THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS

 

This film was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino, and the main reason I bought the disc was the fact that Kim Novak stars in it. I had never seen THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS, and while it's obvious a lot of money, effort, and talent went into the project, it's a silly, one-note movie. 

Based on the novel by Daniel Defoe, the film charts the life of Moll (Kim Novak), an orphan who learns very early on how to use her looks to charm men. Moll gets herself involved in all sorts of relationships and circumstances as she tries to gain a secure living in 18th Century England, and she even winds up in jail awaiting execution. There's no need to worry, though....due to this movie's dopey tone, one can be assured that Moll will get a happy ending. 

It was the success of TOM JONES that influenced this movie in getting made. MOLL FLANDERS (released in 1965) is presented and set up as a provocative and rambunctious bawdy comedy, but it's more silly than funny, with everyone in the cast hamming it up, and situations that one usually sees in old Hollywood slapstick two-reelers. (At one point during a chase scene on horseback in a forest, the Three Stooges "Bending back a branch and releasing it to have it swing back and hit the person chasing you in the face" gag is used.) The movie feels like an overlong Benny Hill skit.....but if Benny Hill had been involved in this movie somehow, it probably would have been much more entertaining. 

Where the movie really misses the mark is in the portrayal of Moll Flanders. Instead of a conniving minx, she's more of a naive klutz (ironically Moll has more virtue than all the other major characters in the film). It appears that those in charge of this production didn't want the leading lady to come off as unlikable, so Moll blunders along through most of the story, bending (or falling) over several times. (The major special effect in this movie is Kim Novak's cleavage.) Novak is ravishing here (she gets dozens of costume changes), but you don't believe for a second that Moll is really all that greedy or manipulative. 

MOLL FLANDERS was a high-class production, with very impressive locations, production design, and wardrobe, and it has a high-class cast as well, with the likes of Angela Lansbury, George Sanders, Vittorio De Sica, Leo McKern, and plenty of fine British supporting players. Richard Johnson plays Moll's true love, a bounder who isn't very good at being a criminal. (Johnson and Novak would wind up getting married, but their union didn't last very long.) 

Terence Young directed MOLL FLANDERS, and at the time he was known for instigating the James Bond film series. Unfortunately the wit and sexy nature of the early Bond movies is missing here. (Young does use 007 veterans like Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, and Anthony Dawson in small roles.) At a couple points Young even opts to use speeded-up footage, which brings a sitcom-like vibe to what is supposed to be a major theatrical film. John Addison's music doesn't help--at times it sounds as if he's scoring a Looney Tunes entry. MOLL FLANDERS is 131 minutes long, and that's way too much time for a film of this nature. 

I will say that the print of MOLL FLANDERS used on the new Kino Blu-ray looks magnificent. It's very colorful and sharp, and it shows off the fine work of cinematographer Ted Moore (another Bond veteran). The movie looks so good on this Blu-ray that it makes one wish even more that the content lived up to it. 

If THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS had been made only a few years later, it probably would have been a much more different film. By the late 1960s you could wind up doing just about anything on the big screen, for better or worse. MOLL FLANDERS tries to be ribald and titillating but it never gets going. It's a movie best recommended for Kim Novak fans.