In the final scene, Lili who has been exposed as a spy, is singing in front of a packed house of British Service personnell, and they're all cheering. I don't get it, even if she did manage to avoid being shot after the war, she'd still be a hated outcast amongst the British, right?
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Every man for himself- and God against all.
You're quite right. But it's a romantic fantasy and all's well that ends well. One could always argue that she reversed her position at a crucial time and, in doing so, enabled the Rock Hudson character to shoot down so many enemy aircraft, bomb the train, and "help win the war."
Still ... it's highly improbable that she wouldn't have been pelted with rotten fruit and veggies and booed off the stage. In Britain! Perhaps not in France.
"Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind."
Not only that , we don't even get a shot or close-up of Rock Hudson in the final scene - I think he had left this very troubled production by then and Julie Andrews is seen kissing some nameless double. As Robert Evans put it in 1969 - here is $24 million worth of film and no picture. A sad crash landing for Julie's spectacular yet brief reign as box-office queen of the world.
shareEvans was--and remains--a yotz. He got his royal comeuppence in real life and, in reel-life, got it full force in "S.O.B." Blake Edwards and Robert Vaughan gave it to him in the jugular. See it and laugh your butt off!
"Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind."
Robert Evans was a very smart film executive. He was right about this film stinker.
share[deleted]
It's disconected like this entire mess.
sharebut it's a Blake Edwards film, the "officials" are all boobs, particularly the french.. and Bill tells them that Lili cannot POSSIBLY be a spy before he locks them in the bathroom.. obviously they, and everyone else, believe it and Lili gets to go back to london and perform.
share"obviously they, and everyone else, believe it and Lili gets to go back to london and perform."
Agree but yet there was the advertizement for the final performance which seems to negate this....will have to watch it more closely
"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five."
Right before the scene, there is a shot of a newspaper headline saying "Notorious spy Lili Smith to give Relief Fund Benefit performance" or something to that effect, and then they show a packed, cheering house applauding Julie Andrews. Huh? It makes no sense to me that she would be forgiven and hugged to their collective bosom so soon following the war. Not a great wind-up to the film, but I still enjoyed most of it. It was reviled at the time of release, I would say mainly due to its exorbitant cost and its old-fashioned nature. To me, however, it has undeniable entertainment value in the same vein as Edwards' "The Great Race" and all those lavish 60's entertainments like "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". It is overextended, yes, but often romantic and charming, with all the lavish production values on the screen, just hampered by a tired-looking Rock Hudson and a couple of scenes that go on too long (Hudson and Andrews' romantic weekend and ensuing spat and a chaotic finale.) Still, there are a lot of good things here and the film doesn't really deserve its lowly reputation.
share"In the final scene, Lili who has been exposed as a spy, is singing in front of a packed house of British Service personnell, and they're all cheering. I don't get it, even if she did manage to avoid being shot after the war, she'd still be a hated outcast amongst the British, right?"
Very good point. It's kind of like the end of In Like Flint where the U.S. President is all friendly and chummy with the Fabulous Face ladies after they've kidnapped him, replaced him with a double and attempted a coup d'etat to overthrow the government. In reality, they'd all be on their way to prison as traitors like Lili Smith/Schmidt would be in reality. But hey, it's a MOVIE and they just wanted a happy ending.
I see your point, but I think Blake Edwads did (perhaps too delicately) hint at, that the french investigators and soldiers and servants and EVERYONE in this movie (even the "swiss uncle villain") are true romantics. From a directors point of view (and under the influence of the cold war, that was still going on when this movie was made) there could be nothing more romantic and dramatic than denouncing yourself as a spy (the most terrible thing you can be) to save the one you love.
When she tells them, that she is an agent, the french investigators chuckle at first and think "aaah oui, l'amour!" this lady is trying to save Larraby's skin". And also that short scene before Rock Hudson locks them in the bathroom shows that none of them really, earnestly can bring themselves to believe she could be a spy, even when it is weird that she has been kidnapped. Yes, she knew about the codebook under the mattress, but "she is an actress" and honestly everyone hides their stuff under their mattresses in those times. So it could just have been a lucky guess.
So what happened with the newspaper headline, I think, is that the romantic version of the story - the "Famous Artist claims to be a spy to save the man she loves" - had been accepted as the truth, which not only makes a good story for the press, but also increased the publics adoration for her. It would not make sense otherwise. The hero and patriot Larraby COULD not still love and trust her if he believed that she betrayed him like that.
So maybe Edwards does not spell it out for us as clearly as some would like, and I cannot prove anything by quoting dialogue, but while watching it, I had "a feeling" that it must have been something like this.