The Legend of Lylah Clare
6.2 /10 1 Votes
Budget 7 million USD Duration Country United States | 6/10 IMDb Genre Drama Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date November 16, 1968 (1968-11-16) Cast (Lylah Clare / Elsa Brinkmann / Elsa Campbell), (Lewis Zarken / Louie Flack), (Barney Sheean), (Countess Bozo Bedoni), (Mark Peter Sheean), (Young Girl) Similar movies Birdman , Entourage , The Gift , Youth , Salaam Cinema , The Experiment Tagline Overnight, she became a star...Over many nights, she became a legend. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Legend of Lylah Clare is a 1968 American drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Robert Aldrich. The film stars Peter Finch, Kim Novak (in multiple roles), Ernest Borgnine, Michael Murphy, and Valentina Cortese. The film was based on a 1962 DuPont Show of the Week TV drama co-written by Wild in the Streets creator Robert Thom.
Contents
- The legend of lylah clare 1968 official trailer kim novak peter finch movie hd
- Plot summary
- Cast
- Reception
- DVD
- References
A satire on Hollywood, full of references to similar films, it recounts how an untalented beginner is hired to play the legendary Lylah Clare, a tempestuous actress who died mysteriously 20 years ago, and is herself consumed by the system. Although Aldrich's previous 1960s efforts were praised by critics, Lylah Clare opened to negative reviews.
The legend of lylah clare 1968 official trailer kim novak peter finch movie hd
Plot summary
Agent Bart Langner finds Elsa Brinkmann, a would-be actress who looks and sounds just like Lylah Clare, a flamboyant star who fell to her death in suspicious circumstances 20 years ago. He persuades arrogant director Lewis Zarkan, who had been married to Lylah, to see her. The two men then convince brash studio head Barney Sheean, who is equally struck, to back a picture with her as Lylah.
Besides coping with the tyrannical Zarkan and easy access to alcohol and drugs, Elsa also has to contend with other hazards of Hollywood like malicious journalist Molly Luther and lesbian admirer Rossella. As filming continues, her identification with her rôle gets more intense. She also begins to fall in love with Zarkan, who is happy to sleep with her but his priority is to get his film finished.
By the last day of shooting, her personality seems to have merged with that of the outrageous Lylah whose fatal fall, we learn, was prompted by the jealous Zarkan. To antagonise him, she first lets him find her in bed with the gardener. Then, as he directs her in a circus scene, she leaps to her death from the high-wire. The resulting publicity makes his film a huge success.
A final sequence suggests that the world of Hollywood is literally one of dog eats dog.
Cast
Reception
The film received generally poor reviews and performed poorly at the box office. The film critic for Newsweek magazine stated that The Legend of Lylah Clare "fights clichés with clichés." Pauline Kael wrote, "there are groans of dejection at The Legend of Lylah Clare, with, now and then, a desperate little titter." Roger Ebert said the film was "awful...but fairly enjoyable", while Life's magazine's Richard Schickel felt that the film would catch on as a cult classic because it was "Not merely awful; it is grandly, toweringly, amazingly so...I laughed myself silly at Lylah Clare, and if you're in just the right mood, you may too."
DVD
The Legend of Lylah Clare was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on October 4, 2011, via the Warner Archive DVD-on-demand system sold through Amazon.
References
The Legend of Lylah Clare WikipediaThe Legend of Lylah Clare IMDb The Legend of Lylah Clare themoviedb.org