Surprise Package (1960) User Reviews

King Coward

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 21 April 2004]

Charlton Heston in his memoirs said that when he was signing for his part in Touch of Evil it was mentioned that Orson Welles was going to be playing the sheriff, but that Universal still hadn't selected a director. Well says Heston, why don't you get Orson Welles to direct. Duh, says the studio heads, that's a splendid idea.

On Surprise Package with none other than Noel Coward in the cast, why didn't they get him to take charge of the whole thing. It is amazing to me that with all the talent in this project a better product didn't emerge.

This is a caper film involving a deported U.S. gangster played by Yul Brynner now living on a Greek island trying to steal the crown of the exiled King of Anatolia played by Coward. Along for the ride is Mitzi Gaynor as Brynner's moll and the baddie played by George Coulouris from the People's Republic of Anatolia, the gang that overthrew the king. The director is Stanley Donen from a novel by humorist Art Buchwald.

Brynner is terribly miscast in his part. A gangster I can believe him as, but he just has no flair for comedy. There were some comic moments in the King and I, but that's overall, a serious part. Coward looks bored by the whole thing, I wish he had scripted and directed it also and he probably wished he did too. George Coulouris was his usual menacing self.

Mitzi Gaynor was a fine musical talent who came along just when musical films were ending. She was probably grateful for a number or two in this film. Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn wrote the title tune which she sings as well as Noel Coward. Can you imagine if he had contributed some musical number as well?

The script has some topical references to the Cold War, the Appalachian underworld gathering, rigged quiz shows, etc. etc. that Yul and the cast comment on.

It also would have been nice since this takes place in the Greek Islands to have splurged for some technicolor.

If you see it, try to view it as a curiosity. Someone should have whispered in ears of the studio heads at Columbia the way Charlton Heston did at Universal.

Surprise Package

[henry8-3 · 7/10 · 19 March 2019]

Gangster Brynner is exiled back to a Greek Island where he hatches a plan to steal the crown of the king of Anatolia played by Noel Coward.

Underrated comedy with a sparkling script of witty one liners, delivered really well by Brynner. In support, Coward is well...Coward and there's a nice turn by Guy Deghy as a thief who helps Brynner. Best of all is Mitzi Gaynor, who plays Brynner's moll. Her performance is wonderful as is she, making this all in all a really quite charming film.

The only bum note the Coward / Gaynor title song duet - could have done without that.

I love Yul Brynner

[Lipstik · 7/10 · 22 July 2015]

Yul Brynner is very hard to understand in this movie because he talks fast and his accent gets in the way, but he is still eye candy to me nonetheless. He does play a good brat. Not the same sort of brat Rameses was in The Ten Commandments. The brat he plays in this movie is a wealthy gangster who was exiled back to his birth country of Greece. He's not smart by any means, maybe street smart, but he spelled the only correct word in the Scrabble game between he and Gabby. He pouts, he name-calls, he tells people to shut up, he has a tantrum, etc.

Mitzi Gaynor (Gabby) is a cute girlfriend/sidekick to Yul's gangster character (Nico). Noel Coward's character (King Pavel) bores me to tears.

Cute movie, but not brilliant by any means. Some funny parts, but could be funnier.

If Brynner got paid per word- he'd be a millionaire

[kfo9494 · 4/10 · 31 August 2015]

In this fast talking, mostly comical movie- Yul Brynner plays an American gangster, Nico March and dressed appropriately for the part, that has been deported to the country of Greece. Along for the ride is his goody-two-shoes girlfriend Gabby Rogers, played by Mitzi Gaynor, and they are living the boring life of visitors on the coast of Greece.

Nico meets a laundry load full of suspicious characters while cooling his heels and even meets the exiled King Pavel II played by Noel Coward. He comes up with a clever plan to steal the King's crown but there are just as many other criminals waiting to do the exact same thing.

If you are reading this review without watching the movie then you may believe that it is a nice semi-mystery and cunning portrayal of the criminal mind. Perhaps it would have been a better movie had the writers decided to go that way. Instead we have Brynner and Gaynor playing a comedy team that was so ill-matched it took away from the entire story. When a person thinks of Yul Brynner- 'Comedy'- does not come to mind, nor does comedy come to mind in this presentation. First of all, some people have a hard time clearly understanding words that Brynner speaks. Now throw in Brynner speaking like the fast talking Fed-Ex commercial man, and even the most noted linguist teacher would have a problem with the dialog.

Mitzi Gaynor added very little to the script by just playing the sweet unintelligent girlfriend and doing nothing that caused interest to the character. The only time that the viewer really takes notice of Gaynor is when she, along with Coward, is singing the title song 'Surprise Package' and that comes too late to help the movie.

