Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Robert J. Maxwell Admired the covert ridiculousness of the first hour -- five extremely wealthy crooks of majestic stature sitting around one of those tiny café tables on a Paris sidewalk, discussing loudly and shamelessly their next plan to screw the public and further enrich themselves by destroying part of the city with oil rigs.It's a witty and well-written scene. Yul Brynner is the leader of the gang and a real narcissist. A rag picker passes by while Brynner is holding forth and he finds some money on the sidewalk. Rag picker: "Someone dropped this money. Is it yours?" Brynner: "I never drop money." Rp: "Well then I guess it isn't yours." Brynner: "It's more mine than yours! (Snatches it out of the rag picker's hand.)Each person at the table, in order to prove he's rotten, must confess to something evil that he did. Oscar Homolka as the German representative, side steps the question, but the phony preacher confesses that, well, he once accepted a rather large donation from an organization "with extreme anti-Semitic views" -- and here the preacher, played by uber-handsome James Gavin, ends with a hilarious smirk combining pleasure, guilt, modestry, and pride. The preacher is there for a reason. The movie descends into something resembling a genuine morality play. Katherine Hepburn is dotty and still lives in a past in which such corruption doesn't exist and everyone is nice to everyone else. But when she must visit the preacher she gets to ask all sorts of semi-philophical questions about religion, making a hash of Christianity.The keen and antic wit remains, though the sparks grow sparser. One of Hepburn's friends -- there are three nuts all together -- is Giuletta Masina, who spends her afternoons in the park sitting on a bench and watching the men visit the pissoir. They all know her and tip their hats. But she's shy and easily embarrassed. Hepburn makes some remark about husbands and is warned, "Don't forget. Our friend is a V-I-R-G-I-N." Hepburn: "She can't be all THAT naive. She has canaries."At a mock trial, the rag picker (Danny Kaye), introduces the three ladies to modern life which, in his view, is profoundly dismal. Tears form in Hepburn's eyes.At that point, I more or less lost interest, but you might not.

ftparish Lots of good comment already made except for some confusion over interpreting and understanding allegory. This is one of the best examples. Much has been said about the waste of talent by big name actors in this film. This play gives point to the old adage that there are no secondary parts in a play. This play demanded and used TALENT, hence the outstanding cast of true professionals. I was disappointed that there was no credit or reference made of the musical score. It is excellent. I'd buy a copy if I could find it. This music is haunting and will live with you for a long time. This is one of those movies that makes one wonder why it is not more prominently marketed. Maybe too cerebral?

kit-21 A fable of human and societal archetypes spanning the generations. But what wonderful surprises from Danny Kaye as the Ragpicker. His soliloquies during the trial demolish all the stereotypes of what he was capable of as an actor. Those moments, alone, are worth the fare. Kathryn Hepburn puts in a typically professional performance in a role she enjoyed. Donald Pleasance is marvelously malevolent as the Prospector. Yul Brynner is terrific in an atypical role - probably his best since "Invitation to a Gunfighter". If the story suffers from anything, it is overreach - too many characters of outlooks that are too similar wasted on name actors. John Gavin puts in a strange performance that could have been better filled by dozens of other actors.

jaibo A delightful, gentle, quirky and poetic movie. The entire story takes place in the mind of the title character - an eccentric old dear who dreams of a world in which love is requited and evil is simply banished back into the darkness from which it came. The film is by turns moving, funny and magical - and the cast (especially Evans, Brynner, Homolka and Kaye) are a delight. If you are in the mood to be taken into a gentle, unfashionable, charming world of love, poetry and idealistic whimsy, then this movie is for you.