Cinema Under the Stars: How to Steal a Million
This just in: Audrey Hepburn starred in more than three movies! Kudos to the perceptive programmer who booked a title that doesn’t contain the words “Roman,” “Sabrina,” or “Tiffany’s”. (While you’re at it, why not revive Robin and Marian or They All Laughed?) For this elegantly appointed trifle, La Hepburn reteams with her Roman Holiday director William Wyler, a man more at home filming chariot races than chuckles. But there’s a promising trade-up in the leading man department — so long, wooden-backed Gregory Peck; hello, suave-squared Peter O’Toole — that adds visual attractiveness to a film already bursting at the seams with glamour. Ms. Hepburn’s mod wardrobe is by Hubert de Givenchy, Alexandre Trauner (Children of Paradise, Kiss Me, Stupid) supplies the stately production design, and behind the camera sits Charles ‘Critical Focus’ Lang, the actresses’ semi-regular cinematographer since Sabrina. And speaking of unforgettable images, Hugh Griffith (Ben-Hur’s Sheik Ilderim) was fired from the production for, among other things, a penchant for trodding drunk and naked through hotel corridors, with the word “Not” missing from the Do Not Disturb sign that doubled as a fig leaf. Alas, if only Harry Kurnitz’s script had that much on the ball.