Lady L

Overview

Lady L (Sophia Loren) is an 80-year-old woman who recalls her amorous adventures in flashback in this light sex comedy. While working as a laundress, Lady L falls for the gambler and anarchist Armand (Paul Newman), who gets mixed up with an inept group trying to assassinate the senile Prince Otto (Peter Ustinov). She ends up marrying the suave aristocrat Dicky (David Niven) in this entertaining but uneven feature.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/05/2014
UPC:	0888574015510
Original Release:	1965
Source:	Warner Brothers
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Sales rank:	34,967

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sophia Loren	Lady Louise Lendale/Lady L
Paul Newman	Armand Denis
David Niven	Lord Lendale
Cecil Parker	Sir Percy
Claude Dauphin	Inspector Mercier
Marcel Dalio	Sapper
Philippe Noiret	Ambroise Gerome
Michel Piccoli	Lecoeur
Jean Wiener	Krajewski
Daniel Emilfork	Kobeleff
Eugene Deckers	Koenigstein
Jacques Dufilho	Beala
Tanya Lopert	Agneau
Catherine Allegret	Pantoufle
Hella Petri	Madam
Peter Ustinov	Prince Otto
Sacha Pitoeff	Bomb-Throwing Revolutionary
Arthur Howard	Butler
Roger Trapp	Dubaron
Jean Rupert	Actor
Joseph Dassin	Police Inspector
Jacques Legras	Police Inspector
Mario Feliciani	Italian Anarchist
Dorothy Reynolds	Actor
Hazel Hughes	Actor
Jacques Ciron	Actor
Jean Francaix	Composer

Technical Credits

Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov	Director,Screenwriter
Carlo Ponti	Producer
Karl Baumgartner	Special Effects
Margot Capelier	Casting
William Sivel	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Lady L wants to be an anarchical comedy, a satire that lobs bombs at all sorts of conventions and classes -- but unfortunately, director/writer Peter Ustinov forgot to light the fuse. The film starts out well (once one gets past Sophia Loren's inability to pass as an 80-year-old woman), but it never delivers on its early promise, and it never seems to settle on what it wants to say or what its targets will be. It does have a twisted sense of humor which pokes its head through every so often, but the pacing is too deliberate and the atmosphere too strained for much of the humor to land. Once she gets to play a younger woman, Loren is fine, although her attempts at portraying a woman born to the breed are not always successful. David Niven, of course, has no trouble exuding the airs of the upper class, but he doesn't seem as firmly in command of his character as is his usual wont. More problematic is Paul Newman, whose performance is curiously lifeless. There are some attractive costumes and lovely scenery, but they actually end up working against Lady L, making it seem like a conventional film when it cries out for a more outrageous and adventurous treatment.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler