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Lisa’s Home Bijou: “How to Steal a Million”

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Film Festival: Caper Films

AUDREY HEPBURN earned a special place in our hearts in her star-making performance in 1953’s “Roman Holiday.” What was it about her? Her dark hair, pretty eyes, slim figure and her sense of style all contributed to her unique look, helped along by her favorite designer, Hubert Givenchy. In this caper film, Givenchy’s designs are an important part of the fun.Lisa's Home Bijou: Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole romp through Paris in the 1966 caper film "How to Steal a Million." Don't miss the Givenchy fashions!

“How to Steal a Million (1966)” takes place in Paris in the swingin’ ’60s. Paris was a confection of a city then, with its Belle Epoque mansions, inspiring art, the Ritz Bar, Maxim’s restaurant, and Givenchy’s trend-setting fashions. Nicole Bonet (Audrey Hepburn) lives the life of an heiress with her father in the family mansion. Papa helps maintain their lifestyle by creating masterful art forgeries. As the story begins, he has just sold a Cezanne “from his collection” for $5 million.

” I doubt very much if Van Gogh himself would have gone to these pains with his work.  — He didn’t have to; he WAS Van Gogh.  — But my darling, you know that in his whole lifetime he only sold one painting; whereas I, in loving memory of his great tragic genius, have already sold two!”–Papa and Nicole

papa-van-goghIn his latest publicity stunt, Papa lends his Cellini Venus to a great Paris museum for public display (Carnavalet Museum.) At the opening reception for the exhibit, Leland Davis (Eli Wallach) falls passionately in love with the Cellini Venus, which is insured for $1 million. Meanwhile, Nicole stays home from the reception and decides to read a Hitchcock novel before going to bed. She gets scared to death when she hears a noise in the empty house. Creeping downstairs, Nicole discovers an intruder, debonair in a tuxedo, stealing flecks of paint off the “Van Gogh” hanging in the entrance hall. This tall, good-looking ruffian with intense blue eyes is Simon Dermott (Peter O’Toole).peter-otoole

Nicole tries to shoot Simon. The two of them end up on a wild ride in a sports car to the Ritz, their first encounter culminating in a soulful kiss. Nicole likes Simon very much despite the fact that they met during an apparent burglary. Nicole doesn’t know that Simon is an employee of De Solnay (Charles Boyer), a rich man interested in acquiring some of the Bonet art works. Nicole convinces Simon to help her steal the Cellini Venus from the museum. She won’t tell Simon her reasons for committing this crime, but he has his own secret reasons for agreeing to help her.

Simon and Nicole case the museum to plan the theft. The Venus is protected with light beams from the ceiling circling the work, with alarm controls in the guards’ lounge. The museum closes to visitors at 5:30 pm, and the guards make rounds once each hour all night. The maids come in to clean from midnight to 4 am. Simon’s plan needs to work around all these schedules and alarms with only himself and Nicole to carry it out.

” Now look, if you were a guard and had to sit night after night guarding a bunch of junk you couldn’t afford and didn’t particularly like, how would you feel? —Irritable. … –It’s psychological warfare!” –Nicole and Simon

And now for the fashion report: Givenchy’s outfits for Nicole are a visual feast of mid-1960s style. In her first appearance, she is dressed completely in white, complemented by her bright red sports car. Her white “bug-eye” sunglasses complete the ensemble. The fashion show continues with

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  • a white suit with a pleated skirt and helmet hat
  • a light brown tweed suit with no-lapel jacket and dirndl skirt, accessorized with white kid
  • a lime green suit, the jacket button-less with a mandarin collar, worn with diamond dangling earrings
  • a butter-yellow belted jacket suit, with a silk cravat, a dirndl skirt, and white diamond-patterned hose
  • a black satin dress with lace overlay, black peau de soie shoes, lace eye veil, glittery eye shadow, and the palest pink lipstick
  • a navy blue double-breasted coat with white accessories, including very large square sunglasses
  • a wheat cowl-neck dress
  • a navy wrap-jacket suit with a large white collar and belt
  • a window-pane plaid coat.

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Audrey is irresistible in all this; Peter O’Toole does not have a chance!

Will Nicole be swayed by Leland Davis’s proposal, including a large engagement ring? Will Nicole’s father end up in jail? How long can Nicole and Simon spend in a tiny closet together without getting in trouble? Can Simon work around the alarm system? Who will end up with the Venus? “How to Steal a Million” is your how-to guide with all the answers.

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I find myself wishing these styles would come back. Isn’t it great that modern movie makers like the 1960s too? We don’t all look like Audrey, but a little matching shoes, dress, hat can’t be bad! And I love a romance that happens because the couple works on a hard project together (even if it is illegal)!

