The Yellow Rolls Royce

Description

Yellow Rolls Royce, The

Featuring a star-studded international cast, gorgeous location photography, designer wardrobes, and a catchy Golden Globe Award-winning theme song--not to mention the glamorous automobile itself--this melodramatic travelogue follows a classic car as it changes the lives of three sets of owners. In the first episode, a British diplomat (Rex Harrison) buys the car for his French wife (Jeanne Moreau), who is dallying with her husband s colleague (Edmund Purdom) at a luxurious country estate. In the second episode, an Italian-American gangster (George C. Scott) tours his ancestral homeland with his gum-chewing blonde moll (Shirley MacLaine). When he returns to America to take care of business, his girl gets involved with a handsome Italian photographer (Alain Delon), aided by her chauffeur (Art Carney). And in the third episode, Omar Sharif teams with Ingrid Bergman in the story of a rich American widow who uses the Rolls to help a Yugoslavian freedom fighter.

]]>They don t make em like this anymore. This sleek, smooth-running anthology film by the writer and director of The V.I.P.s is another extravagant vehicle for a dazzling international roster of stars, whose characters lives are profoundly changed by the titular luxury automobile. Rex Harrison gets the show on the road as an English lord who purchases the car as an anniversary gift for his wife (Jeanne Moreau), who is having an affair with a younger member of his staff. "Twenty thousand and twenty-three miles later" in Italy, American gangster George C. Scott buys the car for wisecracking "fidanzata" Shirley MacLaine, who becomes involved with amoral tourist photographer Alain Delon while George is away on family business. Ingrid Bergman takes the wheel in the third story as an imperious American widow who becomes involved in Yugoslavia s fight against the Nazis when she is forced to smuggle patriot Omar Shariff across the border. The Yellow Rolls Royce deftly handles the twists and turns of melodrama, comedy and adventure, and this widescreen presentation does full justice to the gorgeous scenery. As one admirer of the car observes, it s kind of old fashioned, but it s got class. Fans of the handsome cast members will want to go along for the ride. --Donald Liebenson