The Yellow Rolls-Royce 1965

     This film is three stories about the lives and loves of people who owned a 1930 yellow Rolls-Royce.  The Marquess of Frinton is the first owner and he purchased the car for his wife as a belated anniversary present.  Later, the Marchiness sells the car in disgust?  Gangster Paolo Maltese’s moll Mae thinks the Rolls is a ‘classy’ car.  She plans use the car to tour Paolo’s home-town in Italy.  She also enjoys the company of a handsome Italian photographer while Paolo is away in America.  By the outbreak of WWII, the car now belongs to socialite Gerda Millet.  On her way to visit Yugoslavian royalty, Gerda and the Rolls become participants in the Yugoslavian fight.

      In the beginning of this film, it's a little slow and then it picks up as it goes along.  Much of the scenery is very beautiful and it shows the changes in lifestyles from 1930 through 1940.  There are another film collaborations by the team of Director Anthony Asquith and British Playwright Terence Rattigan.  The Browning Version, The Winslow Boy and The V.I.P.'s.  The Rolls is the main star of the film and it is a beautiful automobile.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie. 

122 min, Comedy directed by Anthony Asquith with Terence Rattigan and Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, Jeanne Moreau, George C. Scott, Omar Sharif, Alain Delon, Art Carney, Joyce Grenfell, Edmund Purdom, Michael Hordern, Lance Percival, Roland Culver, Moira Lister, Harold Scott.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 59% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 128 reviews, TCM average user rating 4.3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Tuscany, Florence, Naples, Italy.  Austria.  MGM Studios, London, Hertfordshire, England, UK.  Originally the 1930 Phantom II Sedanca de Ville was a pale blue color.  MGM covered the car with twenty coats of yellow paint and a few coats of black were add to the top of the hood, roof and wings.  The winding mountain road in Yugoslavia was also the location for the race between James Bond’s Aston-Martin and a red Mustang in Goldfinger.  The film grossed $5.4 million at the US box office and among the top ten films in receipts for 1965.  In October 2003, the Chicago Tribune reported the Rolls is owned by Neal Kirkham of Saratoga, California.