Not to take anything away from Yul Brynne but he appear a miscast for this type of movie. Perhaps another actor could have helped with the interest of this film. But that is a moot point. But I will say that the movie did have some nice 'one-liners'.

Hardly Donen's finest hour.

[MOscarbradley · 4/10 · 2 September 2019]

Stanley Donen may have been the producer and director and the stars might be Yul Brynner and Mitzi Gaynor, as well as Noel Coward, but this comedy is a British production, filmed mostly on the island of Rhodes and shot, not in picture-postcard colour, but in black and white. The thin plot has deported gangster Brynner planning to steal exiled king Noel Coward's crown and the largely British cast includes George Coulouris, Warren Mitchell, Lyndon Brook and Eric Pohlmann as a corrupt police chief. Brynner does his best but he's not a natural comic actor and this is one of his poorest performances and try as he might, even a miscast Coward can do nothing with the mostly limp material, (though at least he does stop the show when he sings the title song). The film's real surprise is Gaynor as Brynner's moll. She's no actress but she sure is sprightly in that perky Mitzi Gaynor way of hers. It's not terrible; in fact, it's quite amusing in its very daft way but it's hardly Donen's finest hour.

Nico, you didn't earn the money ... you stole it!

[Psalm52 · 13 January 2007]

This film is a pleasant diversion and very funny. Brynner is passable as a Mafia gangster who is deported to a Greek Isle. Coward is a deposed king who lives on said island and wants to sell a valuable crown he kept. Then there's a corrupt chief of police, a bumbling spy who explains when caught by Brynner ... "Of course, I am spying on you. That's my profession. I'm a spy!" There's also two government types from the deposed king's homeland & in the middle Ms. Gaynor. Now, I never heard of her and don't recall her acting, but she's the center of this film. She wins over all the various characters and devises some interesting solutions to Nico's constantly interrupting monetary problems. I'm really proud of myself for seeing it and being pleasantly entertained.

This film is reminiscent in it's subject and feel as an Argentinian film of the same era "La Cigarra no es un bicho."

Hard-working, colourless and unimpressive

[shakercoola · 4/10 · 19 October 2019]

An American comedy-drama; A story about a Greek gangster and racketeer who is deported to his own country from the USA where he hatches a plan to steal the crown of a king in exile. This is a fast-paced spy-comedy based on a novel by Art Buchwald but it is dull and clumsily scripted. It misfires because Yul Brynner was given the heavy load of delivering the laughs. He thrashed at his performance but often looked ill at ease. The film's high profile supporting cast includes Noel Coward and Warren Mitchell, both of whom most capable as comedy actors, but neither produced their best here because of the poor script. The cinematography was often striking but the dialogue makes the film scream out for technicolor to sustain it.

Expressive Esoterica

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 13 February 2020]

Arnold Schwarzenegger has gained a wholly unmerited reputation for being able to play comedy precisely because he's so unfunny that he looks even more ludicrous than usual in a comic setting; and Yul Brynner's utter charmlessness actually enhances this Runyonesque comedy which makes good use of Greek locations and a game cast of Britons ranging from Warren Mitchell to Noël Coward.

Damned by Andrew Sarris as "nervously oververbalized", the constant stream of witty dialogue courtesy of screenwriter Harry Kurnitz and/or original novelist Art Buchwald is actually a delight; particularly as delivered by Coward as a deposed king in exile surrounded (evidently with tongue in cheek) by a harem of voluptuous young blondes in bikinis, who also performs the title song with Mitzi Gaynor (displaying a shapely chassis in a succession of eye-popping outfits befitting a gangster's moll).

A rare misfire for the director

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 8 August 2018]

SURPRISE PACKAGE is a rare misfire for Hollywood director Stanley Donen, best known for making classics like SINGING IN THE RAIN alongside a string of Audrey Hepburn hits. This one's a similarly fast-talking comedy but one that falls flat, unfortunately, due to the lifeless script which the actors really struggle with. Yul Brynner does his best as a charismatic gangster who finds himself exiled to a Greek island before getting involved in an audacious robbery. The film raises interest in some good casting, including the likes of Eric Pohlmann, Warren Mitchell and Michael Balfour, but similarly wastes them in cliched parts. You don't feel anything for the characters and the plot seems incredibly long-winded. As for Mitzi Gaynor, her comedy and romantic moments fall flat and she's left as little more than a clothes horse.

unremarkable little black-and-white caper

[myriamlenys · 5/10 · 10 October 2019]

An American gangster of Greek origins gets deported by the government. Now stuck on a Greek island, he meets an ageing king in exile who collects concubines in the same way other people might collect china figurines. True to his professional calling, the gangster begins to covet the ex-king's crown, which is said to contain some of the finest jewels in Christendom...

