Easy Virtue

How strange it was for me to see a story in which a sophisticated, intelligent American woman goes to Europe and is admired and sometimes envied by rich British women. In movies based on Henry James novels, for example, I'm used to seeing naive Americans travelling to the Continent and being devoured by the much more cosmopolitan Europeans. As we left the theater, I asked my London raised Mum why Noel Coward portrayed Larita (an American and the heoine of his play upon which this movie is based) as being more glamorous and world wise than her English counterparts. "Because he was being honest," she answered me without hesitating.

Anyway, Easy Virtue has an easygoing charm and an excellent cast. Those who saw Jessica Biel in The Illusionist will not be surprised that she is not at all out of her depth in these waters as the American beauty at the center of this romantic comedy. There are some wonderful Noel Coward one-liners which infuse the movie with great wit. And there is also a hilarious scene of "Did I see what I think I just saw?" flash of below-the-belt nudity.

Finally, it's hard to ignore the wildly anachronistic music soundtrack which include covers of songs as diverse as "You're the Top," "Car Wash" by Rose Royce (yes, the '70s disco hit) and "When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going" by Billy Ocean, all done in a '20s jazzy style. Here is the official website for the movie:

http://easyvirtuethemovie.co.uk/

Spend just 2 or 3 minutes there. Turn up your speakers and you can hear samples of most of the soundtrack songs. It's fun. Just like the movie.

I saw the musical with the original cast during its pre-Broadway tryout tour (yes, yes, I know this will make you hate me anew), and the movie version was--overall--better. But the musical had charm, Pinza, Walter Slezak (who sort of stole the show), Florence Henderson in the title role, and William Tabbert (the original Lt. Cable from the Broadway version of South Pacific) as Marius. Some of the songs were wonderful.

By the way, was the show or was the show not a flop? I keep reading both.

Joe: I agree with every one of Billy's suggestions. Including his suggestion about Sail Away. And I'll just add that every single song that Billy mentioned are among my very favorites with the single exception of "Mad about the Boy" It's one of his most famous and is in Easy Virtue, but it's not as sophisticated musically as the others.

I do wish you could see Easy Virtue. It is so Noel Coward. I'd never call it a great film but I know how fond you are of him and Porter.

Sita Sings The Blues was utterly enchanting. Reminded me at times of Yellow Submarine.

I adore, love, worship Sita Sings the Blues and am completely underwhelmed by Yellow Submarine. Once again, different strokes.

I can see why Marc would be reminded of Yellow Submarine, though. I was thinking a lot of The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and not just because of the silhouette figures.