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Lord Love a DuckRating:
Release Date: 02 December, 2003 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
Lord Love a Duck Reviews
"Down on my luck-o; stuck in the muck-o . . ."
The first film that George Axelrod directed as well as co-wrote, "Lord Love a Duck", set in a Southern California high school, deals not only with kids and adults but American culture in general. It's wide-ranging and indescribable. Only Tuesday Weld, that rarest of Sixties phenomena, a supremely talented actress, had the necessary blend of innocence and carnality in the role of Barbara Ann Greene (she could have easily played "Lolita"), a performance of remarkable flexibility and charm. As the high school belle courted by the slightly unhinged Alan 'Mollymauk' Musgrave (Roddy McDowall), her starry-eyed desire for a dozen cashmere sweaters, a beach holiday, a handsome husband, a movie contract--in short, all the insubstantial ideals of a cotton candy culture--expresses precisely the brainlessness of teenage society, but underlines it with an incautious ebullience and eroticism that makes the character briefly real. Maybe the film was too different, or--as many critics thought--too vulgar in its dissection of American vulgarity. The Cashmere Sweater Club is a clever touch--"All you need," says one of the girls, "is twelve cashmere sweaters"--and most of the gags are amusing, as when a Hollywood producer (brilliantly played by Martin Gabel) jumps into the ocean to rescue a script, then cries, "Oh! I forgot. I can't swim!" Tuesday Weld, under Axelrod's zany direction, sparkles in her best screen role (and her favorite film part) before "Pretty Poison" (1968). In addition, his adroit handling of McDowall, Lola Albright, Martin West and Ruth Gordon revealed a variety of tone and mood previously expressed in his writing for Broadway ("The Seven Year Itch") and Hollywood ("Breakfast at Tiffany's"). [filmfactsman]
Flawed, Highly Recommended
Hey-hey-hey! This "crazy" film helped me stay sane. KTLA TV in Los Angeles used to play it on a semi-regular basis in the bleary-eyed hours of the morning. That's when Lord Love a Duck first did its magic and made me see the light. Of course, since then, it's been on VHS and DVD (with a bonus auto-bio on director George Axelrod), so now there's no excuse but to put aside everything and see this movie now.
Just off the top, there's nothing quite as satisfyingly bent as the father & daughter go cashmere sweater shopping sequence. It defies print. For that achievement alone I would give the film 5 stars! Fortunately though, there's lots more to appreciate.
As much as I LOVE "Love a Duck", it does have its flaws. The comic momentum sags a bit in the middle, especially the lead-up and suicide committed by Barbara Anne's mother. That's where the smart and darkly-styled comedy veers into staid drama. And mixed-genres do have way of going afoul (or a-FOWL, in this case). But this was Axelrod's first go as a director and there are way more gains than losses here. His anarchistic approach is, after all, consistent with the theme and persona of lead character Maulymuck, played by McDowall.
When discussing movies, I often recommend that people see this film and they almost never know what I'm talking about. Lord Love a Duck falls undeservedly off the radar. I think this is due to its unique but worthy quirks which seem to broadside people's expectations. How do you place LLAD in term of its' antecedents or influences on other films? --best not to. Its humor is spread subtly and not hung up on a single peg. It's not that easily "branded" -- the most overused buzz-word of the last decade.
The Lord Love a Duck soundtrack by Neil Hefty is a great find too, if you can fish it out of Ebay.
More Customer Reviews (11 total)
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