Victor
Victoria
Starring: Julie Andrews James Garner Robert Preston
| Their Write Up | My Write Up |
| It's 1935 and Victoria Grant - played in
engaging style by Julie Andrews - is stranded in Paris. Deserted by
her runaway boss - the manager of the Bath Touring Light Opera Company -
she is penniless and hungry. An audition at the Chez Lui a
fashionalble nightspot on the Left Bank, is a disaster and, with the
prospect of no money coming in, eviction from her hotel looms large on
Victoria's horizon.
However a series of bizarre events lead Victoria to throw in her lot with Toddy - Robert Preston as a witty 50 year old homosexual who before being fired was 'packin' 'em in' as the cabaret at the Chez Lui. With Toddy as her mentor Victoria embarks upon a strange new career - a female impersonator with a difference: a woman pretending to be a man impersonating a woman, Count Victor Grazinski is born and becomes the toast of Parisienne nightlife. But for Victor/Victoria fame also brings complications, in the shape of King - the owner of New York's most successful nightclub - played by James Garner. He's captivated, confused and fascinated. He's also determined to discover Victor/Victoria's secret. How King sets about solving the mystery and what happens to Toddy and Victoria along the way makes a highly humorous and entertaining film. |
This film is funny, the situation is so unbelievable
that you can only laugh at it. This is not said in any detrimental
way, the film is a comedy and is meant to be laughed at.
It is one of the old Hollywood tricks of dressing a man up as a woman and pretending that no-one will notice, only reversed. The film works due to the actors in the film and the writer. The music in the film is worth listening too on its own. The sets are worth looking at and the final scene is hilarious and has to be seen to be believed. Robert Preston gives an outstanding performance as Toddy and James Garner plays the devious King Marchant well enough to be funny. Julie Andrews sings as well as she always does and the whole film makes you laugh from beginning to end. If you don't enjoy the meatball scene, go see a doctor, you're missing something like a funny bone. What fights there are in the film are so integral to the plot that you hardly notice them other than accepting them as the obvious next stage in the plot. Enjoy this film for the laughter content. |