film's only target: sex, greed, religion and mother love are also in the crosshairs of its satirical shots. Robert Morse plays a bemused would-be

Amazon.com
In olden days, as Cole Porter famously observed, a mere glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. So it's heartening to report that this 1965 black comedy still delivers on its billing as "the motion picture with something to offend everyone." Tony Richardson, fresh off the liberating Tom Jones, brings Evelyn Waugh's self-described "little nightmare" to the screen with all its sacrilegious shocks (and then some!) intact, courtesy of screenwriters Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove) and Christopher Isherwood. Robert Morse stars as Dennis Barlow, an Englishman abroad and a fish out of water in Southern California. Stumbling across the Hollywood landscape like a cross between Candide and Jerry Lewis. Barlow gets a unique perspective of the American experience when he finds employment at the Happier Hunting Ground, a ramshackle pet cemetery, and the flipside of the fabulously vulgar Whispering Glades. In a virtuoso dual role, Jonathan Winters costars as glad-handing Happier Hunting Grounds proprietor Harry, whose brother, Whispering Glades' Blessed Reverend, has some out-of-this-world plans for the "Loved Ones." The mad, mad, mad mad cast also includes John Gielgud as Dennis's ill-fated expatriate uncle, an artist unceremoniously booted from the movie studio where he has worked for 31 years; Anjanette Comer as Aimee, a Whispering Glades cosmetician torn between Dennis and embalmer Mr. Joyboy (an unforgettable Rod Steiger), who registers his broken heart on the faces of his corpses; a teenage Paul Williams as a science prodigy; Liberace as a funeral salesman peddling eternal flames both "perpetual or standard"; Milton Berle and Margaret Leighton as "a typical well-adjusted American couple" whose deceased dog puts a crimp in their dinner plans; and even Jamie Farr, seen fleetingly as a waiter. The Loved One anticipates the "New Hollywood" with its naturalistic cinematography by Haskell Wexler (Medium Cool) and "anything goes" sensibility (the dinner scene with Joyboy and his obese mother would not be out of place in a John Waters movie). By turns creepy and grotesquely funny, The Loved One will bury you. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

A Great Adaptation
This is another film that's been secreted away in the MGM vaults that just cries out to be adequately transferred to DVD.

Talent abounds here. Start with a great director in Tony Richardson (Tom Jones, A Delicate Balance, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Entertainer, etc) who is the perfect choice for such a project. Have Christopher Isherwood and Terry Southern adapt the screenplay from a wonderful Evelyn Waugh novel. Assemble a perfect cast, including James Coburn and Dana Andrews, Milton Berle, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Margaret Leighton and Liberace (unforgettably!) in cameo roles. Feature the likes of Rod Steiger (why didn't he try more comedy? He's brilliant here!), John Gielgud, Jonathan Winters in memorable supporting roles and top it off with excellent leads in Robert Morse and Anjanette Comer (both relative unknowns at the time, but perfect for the roles).
How could the movie not be memorable?

Suffice it to say it holds up amazingly well after almost 40 years. It has to rank as one of the great classic comedies of the sixties.

The plot revolves around a young English twit named Dennis Barlow (Morse) who shows up at his uncle's (Gielgud's) doorstep, having won his air passage to LAX through some absurd stroke of luck. He has no money and his gregarious uncle takes him in and introduces him to the expatriated Brits that inhabit LA. Chief among these is the snobbish Sir Ambrose Abercrombe (Morley) who takes an instant dislike to Barlow, whom he feels doesn't adequately represent the proper English gentleman (and he doesn't). In short order, Uncle Francis is canned by his crass Hollywood Studio boss (McDowall), in spite of the fact that he has been a faithful employee for 30 years. Unwilling to face the future at his advanced age, Uncle Francis hangs himself beside the decrepit pool that represents his sagging fortunes.

It's at this stage that the movie shifts satirical gears and the humor gets darker and darker. Waugh's study of American mores and materialistic mindset as represented by the funeral industry is brilliantly captured by the screnwriters, director and cast. It's a great ensemble effort from a once in a lifetime creative team. THE LOVED ONE deserves a broad DVD release, hopefully in the not too distant future.

BK

Black comedy? The darkest.
Brilliant. Disturbing. Perplexing. Hilarious. Neglected.

Screenwriter Terry Southern (with the equally brilliant Christopher Isherwood) are the true stars here, having drafted and crafted a movie that's both truly disturbing and hilarious. One of Southern's finest film scripts (a worthy equal to his Dr Strangelove and Easy Rider scripts), The Loved One is an unjustly ignored and forgotten gem from a time when smart comedies were not only critically lauded but publically applauded. Demand the release on DVD!

Nothing Much to Add...
In a parallel universe this is a flick that's as well known as Strangelove or The Producers. Yes, Steiger should have done more comedy--he's incredible in this movie.

I write this with the hope that someone out there is adding up the votes for a DVD release. I'll also add that the long out of print "Catalogue of Cool" dubbed 1962 " The Last Good Year." After that...well, we lost a lot of our wit, charm, whimsy, humanity, and creativity to Viet Nam, Watergate, and all the other dreariness--from Reaganism to Political Correctness--that led up to this uniquely ugly moment in history. There were a lot of sharp films made in the late Fifties to early Sixties that had qualities sadly lacking since--check out Wilder's "One, Two, Three" or "Inherit the Wind." One reviewer notes that "The Loved One" is black comedy without the nihilism. I agree and that's kind of what I mean. This era of film deserves a re-examination and we could all probably learn a lot from it.