Handsome young MICHAEL YORK is a drifting social climber who takes advantage of an impoverished Countess (ANGELA LANSBURY) and her underwhelming family--a plain daughter and a homosexual son--using them for his own twisted needs to become the Prince Charming of a Bavarian castle.
Directed with finesse by Harold Prince, it's a dark comedy that abounds with wit and a never ending series of complications that ensue when York manipulates and charms his way into everyone's affections. It has a TALENTED MR. RIPLEY kind of feel to it, but decidedly more comic than serious. ANGELA LANSBURY did not even mention this film during a one hour session with Robert Osborne on TCM recently, but it has to be among her best work.
It raised eyebrows but failed to connect with whomever the target audience was back in the '70s and became a favorite among the art house crowd for obvious reasons. Rampant with sexual implications, it's way ahead of its time and would probably do better box-office business in today's more accepting world of oddball themes.
Directed with finesse by Harold Prince, it's a dark comedy that abounds with wit and a never ending series of complications that ensue when York manipulates and charms his way into everyone's affections. It has a TALENTED MR. RIPLEY kind of feel to it, but decidedly more comic than serious. ANGELA LANSBURY did not even mention this film during a one hour session with Robert Osborne on TCM recently, but it has to be among her best work.
It raised eyebrows but failed to connect with whomever the target audience was back in the '70s and became a favorite among the art house crowd for obvious reasons. Rampant with sexual implications, it's way ahead of its time and would probably do better box-office business in today's more accepting world of oddball themes.