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Very disappointing...

Too much of everything

best movie i've ever seen.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Jack Lemon is a newcomer to the Ambassador's staff in London. His boss is Fred Astaire. He rents half a house from the impecunious Kim Novak, an American whose husband has mysteriously disappeared. It's widely suspected that she poisoned hubby, using kidney pies that were so good that he asked for seconds. "It was the seconds that done him in," remarks a police officer. Lemon begins to wonder if she's going to poison him and is hypervigilant.The fact that Lemon and Novak are "living together" becomes a scandal. He's advised for the sake of his career to avoid being seen with Novak in public but when she tries to barbecue his dinner the burst of flame sets fire to the tarpaulin, screams break out, windows fly open, bells clang, and the fire department arrives -- that sort of thing.I didn't find it very funny, or very suspenseful either. Lemon tip toes from room to room, examining the contents of drawers, while Novak goes about her business in the kitchen. Lemon and Novak are competent enough. Fred Astaire is miscast in the role of the sarcastic boss who should be threatening instead of charming. Lionel Jeffries and Henry Daniell are both memorable in their brief appearances as a Scotland Yard official and a vicar.The film does the job it set out to do, but what it set out to do is only barely worth doing.

I watched this through Netflix, being intrigued to see a movie hitherto unknown to me starring Jack Lemmon. With Kim Novak and Fred Astaire on the marquee as well, I was intrigued. But what an awful disappointment. The first half of the flick was fun to watch, especially seeing Fred Astaire put in his classy bit. The cinematography of London was beautiful and the production values were great, but after the first half, the movie just disintegrates into incoherence. The plot complications are too complex to keep track of and after a while one just gives up. One shouldn't have to work so hard to keep track of things in what is supposed to be a frothy comedy. The insertion at the end of outright slapstick seems like an act of desperation. The actors do their best, but the fault ultimately lies with the script. Sad, really to see such talent wasted.

Jack Lemmon, rising young man in the United States State Department hasn't a clue when he rents a room from Kim Novak who turns out to be a fellow American in London. He also doesn't know she's The Notorious Landlady whose husband has gone missing and Scotland Yard thinks she did him in.Americans in the diplomatic corps are supposed to be scandal free, even more so back in 1962 so poor Lemmon doesn't know what he's walked into. But his supervisor Fred Astaire does and he wants him to leave. But Lionel Jeffries of Scotland Yard thinks he'd make one great unofficial undercover man. So in the spirit of the alliance that defeated Hitler, Astaire agrees.Later on after a hilarious barbecue scene nearly burns Novak's place down and gets the State Department unwanted publicity, Astaire wants to transfer Lemmon to Tierra Del Fuego, but Novak actually comes up and charms him into letting him stay. So much so that Astaire now wants to play Sherlock Holmes and solve the case himself or at least be Watson to Lemmon's Holmes.Jack and Kim make a lovely couple in danger, 25 years earlier I could have seen Cary Grant and Carole Lombard in their parts. But when you set out to make a stylish comedy, casting Fred Astaire is always a stroke of genius. Director Richard Quine even had the good sense to acquire Astaire's classic, A Foggy Day from the defunct RKO studio where he introduced it in Damsel In Distress to use as background music. It's used to great affect on one of those foggy London nights where both of them are trailing Novak.In the last half hour their sleuthing pays off and a rather intricate mystery is solved. Lionel Jeffries makes a dogged and determined Inspector Lestrade like Scotland Yard man, who if truth be told is one of the sleazier members of that organization ever portrayed on screen.The joint creative hands who wrote The Notorious Landlady were Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart. Can't do better than that for style and wit.

This has got to be one of the funnest movies every produced. Jack Lemmon and Kim Novack are truly outstanding. Easy to follow with twist that keeps you guessing. Kim Novack is the attractive American landlady. Jack Lemmon is the Amertican diplomat. Together they make magic as the plot's twist and turns develop. This is a must see for Novack fans. If you like a good old fashion mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat. and laughing, this is the film to see. Fred Astarie also gives a very good performance. As Jack Lemmon's boss, he to is taken with the charm and beauty of Novack. The laughs keep coming as the the two of them, Lemmon and Astaire, do everything in there power to help Novack in her time of need. If you love Kim Novack, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire than this movie is for you.