The ‘60s must have been the Golden Age of the Art Caper Pic: GAMBIT/'66; HOW TO STEAL A MILLION/‘66; THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR/’68; plus TOPKAPI/’64; DEADFALL/’68 and PINK PANTHER/’63 with jewels in for artwork. This largely forgotten specimen, from Richard (MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) Condon’s novel, is a smartly plotted example of the form in three distinct tones. As plotter, courier & forger: Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth & Joseph Wiseman* are forced to parlay a Velázquez they’ve ‘exchanged’ with a fake for an even more valuable Goya hanging in Madrid’s Prado, as the story moves from sophisticated comedy to Death-in-the-Afternoon grotesquerie, before landing somewhere in the vicinity of Ealing style comedy. But in spite of nice playing from the gentlemen, and John Gay’s witty, well-organized script, there isn’t an ounce of style or zest in the production values or in George Marshall’s tame megging. (Stanley Donen & Vincente Minnelli unavailable?) At least, he might have moderated Hayworth’s over-scaled comic playing. (Maybe not, her husband was the producer.) They surely could have replaced cinematographer Paul Beeson for someone with more sparkle to offer. Fortunately, the film works best in its final section, when it’s most like an Ealing Comedy. Think LAVENDER HILL MOB/’51, right down to its crime does not pay twist ending.
DOUBLE-BILL: More scam than caper, A TOUCH OF LARCENY/'60 (James Mason, Vera Miles, George Sanders; dir. Guy Hamilton) finds exactly the tone that’s missing here.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Wiseman, unusually relaxed & winning as the forger, all but steals the pic.
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