Strong and Moving!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Not Billy Wilders best but at times funny and an absolutely beautiful movie to look at.Hard to choose which is more beautiful,the Italian Riviera or Juliet Mills in the altogether.This was the Nanny and the Professor that everyone of us who was in love with Juliet Mills wanted to see.The hardest part of the movie to believe is that it takes Jack Lemmon so long to fall in love with her.If you see this movie is on one of your cable channels it is a definite must see for the laughs,the scenery and the loveliness of Italy and Juliet Mills Alpine curves and exquisite English beauty.Edward Andrews and Clive Revill both have a field day with their character roles and were never better.

This Billy Wilder black comedy has nothing to do with any of the talents that brought international audiences Divorce, Marriage or Ghosts, but this is definitely Italian style with a taste of both Yankee Doodle Dandy and Pip, pip cheerio. Jack Lemmon managed a Golden Globe but not an Oscar nomination for his flustered businessman who heads to exotic and romantic Italy where he must claim the body of his father who was killed in a car accident. Secrets of what his father was up to connects him with a beautiful British lady (Juliette Mills) who is described as supposedly fat but is anything but. Blackmail, American diplomats interfering and even murder are the order of the day, with the presence of a mustache clad maid whom I thought at first was a man in drag.This film gets off on the right foot with a scene on an airplane where Lemmon and some anonymous old man switch clothes for some reason, and forgetting to swap passports. Later, Lemmon keeps encountering Mills who is seeking him out, and thinking that she is nuts, tries to shrug her off. As the secrets of his father's activities are slowly revealed, resulting in the meeting with an opportunistic Italian family with extortion on their mind.At an amazingly fast two and a half hours, this is a hidden treasure, very successful at the time, but overlooked among director Billy Wilder's many gems. Wilder regular Jack Lemmon is very funny as the frustrated international tourist, fortunately lacking the obnoxiousness of his mid- westerner visiting New York on "The Out of Towners". Mills is charming and confident in one of her few films, and has nice chemistry with Lemmon. also hysterically funny is stage veteran Clive Revill as the flamboyant hotel proprietor who has a word of wisdom for every situation and a crack for everything he can't advise on. Edward Andrews makes a late entry as the American diplomat who is a "friend" of Lemmon's family, summoned from France to Italy by Lemmon's unseen wife.With a practically perfect screenplay by Wilder and longtime partner I.A.L. Diamond, this is a beautiful looking travelogue with a fun story and many humorous situations. It may seem at first glance to be a bit too long, but once you get settled into the plot line, you won't even notice.

1972. Back in the day when romantic comedies were made in such a way that both sexes could watch them, not just women. Nowadays, when you read "romantic comedy" in relation to the latest formulaic piece of celluloid crap that Hollywood is desperately trying to hype, you can expect garbage; some lame-brained, unfunny mess with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz mugging like eager-to-please amateurs - should the casting be at its very worst. (Or the amazing non-talents of an Ashton Kutcher and an annoying personality of a La Lopez. The list goes on and on.)A! works because Jack Lemmon isn't a former Mickey-Mouse-Club amateur with a squeaky girly voice, and Juliet Mills isn't a perpetually giggling non-beauty with the body shape of an overgrown pencil. Mills is shapely, curvaceous, charismatic, sexy and pretty, and Lemmon is funny and interesting. There is actual chemistry between them, the story is fun, the gags work, and there is no crude, lewd, low-brow, cheap-ass, teenage approach to sex that we get to see in comedies of recent years, in which having sex is always referred to as "f**king" or "screwing", the F word being a poor substitute for a total lack of inspiration and humour.The only drawback to A! is its length. At well over two hours it does violate somewhat the unwritten rule about comedies and horror films not exceeding 90 minutes. Trust Billy Wilder, that senile old Commie, to have actually made a mention of the Sacco & Vanzetti case. No doubt Billy considered those murdering anarchists as totally innocent. (God forbid a Marxist ever gets punished for anything, even genocide.) Later on, he has an Italian local give the right-arm Nazi salute to the Republican Ambassador. Billy, Billy, Billy, what are we to do with you? Must you include your unsubtle political propaganda even in a harmless little romantic comedy?But if you thought Billy's delusion ended with his extremist politics, think again. He thought that he had injected too much humour into what was meant to be a drama! He stated that they had intended to make a movie more like "The Apartment" (i.e. they wanted it to stink so it could win Oscars). Good thing they "failed", because not only does that vastly overrated movie stink, but I can't imagine how the hell A! could have possibly worked as a drama.The two Wilder movies do have something in common though (apart from Lemmon): both tend to ridiculously idealize women who latch on to (older) married men. Mills's mother was even said to have hidden her poor financial situation from Lemmon's father (the millionaire) because she "loved him", hence that she never received any gifts or financial aid from him. That is so over-the-top stupid that it's almost funny on its own.

This amusing motion picture deals with a rich businessman named Wendel Ambruster , a frenzied Jack Lemmon , heads to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon-father's corpse , dead while on vacation , only to discover dad died with his mistress of long standing. The dyspectic businessman discovers daddy has been romancing a mistress these many years ago and he finds himself falling in love with the woman's daughter . Later on , the stuffy millionaire is seduced by Italian lifestyle and the charms of an attractive Juliet Mills .Enjoyable , too long and fun-filled comedy which neatly combines humor , mirth , entertaining situations and amusement . Based on playwright by Samuel Taylor , being well adapted by Billy Wilder and his usual I.A.L. Diamond . Magnificent performances from Jack Lemmon as angst-ridden middle-aged man and Juliet Mills more relaxed and enticing than ever . Furthermore , a splendid secondary cast as a Clive Revill and Edward Andrews who have never been better ; plus a variety of Italian support cast who makes sympathetic interpretations . Colorful and shimmer cinematography under continental sunshine filmed on location in Amalfi Coast , Sorrento , Naples , Campany , Italy . Emotive and lively musical score full of Italian songs and Mediterranean sounds by Carlo Rustichelli . This is a fine film but inferior to Wilder's former works ; it belong his last period when realized nice though unsuccessful movies as ¨Buddy buddy¨,¨Fedora¨ , ¨Front page¨and ¨Secret life of Sherlock Holmes¨. Rating : Good , though overlength but still completely entertaining .