The Notorious Landlady

Directed by Richard Quine, The Notorious Landlady follows an American diplomat (Jack Lemmon’s Bill Gridley) as he rents a London flat from a mysterious woman named Carly Hardwicke (Kim Novak) and subsequently begins dating her – with complications ensuing after Bill’s boss (Fred Astaire’s Franklyn Ambruster) and various other official figures get wind of the illicit relationship. It’s a decent-enough premise that’s employed to mostly underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Quine, as the filmmaker, working from Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart’s screenplay, delivers a slow-moving, wildly overlong endeavor that grows less and less interesting as it progresses – with the arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by a hopelessly meandering and padded-out narrative. (It’s clear, ultimately, that the picture runs at least a full half hour longer than warranted or preferred.) And although Lemmon turns in as predictably charming and magnetic a performance as one might’ve anticipated, The Notorious Landlady‘s stagnant, static vibe ultimately paves the way for a third act that’s nothing short of endless – which, despite an admittedly amusing (and thoroughly frenetic) climax, cements the movie’s place as a fairly disastrous and misbegotten misfire.

** out of ****