Main Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras
Release Year: 1982
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 133 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
On the verge of starvation in 1930s Paris, erstwhile entertainer Victoria (Julie Andrews) is rescued by gay cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston). What she needs to succeed, opines Toddy, is a gimmick. What if she becomes a male impersonator? Better still: what if she becomes a male impersonator, pretending to be a female impersonator? As "Victor/Victoria," s/he becomes the toast of Paree, and an object of fascination for big-time Chicago gangster King Marchan (James Garner), who can't quite understand the teasing sensations he experiences whenever watching her in action-especially since he, like everyone else, assumes that she is a he. Enjoyable though the stars of Blake Edwards' comedy may be, the film is stolen by Lesley Ann Warren, who won an Oscar nomination as King's screechy-voiced moll, and Alex Karras as King's chief henchman, who, assuming that his boss is "that way," literally comes out of the closet. Victor/Victoria was a remake of the 1931 German film Viktor und Viktoria, which had previously be reworked in 1937 as the Jessie Mathews vehicle First a Girl. In 1996, Victor/Victoria was transformed into a Broadway musical, again directed by Edwards and starring Andrews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This witty, energetic film is one of the best and most memorable efforts in the accomplished career of Blake Edwards. The story's fusion of screwball comedy and musical review is a potentially unwieldy combination, but Blake Edwards manages to make it work with a thoughtful script that weaves rich characterizations into a carefully-constructed but sprawling plot that gives them room to breathe. Victor/Victoria is lengthy but never feels overlong thanks to Edwards' stylish work behind the camera: he excels at crafting complex slapstick setpieces but shows equal skill with the film's many rousing musical numbers (the highlight is a stunning cabaret number called "Le Jazz Hot"). His work is ably supported by the film's handsome production values, which include a dazzling Henry Mancini score full of memorable cabaret tunes and excellent cinematography by Dick Bush that adds just the right veneer of Hollywood glamour. However, the true appeal of Victor/Victoria lies in the magnificent performances that add heart to its combination of style and wit. Julie Andrews finds the right combination of vulnerability and cynicism to make her demanding double role work, Robert Preston brings warmth and razor-sharp verbal wit in equal measure to his role as her protector, and James Garner is a subtle delight as the mobster who is forced to reevaluate his concept of masculinity. The film also features plenty of scene-stealing supporting performances, especially Lesley Ann Warren's turn as King's oversexed mistress and Alex Karras' deadpan work as King's surprisingly sensitive and perceptive bodyguard. All these elements jell together beautifully to create a film that manages to work as a valentine to the screwball comedy and musical genres while also adding thoroughly modern theme of social and sexual tolerance into the mix. As a result, Victor/Victoria manages to feel classic and progressive all at once and this duality makes it one of Blake Edward's finest cinematic achievements. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
John Rhys-Davies - Cassell; Graham Stark - Waiter; Peter Arne - Labisse; Sherloque Tanney - Bovin; Jay Benedict - Guy Langois; Norman Chancer - Sal; Simon Chandler - Chorus Boy; Maria Charles - Madame President; Neil Cunningham - Nightclub Master of Ceremonies; Joanna Dickens - Large Lady in Restaurant; David Gant - Restaurant Manager; Matyelock Gibbs - Cassell's Receptionist; Christopher Good - Stage Manager; Malcolm Jamieson - Richard; Olivier Pierre - Langois' Companion; Michael Robbins - Hotel Manager; George Silver - Fat Man with Eclair; Tim Stern - Desk Clerk Third Rate Hotel; Elizabeth Vaughan - Opera Singer; Sam Williams - Chorus Boy; Vivienne Chandler - Chambermaid; John Cassady - Juke; Paddy Ward - Photographer; Stuart Craig Turton - Boy Friend to Actress; Bill Monks - LeClou; Geoffrey Beevers - Police Inspector
Credit
Tim Hutchinson - Art Director, William Craig Smith - Art Director, Mary Selway - Casting, Paddy Stone - Choreography, Pat Norris - Costume Designer, Blake Edwards - Director, Ralph Winters - Editor, Leslie Bricusse - Composer (Music Score), Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), Leslie Bricusse - Songwriter, Paul Engelen - Makeup, Peter Frampton - Makeup, Harry Frampton - Makeup, Harry Cordwell - Production Designer, Rodger Maus - Production Designer, Dick Bush - Cinematographer, Tony Adams - Producer, Blake Edwards - Producer, Harry Cordwell - Set Designer, Roy Charman - Sound Mixer, Blake Edwards - Screenwriter
The screenplay of Victor Victoria was adapted by Blake Edwards (Andrews' husband) and Hans Hoemburg from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria by Reinhold Schünzel. According to Blake Edwards, the screenplay took only one month to write. There was also a 1935 remake named First a Girl, made in the United Kingdom and directed by Victor Saville, about a woman who stands in for a female impersonator and becomes a hit. Julie Andrews watched the 1933 version to prepare for her role.[1]
Plot summary
In 1930s Paris. Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), a struggling soprano, is unable to find work. She bombs an audition at Chez Lui, a tawdry night club where Carroll "Toddy" Todd (played by Robert Preston) also works. In the evening of that day Toddy starts a fight at Chez Lui after finding out that his boyfriend was dating a woman and gets fired. Later that night Victoria runs into Toddy at a Paris restaurant where she is scheming to plant a cockroach in her food in order to get her meal for free, trying to foil the waiter (Graham Stark). The plan goes awry after the cockroach goes missing and ends up on a woman's leg and starts a riot in the restaurant, which Victoria and Toddy use to escape. They spend the night at his apartment, the next day Toddy's boyfriend shows up to pick up his things and finds Victoria using his clothes and breaks his nose. At the sight of Victoria dressed as a man Toddy hits upon a plan to help both her and himself: Victoria will pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman, and get a job as a female impersonator in a nightclub. In order to enhance the ruse, Toddy will pretend to be her gay lover.
Soon Victoria's new persona, "Count Victor Grazinski", becomes the toast of Paris. As money and fame start to turn her (and Toddy's) lives around, an additional complication arises. King Marchand (James Garner), a gangster and nightclub-owner from Chicago, finds himself at first attracted to Victoria and repelled by "Victor". This encourages his burly bodyguard, "Squash" Bernstein (Alex Karras), to come out of the closet, but it enrages Marchand's whiny-voiced, peroxide-blonde spitfire girlfriend Norma (Lesley Ann Warren).[2]
Marchand starts to investigate Victor, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man but in the end declares that he does not care if Victoria is a man. Norma becomes more annoying and tawdry, in contrast to the classy Victoria, and King finally has Squash send her home to Chicago so that he is free to pursue Victoria, and has to live up to the image that he is living with a man. Victoria must come to terms with what she really wants out of life: to be true to herself by giving up her career and fame in Paris to be with the man who loves her and whom she loves, or to continue with her duplicitous profession and risk losing Marchand.
In a subplot of the film, the owner of the Chez Lui club also is trying to investigate Victor, since he suspects that he is the soprano whom he rejected from his club.
The vocal numbers in the film are presented as real-life scenes or entertainments that involve singers; this explains why neither Toddy nor Marchand sings a duet with Victoria as part of some sort of private scene. Nevertheless, the lyrics or situations of some of the songs are calculated to relate to the unfolding drama.
Thus, the two staged numbers Le Jazz Hot and The Shady Dame from Seville help to present Victoria as a female impersonator. The latter number is later reinterpreted by Toddy for diversionary purposes in the plot. The cozy relationship of Toddy and Victoria is promoted by the song You and Me, which is sung before the audience at the nightclub.[3]
