The Yellow Rolls-Royce

Musique - Forget Domani by Katyna Ranieri

I watched this gem of a movie last night and loved it!  I sure do loves me some Jeanne Moreau and Shirley MacLaine and I'm getting into Ingrid Bergman some more lately.

The first vignette centers around Lord Charles Frinton (Rex Harrison), who buys the yellow Rolls-Royce, for his wife, Lady Eloise Frinton (Jeanne Moreau), as a belated anniversary gift.  They don't actually say when this story is supposed to take place, but I'd guess from Jeanne Moreau's bob and the general look of the car, sometime in the 1920s or 1930s (the car used in the movie was actually a 1930 Phantom II Sedanca de Ville).  I won't divulge what happens in the Rolls-Royce to make the Frintons sell it, but the selling of the car leads you into the next storyline.

This story is about Mae Jenkins (Shirley MacLaine), a hatcheck girl engaged to gangster Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott), who is showing her around Italy (in the yellow Rolls-Royce, of course).  She is supremely bored, meets handsome photographer/gigolo Stefano (Alain Delon), and complications ensue.  They don't give a date for this vignette either, but given that Mae looks at a poster of Jean Harlow at one point and says that the car is sort of old fashioned at another point and because the next story line takes place in 1941, I'd say mid 1930s.  However, Mae's clothes and hair are super, super 1960s.  Despite the wardrobe and hair issues with this storyline, it is a truly great one and its ending brings you to the final storyline.

As I said before, the final story does have a date - 1941.  Famous American widow socialite, Gerda Millett (Ingrid Bergman) is scheduled to visit Yugoslavia, but is warned not to do so because of the threat of German invasion.  She doesn't believe this and is determined to go anyway.  A man staying at the same hotel, Davich (Omar Sharif) convinces her to take him along (in the yellow Rolls-Royce).  Along the way, you find out that Davich has been banned from Yugoslavia, but wants back in so he can help his people fight the Nazis.  When the invasion actually does take place (much to Gerda's surprise), she lends a helping hand (and the yellow Rolls-Royce).  It's a lovely story and Ingrid Bergman looks absolutely stunning and very youthful, despite being 49.  This was the first color picture I'd ever seen her in (admittedly, I haven't seen many of her movies) and I was blown away by how pretty her eyes were!

A cute little movie with lots of love, betrayal, drama, heartbreak, adventure, and fun.  If you haven't already, I would definitely recommend seeing The Yellow Rolls-Royce!!