| Victor/Victoria | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster byJohn Alvin | |
| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | Blake Edwards |
| Story by | Hans Hoemburg |
| Based on | Victor and Victoria 1933 German film byReinhold Schünzel |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Dick Bush |
| Edited by | Ralph E. Winters |
| Music by | Songs: Henry Mancini Leslie Bricusse (lyrics) Score: Henry Mancini |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates | |
Running time | 132 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[2] |
| Box office | $28.2 million |
Victor/Victoria is a 1982musicalcomedy film written and directed byBlake Edwards and starringJulie Andrews,James Garner,Robert Preston,Lesley Ann Warren,Alex Karras, andJohn Rhys-Davies. The film was released byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced byTony Adams and scored byHenry Mancini, with lyrics byLeslie Bricusse. The film was nominated for sevenAcademy Awards and won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score.
It was a remake of the German film comedyViktor und Viktoria shot byReinhold Schünzel in 1933 from his own script.Victor/Victoria was adapted as aBroadway musical in 1995.[3]
In 1934Paris, Carroll "Toddy" Todd, an aging gay performer at Club Chez Lui, sees Labisse, the owner, auditioning frail and impoverished soprano Victoria Grant. After her failed audition, Victoria returns to her hotel room to find herself about to be evicted, as she cannot pay her rent. That night, when hustler Richard, with whom Toddy is romantically involved, comes to Chez Lui as part of a straight foursome, Toddy incites a brawl resulting in damage and the police locking up whomever they can get their hands on. Labisse fires Toddy and bans him from the club. Walking home, Toddy spots Victoria in a restaurant. She invites him to join her. As both of them are poor, she plans to dump a cockroach in her salad to avoid paying, but it escapes and mayhem ensues.
The duo run through the rain to Toddy's, and he invites her to stay when she discovers the rain has shrunk and damaged her decrepit clothing. The next morning Richard shows up to collect his things. Victoria, who is wearing his suit and hat, hides in Toddy's closet. When Richard opens the closet, she punches him, breaking his nose before kicking him out. Seeing this, Toddy is struck with the inspiration of passing Victoria off as a man and presenting her to successful talent agent Andre Cassell as afemale impersonator.
Cassell accepts her as Count Victor Grazinski, a gay Polish impersonator and Toddy's new boyfriend. Cassell gets her a booking in a nightclub show and invites club owners to the opening. Among the guests are Chicago gangster King Marchand, hismoll Norma Cassidy and bodyguard Mr. Bernstein, also known as Squash. Victoria becomes a hit. King is smitten, but is shocked when she "reveals" herself to be a man at the end of the act. King, however, is convinced that "Victor" is not a man.
After Norma attacks King during a quarrel, he sends her back to the United States. Determined to uncover the truth, King sneaks into Victoria and Toddy's suite and confirms his suspicion when he spies her getting into the bath. In Chicago, Norma, angry over being dumped, tells King's business partner Sal Andretti that King is having an affair with a man. King invites Victoria, Toddy and Cassell to Chez Lui. Another fight breaks out. Squash, Cassell, and Toddy are arrested, along with many of the club clientele, but King and Victoria escape. King kisses Victoria, pretending that he does not care about her assumed gender.
Squash returns to the suite and catches him in bed with Victoria. King tries to explain, but then Squash reveals that he himself is gay. Victoria and King argue over whether or not the relationship could work and Victoria discovers that King is not really a gangster but someone who pretends to be to stay in the nightclub business. Both he and Victoria are pretending to be something they are not. Victoria returns to her room and finds Squash in bed with Toddy.
Meanwhile, Labisse hires private investigator Charles Bovin to tail Victor. Victoria and King attempt to live together, but keeping up her deception strains the relationship, and King eventually ends it. At the same time that Victoria decides to give up the Victor persona to be with King, Sal arrives and demands that King transfer his share of the business to Sal for a fraction of what it is actually worth. Squash tells Victoria what is happening, and she shows Norma that she is really a woman, saving King's stake.
That night at the club, Cassell tells Toddy and Victoria that Labisse lodged a police complaint against him and "Victor" for perpetrating a public fraud. After checking for himself, the inspector tells Labisse that the performer he saw in the room, after opening the door, is a man and accuses Labisse for being a idiot. Victoria joins King in the club as her real self. The announcer says that Victor will perform, but instead of Victoria, Toddy masquerades as "Victor". After an intentionally disastrous performance of "The Shady Dame From Seville," Toddy claims that this is his last performance.
The vocal numbers in the film are presented as nightclub acts, with choreography by Paddy Stone. However, 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, and the cozy relationship of Toddy and Victoria is promoted by the song "You and Me", which is sung before the audience at the nightclub.[4]
Occasionally, Victoria and Toddy sing "Home on the Range" when they are in the hotel.[1]
The film'sscreenplay was adapted byBlake Edwards (Andrews's husband) from the 1933 German filmVictor and Victoria written and directed by Reinhold Schünzel from an original story treatment by Hans Hoemburg.[3] According to Edwards, the screenplay took only one month to write.[citation needed] Andrews watched the 1933 version to prepare for her role.[citation needed] The film had been planned as early as 1978 with Andrews to star alongsidePeter Sellers, but Sellers died in 1980 while Andrews and Edwards were filmingS.O.B. (1981), so Robert Preston was cast in the role of Toddy.[1]
The costume worn by Andrews in the number "The Shady Dame from Seville" is in fact the same costume worn by Preston at the end of the film. It was made to fit Preston, and then, using a series of hooks and eyes at the back, it was drawn in tight to fit Andrews' shapely figure. Black silk ruffles were added to the bottom of the garment to hide the differences in height. The fabric is a black and brown crepe, with fine gold threads woven into it, that when lit appears to have an almost wet look about it.[5]
Victor/Victoria was the opening night film atFilmex on March 16, 1982. It opened in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto on March 19, 1982.[1]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "Not only a funny movie, but, unexpectedly, a warm and friendly one."[6]Todd McCarthy ofVariety called it "sparkling, ultra-sophisticated entertainment from Blake Edwards."[7]
Vincent Canby inThe New York Times was enthusiastic, calling the film "so good, so exhilarating, that the only depressing thing about it is the suspicion that Mr. Edwards is going to have a terrible time trying to top it."[8]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Driven by a fantastic lead turn from Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards' musical gender-bender is sharp, funny and all-round entertaining."[9] OnMetacritic, it has a score of 84 out of 100 based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]
In 2000,American Film Institute included the film inAFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs (#76).[11]