Affiliate links:  if you make a purchase using these links, I’ll receive a small compensation towards maintaining this blog, at no extra cost to you.

horizontal bar with plumeriaThis is an update of a review that appeared originally in RETRO magazine, Nancy Eaton, editor.

Lisa’s Home Bijou: Topkapi caper film

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Film Festival: Caper Films

Melina Mercouri is Elizabeth in Topkapi (1964). IMAGINE A BEAUTIFUL and passionate woman who lives for beautiful objects — especially emeralds. She exudes such a joie d’vivre that men flock to her. With beautiful makeup and hair, an infectious laugh and freely bestowed kisses, she uses her power to persuade men to help her get everything she wants. Alluring Melina Mercouri loves the Topkapi dagger and its emeralds. Peter Ustinov is part of her gang in this 1964 caper film. The outfits cannot be missed!

Topkapi is the treasury in Istanbul where the priceless jewels of the Turkish empires are kept. In this film, two protagonists devise a caper to get their hands on a particular item in the Topkapi treasury. Walter Harper (Maximilian Schell) and Elizabeth Lipp (Melina Mercouri) decide to steal an emerald-studded sultan’s dagger, since emeralds are Elizabeth’s best friends.

I will give you all of them for just one dagger. Encrusted with diamonds, emeralds. The four greatest emeralds the world has ever known. Dazzling, flawless. All four are priceless. There is one that is perfection. –Elizabeth

To help them pull off the caper, they plan to assemble a team of amateurs. This is to decrease the likelihood that a dossier already exists on a team member in a police bureau somewhere.

topkapi-melina-kaleidoscopeThe film opens at a carnival. Psychedelic colors filter across the screen in a surrealistic fashion, giving an effective air of mystery to the story’s introduction. The two conspirators recruit a strongman, a gymnast and a carnival worker. The first recruit is Cedric Page (Robert Morley), who appears to be a bumbling toymaker. But Cedric is actually an amazing inventor and alarm expert. He determines that the floor of the Treasury is loaded with hundreds of strain gauges. This means that the slightest weight on the floor after closing hours will set off the alarms.

topkapi-caper-crewElizabeth and Walter also recruit a driver, Arthur Simon Simpson (Peter Ustinov). Arthur works in a Greek border town as a guide-for-hire. Though Arthur has lots of British and American tourists to solicit, his limited skills will never make him prosperous. Walter and Elizabeth hire Arthur to drive a Lincoln across the Turkish border. Arthur has no idea about the caper or the real identities of Walter and Elizabeth. He just thinks they are a jet-set couple with an expensive car. They give Arthur directions to drive the Lincoln to Turkey and leave it at the Istanbul Hilton.

How’s the captain, my successor? –It took 3 days for the magnetism to wear off. –Seriously? –Seriously! –Cannibal! –It’s like Chinese food. One hour, and you’re hungry again. – Elizabeth & Walter

The guards at the Turkish Border are suspicious of Arthur, so they check the car so thoroughly that they almost dismantle it. The search pays off — they find weapons and Arthur is immediately taken into custody. The Turkish security force suspects that a terrorist group has set Arthur up, so they appoint him as an agent to try to find out more. Arthur then sets out to join Elizabeth’s team in Istanbul.topkapi-wrestlers

In one fascinating scene, the plotters attend a wrestling match in an Istanbul stadium. This once-a-year event is quite a spectacle as musicians march around tangled masses of writhing, oiled male bodies. The spectators are totally mesmerized with the scenario, so the caper team uses this to their advantage to advance some of their plans.

topkapi-daggerWill Arthur fall under Elizabeth’s spell and help her with the heist or will he help Turkish security? Will the team find a way to slow down the lighthouse beam that sweeps the Topkapi palace roof every 21 seconds? How will they use Cedric’s mechanical parrot that perfectly records human speech? How will they make a key for the sultan’s display case? How will they get to the display case without triggering the floor alarms? Will the fabulous Elizabeth get her emeralds? Only the amusing and mysterious Topkapi holds the answers.

Resource links for Topkapi

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Theoni V. Aldredge was the costume designer for this film. Melina Mercouri is riveting in her coordinated outfits. In these days of minimalism and capsule wardrobes, I’m still inspired by a total matched outfit. Her fingernails even match. I didn’t know anyone with green nail polish in the 1960s!

Affiliate links:  if you make a purchase using these links, I’ll receive a small compensation towards maintaining this blog, at no extra cost to you.

horizontal bar with plumeriaThis is an update of a review that appeared originally in RETRO magazine, Nancy Eaton, editor.