A little comedic crime caper shot in black-and-white, "Surprise Package" does not work all that well. The plot could have used a great deal more of wit, danger and fun. Much of the intrigue seems to come straight from a school play for thirteen-year-old boys. Moreover, Yul Brynner seems at loss on how to tackle his character best. The result is a monochrome performance : Brynner spends most of the movie barking or spitting out his lines in a bossy, aggressive manner.

But the movie is not entirely without charm : some of the lines, for instance, are amusing, and there's a good joke involving a top hat. The movie also contains the Sinister Henchman to end all Sinister Henchmen.

Unless I'm mistaken the whole of the story is set on the Greek island of Rhodes. Having spent some time there, I can confirm that it is a most beautiful place full of interesting monuments and inhabited by enormously sweet and hospitable people, about 70% of whom are called "George". Sadly enough much of the beauty of the setting gets lost in the black-and-white : the viewer does not get to see the many jewel-like hues and colour combinations that ravish the eye wherever one turns. Moreover, one cannot say that the movie is flattering to the local population... or, for some strange reason, to Anatolians or Hungarians. (Why pick on Hungarians, for instance ? Food for psychiatrists...)

Beware before you open the surprise package. It's a stink bomb.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 27 October 2022]

First of all, if you're going to have a film set in Greece, and you have the opportunity to film it in color, do so. That's an instant sign that little faith and even less budget was put into this hideous foul smelling cheesy comedy about Greek born Yul Brynner who is playing a "Guys and Dolls" type mobster as if he was screaming to the last row in a second string musical theater playhouse. Just as embarrassing is Mitzi Gaynor as his moll, perhaps perfect casting for Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls", but under the direction of the usually brilliant Stanley Donen, two of my favorite stars, two of my favorites from this era come off looking truly foolish, as if they were purposely trying to sink their own careers.

Rather than being sent to prison, violent crime boss Brynner is deported to his homeland, and wearing very little, Gaynor is forced into a limousine so she can go with him. The cliched dialogue is awful, with the supporting cast obviously there with the stars to just grab their paycheck and go, hoping this would disappear quickly which it did for decades outside of late show airings until classic movie stations and home video came along. The legendary Noel Coward plays an ousted king, and he seems the most bored of all. I give this film one star above bomb or two reasons, one for the metaphor of two stars, and the other for sheer audacity. This definitely ranks as one of the worst comedies of the '60s, far from even deserving a cult status for how bad it is.

Waste of talent

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 4 October 2018]

You can only wonder why theyou bothered to make such a woefully unfunny film.YulBryner next film would be zThe Magnificent Seven,in the role of Chris.Coward would appear in a few more films.This was to be the end of Gaynors film career.What was Stanley Donenen thinking of.In fact the best part of the film were the opening credit titles which were designed by the great Maurice Binder.

Good Surprise

[josef05 · 8/10 · 23 June 2020]

I can not understand the negative comments about this film. I think that Yul Brunner is great in this film, mainly because he talks so mauch, which is completely atypical for him. Usually he played rather laconic characters. Noel Coward as ex-king is a perfect choice. Mitzi Gaynor is not the stupid blonde gangster bride, but basically very clever, only she is hardly taken seriously. She is also able to differentiate between good and bad, which the two main male characters, Nico and the ex-king, obviously cannot do. All in all a successful comedy that I can definitely recommend.

An unpleasant surprise.

[brogmiller · 2/10 · 14 February 2020]

What on earth can one say about such an abysmal opus? The only reason to sit through this infantile tripe is the superlative Noel Coward. Not for nothing was he referred to as 'The Master'. His superb timing and immaculate delivery are a joy to behold. He even manages to make bearable the sub-standard title song. He must have shuddered when seeing the film if indeed he bothered to do so. Mitzi Gaynor is a marvellous musical comedy star but in this she is simply irritating. Whilst making 'The Magnificent Seven', Yul Brynner is supposed to have remarked to Steve Mcqueen; 'if you keep trying to upstage me I'll take off my hat'. In this he keeps his hat on throughout but taking it off would not have made his performance any less embarassing. No director sets out to make a stinker but here Stanley Donen has succeeded admirably.

Another Pepe la Moko?

[bruno-32 · 2 April 2015]

I just caught this film while trying out my remote ( a favorite tool of mine lately ) and watched about 15 minutes of it. It was a comedy as far as I could tell and looking and listening to Yul Brenner's character and the way he was dressed, brought to mind another foreign actor, Charles Boyer, in the great movie "Algiers" with Hedy Lamarr. At times I thought I would 'hear' Boyer's voice listening to Yul, and thought it would be a good idea if they ever were going to rehash "Algiers" ( there are certain movies that could not be rehashed and "Algiers" was one them, but if they decided to do it, he would have been perfect as Pepe :a Moko. As for Mitzi, very poor acting the little I saw of her and indeed decorative for musicals only. Noel Coward was wasted.