[ *** SPOILERS *** ] The only way one can enjoy this movie is to totally ignore its awfulness and wallow in its prodigious campiness. I read here that the script is based on an observed, true incident, a story which requires more than a few grains of salt for me to swallow. This is one of those movies which treats four parallel but separate stories, in this case of people stuck overnight at a London airport due to fog. The highlighted story, of course, is that of the characters played by Dick and Liz, a phony and contrived tale (and this is supposed to be the "true" one!) which is not helped by laughable dialogue. Rod Stewart's Australian accent appears to have been purchased at a yard sale. Margaret Rutherford does well with the bit given her, but she must have grown weary by now of playing dotty English matrons (then again, her options were somewhat limited by physical traits, weren't they?). For my money, the best thing in the flick is Orson Welles' thoroughly delicious bit as the expatriate mittel-European movie director on the lam from the tax collector, a role he is clearly having a ball playing.
The biggest problem with the film is that it is totally formulaic and predictable. You don't get too far into the movie before you realize that everything is going to end happily for everyone, which includes Liz getting her man back and the Australian marrying his secretary. The whole silly package is, however, done up in very slick production values. All in all, a film very much of its time.
The biggest problem with the film is that it is totally formulaic and predictable. You don't get too far into the movie before you realize that everything is going to end happily for everyone, which includes Liz getting her man back and the Australian marrying his secretary. The whole silly package is, however, done up in very slick production values. All in all, a film very much of its time.