Maybe it's a bit presumptuous to immediately name-drop star Peter Sellers, especially when he doesn't have a significant part in the film until one-quarter of the length has already passed. Yet I feel like his very involvement readily gives a sense of a feature's slant, with comedy built on playfulness and overblown pomposity - perhaps with slivers of sexism or other indelicacies woven in. 'The millionairess' quite fits the bill, though for all the delight of watching Sellers dexterously adopt the unique mannerisms of still another character, that sex symbol Sophia Loren takes center stage to some measure allows us to see different sides of them both. There is so much ridiculous fun to be had here - the whole picture is built for it, from production design and art direction, to the acting, to the emphatic overtones mocking and deriding classism, and capitalist tendencies, and quietly, gratifyingly advocating for socialism. The costume design overseen by Pierre Balmain and Felix Evans (especially the many dazzling outfits Loren wears throughout) is brilliant, as well as the contributions of the makeup department. The set design and decoration is frankly staggering; I can only imagine the budget must have been fairly substantial to provide the resources for it all.
All this is to say nothing of Anthony Asquith's swell, smart direction, Anthony Harvey's sharp editing, or rich, vivid cinematography from Jack Hildyard. Even the sound cues are a small joy. Of course, more broadly important than all this is the writing, and the adapted screenplay developed between Riccardo Aragno and Wolf Mankowitz is a small marvel. We've all seen titles that bore uneven writing, with some elements given less attentive care than others, but this is an instance in which the imaginative foundation of the feature was given undivided consideration. There's no component here that isn't essential, that doesn't carry the same slant and intelligence and build into the whole. Characters, dialogue, scene writing, and the narrative at large are all rife with nigh-satirical absurdities and exaggerations, welcome commentary on the deplorable structure and condition of society under the fist of capitalism, and witty conflicts between strong personalities. It all gels into fairly solid groundwork for a feature about an imperious, haughty women of considerable generational wealth becoming enamored of a poor but unflaggingly virtuous doctor and servant of the public good, and the people around them who have bearing on or will be impacted by that pursuit. Certainly, on that note, all the performances herein are pretty great. Sellers is wonderfully reliable as an actor who can slip into any variety of characters without missing a bit, and his renowned skills are well on display here. Loren shows range, nuance, and force of personality befitting the title character, and which - more to the point - illustrates that she is very capable of her own accord, and not just a pretty face. And still others in the supporting cast are notable, including Alastair Sim as Miss Parerga's beleaguered solicitor.
There are, however, two problems. The first is evident very early on, as the very concept of the picture is so far-fetched as to strain credulity. There are no elves or dwarves here, yet the romantic entanglement of Epifania Parerga and Dr. Ahmed el Kabir is nonetheless an invention of fantasy that demands so much suspension of disbelief as to somewhat draw us out of the very film we're watching. For a comedy ostensibly set in "the real world," that detachment is an issue, and holds true not least of all at the ending. And the second problem is that, frankly, 'The millionairess' loses the wind from its sails. The strength of the movie, and the brunt of the humor, is in Epifania's enchantment with the doctor, and his rejection of her and what she represents. Once the plot moves toward their respective efforts to meet the other's conditions for marriage, scenes follow in which the active entertainment tapers off until we're just left with a concoction of pretty light and meaningless sound. All the conflict, personality, grandeur, and energy that characterized roughly the first hour just goes away, and the last impression the picture has to make is sadly not much of one at all.
To be clear, there is definite value in watching 'The millionairess.' The bulk of the runtime is very enjoyable indeed, with robust silliness to provide ample amusement, to say nothing, again, of the effort put into so much of the production from behind the scenes. It's just unfortunate that this cheeky fun and broad mindfulness isn't carried all the way through to the end. This is worth checking out for most anyone, including fans of Sellers or Loren, or just any viewers who appreciate mid-century comedies. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed at how the film ultimately kind of drops the ball. 'The millionairess' is worth your time if you happen to come across it, but it turns out that you don't need to go out of your way to find it.
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