Only in Hollywood could Troy Donahue have been top-billed over Claudette Colbert in the title role of an opulent folly like this.
Refreshing as it is to see the evergreen Ms Colbert's charms still pulling in the men at the age of 56, her whirlwind romance in this movie with Karl Malden (!) - who attacks the part more like The Demon King than Prince Charming - is just one of many components that make this cinematic juggernaut harder and harder to take seriously as it relentlessly unfurls like half a dozen episodes of 'Dallas' laid end to end.
I would love to have seen more of Sylvia Miles and Madeleine Sherwood as the butch-looking pair of plantation workers in retro 50's bikers' jeans who come close to debagging Donahue when he first shows up. While Dean Jagger's usual passionate restraint dominates all his scenes as he once more demonstrates how less can often be more...
Refreshing as it is to see the evergreen Ms Colbert's charms still pulling in the men at the age of 56, her whirlwind romance in this movie with Karl Malden (!) - who attacks the part more like The Demon King than Prince Charming - is just one of many components that make this cinematic juggernaut harder and harder to take seriously as it relentlessly unfurls like half a dozen episodes of 'Dallas' laid end to end.
I would love to have seen more of Sylvia Miles and Madeleine Sherwood as the butch-looking pair of plantation workers in retro 50's bikers' jeans who come close to debagging Donahue when he first shows up. While Dean Jagger's usual passionate restraint dominates all his scenes as he once more demonstrates how less can often be more...