Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic. I’m taking a course called The Romantic Comedy where we’re charting the history and development of romantic comedies from the 1920s to the present. We’ll be watching some pretty iconic films, some of which I haven’t seen before. Each week, I’ll be providing a short review of one romantic comedy classic from the annals of history.

Victor Victoria
Directed by Blake Edwards
Released March 19, 1982

Gender and sexuality comes into play more than ever before with romantic comedies when it comes to Blake Edwards’ adaptation of a 1933 German film. Julie Andrews stars as struggling singer Victoria, who hatches a plan with cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston) to assume the life of the world’s greatest male female impersonator in 1930s Paris. The whole film is one elaborate deception, and it’s a wildly entertaining ride, especially as a male patron, the shady businessman King Marchand (James Garner), falls for Victor, all the while still in disbelief that she’s actually a man. The layers of lies make for terrific fun as characters misconstrue and purposely represent situations to fool someone else into thinking they’re pulling off a big scam when their deception is actually even greater. The music, which won an Oscar for Best Adaptation Score for Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse, is wonderful, but what really makes this film so marvelously enjoyable is its stellar cast. The lovely Julie Andrews is mesmerizing as Victoria and Victor, and both her acting and her singing are absolutely astonishing. Robert Preston is charming and cool as her mentor and friend Toddy, and he delivers every line with extraordinary finesse and elaborate enunciation. It’s fantastic to see the befuddled James Garner gets so riled up every time he feels like someone’s pulling something over on him, and the delightful Lesley Ann Warren is hilarious as his spunky, over-the-top, entitled mistress. The cast works together excellently to produce a film that never drags or even fades for a moment. It’s greatly entertaining on a basic surface level, and examining it through a closer, more signifying lens makes it all the more brilliant.

B+