Main Cast: Ernie Kovacs, Cyd Charisse, George Sanders, Kay Hammond, Dennis Price
Release Year: 1961
Country: IT/UK
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
This Ernie Kovacs cult comedy was the last film directed by Mario Zampi and follows the exploits of Aldo Bondi (Kovacs) who earns his living off wealthy widows. When he consoles the beautiful and impoverished Baroness Sandra (Cyd Charisse), he makes the mistake of falling in love with her. That gets him into a complex con game with three other widows and a huge sum of money, meant to be invested to earn a bundle based on the five-hour time difference between the East coast of the U.S. and Europe. Bondi gets into one tight situation after the next, as his loot is stolen by the Baroness and he needs a way to save his skin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Ernie Kovacs fans will be disappointed with Five Golden Hours, a showcase that doesn't adequately show off their hero but instead allows George Sanders to steal the picture out from under him. Of course, Sanders has only a supporting role, and therefore doesn't have to struggle with the main plot line, which is too much to ask of Kovacs or almost anyone else. Hans Wilheim's screenplay is not dreadful: there are some decent laughs (though not enough) threaded throughout it, and the basic set-up is workable. But Wilheim doesn't know how to make "workable" into "magical," settling instead for "mundane" and "mechanical." That said, Kovacs is also simply not perfect casting for this tale, which requires either a character actor with great flexibility or a comic talent of a exquisite nimbleness; Kovacs is a great comic talent, but he is at once too whimsical and too earthbound for this particular role. Cyd Charisse is, alas, a bit too bland as the woman who sets all things in motion, and there's not enough chemistry between her and Kovacs. That clears the way for Sanders to wander in as an asylum inmate and show the audience the way things are supposed to be done. Individual sequences work well in the movie, so Hours isn't really terrible, but it sure isn't golden. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
John Le Mesurier - Dr. Alfieri; Finlay Currie - Father Superior; Reginald Beckwith - Brother Geronimo; Avice Landone - Beatrice; Sydney Tafler - Alfredo; Martin Benson - Enrico; Hy Hazell - 1st Lady Guest; Joy Shelton - Lady Guest; Bruno Barnabe - Cesare; Georgina Cookson - Lady Passenger; Clelia Matania - Rosalia; Ron Moody - Gabriele; Leonard Sachs - Mr. Morini; Marianne Stone - Tina; Gordon Phillott - Old Monk
