Director: Anthony Asquith
Year Released: 1963
Rating: 2.0
Several "very important people" are stuck in a London airport because of dense fog: Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) is planning on leaving with secret boyfriend Marc (Louis Jourdan) to get away from controlling (and rich as hell) Paul (Richard Burton), the CEO of a tractor company (Rod Taylor) is having financial trouble, filmmaker Max Buda (Orson ... working on another accent) is trying to avoid paying taxes and The Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford) just wants to hang out in Florida. The topic of wealth is the recurring theme: Burton has too much of it (and gives it away freely, forgetting about human connection), Welles doesn't want to part with it, Rod Taylor and Rutherford desperately need it and Liz could care less, she just wants to be loved and needed. It says a lot that Rutherford won the Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, since it's clear the 'lighter' moments (with her and Welles) play out better than Rod T. worrying about stock options and Burton handing out blank cheques ... and then the Liz-Burton difficulties seem to 'end' when he threatens to off himself, which is one of the worst reasons to get back together with someone. Is the moral that one is better off just getting by with the bare minimum as opposed to being a multi-millionaire? Or that one should marry an attractive but vacuous Italian actress to continue funding future projects?
