The Honey Pot (1967)

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

Ben Jonson (play)
Frederick Knott (play)

Release Date:

22 mayo 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Frase comercial:

You are cordially invited to enjoy a perfectly elegant case of murder!

Plot:

Inspired by a performance of his favorite play, "Volpone," 20th-century millionaire Cecil Fox devises...

Plot Keywords:

Ex Girlfriend | Placebo | Fake Illness | Greed | Dead Phone

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Making Them Jump

Cast

Rex Harrison	...	Cecil Sheridan Fox
Susan Hayward	...	Mrs. Sheridan
Cliff Robertson	...	William McFly
Capucine	...	Princess Dominique
Edie Adams	...	Merle McGill
Maggie Smith	...	Sarah Watkins
Adolfo Celi	...	Inspector Rizzi
Hugh Manning	...	Volpone
David Dodimead	...	Mosca
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Herschel Bernardi	...	Oscar Ludwig (scenes deleted)
Antonio Corevi	...	Tailor (scenes deleted)
Cy Grant	...	Revenue Agent (scenes deleted)
Frank Latimore	...	Revenue Agent (scenes deleted)
Massimo Serato	...	The Pretender (scenes deleted)
Carlos Alberto Valles	...	Assistant Tailor (scenes deleted)

También conocida como:

Anyone for Venice? (USA) (working title)
It Comes Up Murder
Mr. Fox of Venice
The Honeypot (USA)
Mujeres en Venecia (Spain) [es]

Duración:

Italy:125 min | UK:150 min | 132 min (TCM print)

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Clasificación:

Finland:K-12 | France:U | Italy:T | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12 | UK:A

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Famous Artists Productions

Trivialidades:

Anne Bancroft was originally cast as Merle McGill, but she turned it down for a stage role.

Quotes:

NurseWatkins: I don't want to sound like a voice for morality, it makes him angry and you angry. But there are things...
Fox: What things?
NurseWatkins: Not gold, perhaps, but still precious. Not negotiable, not even legal tender. Just tender.
NurseWatkins: You can't even say it, poor man, you make it sound like hate.

Making Them Jump

Taking an inspiration from his favorite Jacobean play, Ben Jonson's Volpone, fabulously wealthy Rex Harrison hires an out of work actor Cliff Robertson to play an elaborate practical joke on three women who've been part of his life. Robertson's to play his confidential secretary and assistant and to send them letters inviting them to Venice where Harrison is pretending to be dying in his palazzo.

To be sure these are three women to die for indeed. There is Princess Capucine with a title, but little else going for here as she becomes one of those permanent house guests on the Riviera. Then there's movie star Edie Adams originally from the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn whose best days as a film star are behind here and not enough money is coming in to keep up with her lifestyle spending. Finally there is the mysterious and earthy Susan Hayward. Imagine if you will Susan as Rachel Jackson, but with a malevolent twist and you've got her character. She's also a hypochondriac and travels with nurse/companion Maggie Smith.

The joke's proceeding great until Hayward winds up dead and the police in the person of Inspector Adolfo Celi is brought in. Joseph Mankiewica's literate script glides ever so gently from comedy of manners to murder mystery. And not like everyone of them hasn't got reason to do in Hayward. Just see the film and you'll know what I mean.

Sad that The Honey Pot failed to find an audience. Also sad that it was two years from the Stonewall Rebellion, Harrison's bisexuality was not more explicit. In regard to that read Hayward's comments on their lives together and the dialog exchanges between Harrison and Robertson.

In fact The Honey Pot does turn out to be an elaborate joke, but you have to see who winds up winners and losers in this very intelligent and witty film.