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Rating: - Fog of Doubt
The VIPs is a criminally ignored masterpiece of set decoration, though the acting leaves a lot to be desired. Orson Welles makes fun of his own reputation as a spoiled and egotistical director, but it's largely painful to watch thinking of how many great movies he never got to make because people believed the role was for real. Because he is only in the movie to provide the ultimate plot twist for a more interesting subplot involving duchess Margaret Rutherford, the role might as well have been played by Stringer Davis--or left out of the film altogether. I suppose his appearance casts a cold eye for the 1950s-1960s mania for international film-making, during which time many, many movies were set overseas for tax reasons, but then again that what he was all about, wasn't it, the nomad, the cosmopolitan Mr Arkadin, man without a country. I wonder what country The VIPs was actually filmed in, the fogged in airport looks glamorous and evocative, reminding today's viewers there must have been an era in which a plane trip was something worth getting dressed up for.

Elizabeth Taylor takes advantage of this by wearing a giant turban hat, like a beehive, and an enormous, striking coat. She's tiny and determined as she moves this exaggerated outfit down streaming acres of Pan Am industrial carpeting. I saw this as a boy and always wanted to go to Heathrow. Imagine my surprise when I did go there, and bad connections forced me to spend the night at the airport, looking for the kind of glamour Taylor and Louis Jourdan seem to pick up everywhere they go. Even Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith, desperately strapped for cash, and Margaret Rutherford, poor as a churchmouse, find themselves in vast cathedral-like spaces of cultural amenity, cocktails proffered sympathetically, someone to fuss at their every need and the décor a Vincente Minnelli dream of throw pillows in three contrasting 60s colors. (I did wind up having a manicure at midnight from a Polish emigree.) I have to confess that every time the scenario dwelt on the Taylor-Burton-Jourdan love triangle I dozed off a little, till we hit on the idea of placing wagers on how many minutes into the movie would it take for Taylor to change expression. For the record it doesn't happen until 1.27.13, but keep your eyes peeled, it's a doozy.

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