YMMV / Darling Lili

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Despite the Falling-in-Love Montage, Lili doesn't seem too interested romantically in Bill until she hears that he might be two-timing her with Suzette. So it seems like part of her attraction could be based on jealousy - since she's clearly used to being adored by all her fans.
  • A dark example for the opening scene. Lili leads the troops in singing to calm everyone down in the concert hall. But is it less about trying to keep everyone quiet and more about trying to stop the soldiers from going out and fighting?
• Angst? What Angst?: The denouement reveals that Lili was exposed as a spy to the public. She sings at a war benefit at the very end and none of the soldiers seem bothered that a former German spy is there. Unless the story that she defected for love helped win them over...
• Awesome Music:
  • It's Julie Andrews at the peak of her career, pulling off some splendid numbers. The film even got nominations for Best Original Song and its score. Special mention goes to the reprise of "I'll Give You Three Guesses".
  • "Whistling Away The Dark" is a haunting melody that is performed entirely in one continuous take. To this day fans call foul that it was never given an award.
• Best Known for the Fanservice:
  • The film's most memorable scene is the steamy kiss in the shower between Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson. The former was actually hoping to invoke the trope, desperate to break out of the goody-two-shoes image she had as a result of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.
  • The other famous scene is "I'll Give You Three Guesses", which has Lili performing a striptease on stage. Notably it's a reprise and there are many videos of it online - whereas there are none for the first rendition.
  • "Your Goodwill Ambassador" wouldn't be as remembered if it hadn't been of Crepe Suzette stripping for the crowd.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • After Lili hears on the phone that Bill did shoot down the plane, she rushes through a room where Bedford and Emma are seen in bed together. It's a random shot, adds nothing to the film, and the two don't act like a couple in any other scenes.
  • While Lili and Bill are away in the countryside together, they run into a chorus of French schoolgirls and join them in their singing. The plot gets put on hold for it, and it goes on for about five minutes. Unsurprisingly it's removed in the director's cut.
• Couple Bomb: Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews married during production, and the film was a resulting Box Office Bomb. They managed to subvert the trope with S.O.B. and Victor/Victoria though.
• Faux Symbolism: It's been suggested that the entire film is a metaphor for Julie Andrews herself. Lili begins the film as a seemingly sweet and wholesome singer who even the police wouldn't suspect is actually a spy. Throughout the course of the film, the nature of appearances and deception is examined - as Lili is revealed to be quite different from the persona that Bill and everyone else thinks. This parallels Julie Andrews's own struggles with people seeing her only as Mary Poppins or Maria von Trapp and how her own personality was different in real life. Fittingly the opening shot first shows Lili performing on stage from the audience's POV, before switching to her own.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • In the first few minutes no less. The people attending a concert are scared when an air raid happens, so Lili leads the soldiers in singing "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag" and "It's A Long Way To Tipperary" to cheer everyone up.
  • The ending scene has Lili performing "Whistling Away The Dark" at a tribute benefit for the soldiers. Several soldiers are waiting in the wings, among them the man Youngblood Carsons who had congratulated Lili earlier in the film. He winks and taps his cheek, looking for another kiss.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The striptease in "I'll Give You Three Guesses" is often accompanied by "Childhood Ruined", due to Julie Andrews's Contractual Purity with Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.
  • Because the press were making such a huge deal about the striptease, people joked that the film should be marketed with the tag line "Julie Strips" like Ninotchka was with "Garbo Laughs".
• Mis-blamed: The film flopping is often attributed to Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews. However the reason it made so little money was due to the distribution being botched by Paramount. Despite setting Box Office records at Radio City Music Hall, the film barely got a release in most of the United States. Despite losing money, it was still received moderately well by critics and nominated for three Oscars.
• Misaimed Marketing: The film was advertised with the slogan "Everyone loves Darling Lili. So will you and your family" - which is thought to be an attempt to recoup the costs by drawing in families.
• Narm:
  • The idea of a military operation being named 'Crepe Suzette' is very amusing.
  • At the time, critics reacted this way to Lili's striptease - finding Julie Andrews getting naked funny rather than sexy, not just because of her image but because of the way it's done, complete with her actually shaking her ass right in front of the camera.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Crepe Suzette appears in only three scenes, but you of course remember her for the Bad Girl Song "Your Good Will Ambassador" and all the Fanservice it provides.
  • Youngblood Carsons the drunk soldier who hits on Lili early on. Just appears in that sequence, besides a cameo in the finale, but has a ton of chemistry with Julie Andrews.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The Troubled Production and the resulting financial loss is always the first detail associated with the film.
• Questionable Casting: Rock Hudson was attacked by critics for being too old for the role of a World War I Ace Pilot. He was in his mid-40s when it was filmed and nearly fifty when it was released.
• Shallow Parody: As detailed here, the movie deconstructs the Julie Andrews persona - but only subverts the surface-level tropes - like the family-friendly image and the cloying songs.
• Signature Scene:
  • The Oner as Lili performs "Whistling Away The Dark" on stage. That song was even more popular than the movie itself, and Julie Andrews would perform it at concerts.
  • And of course the Hotter and Sexier reprise of "I'll Give You Three Guesses".
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The early part of the 190 minute cut runs very slowly, featuring Lili singing various songs and entertaining the soldiers. A Falling-in-Love Montage lasts quite a while too. Then Lili starts to suspect that Bill has been lying to her, and the plot kicks into gear. This is partly the reason Blake Edwards opted to recut the movie in the 90s, trimming it by about 29 minutes.
• Testosterone Brigade: There are some who watch the movie just to see Julie Andrews being given much more Fanservicey treatment. Even outside the striptease scene, she's shown dolled up in sexy dresses and heavily made up - allowing the camera to show off her beauty.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Lili is a Villain Protagonist who is spying on a Handsome Lech who may or may not be cheating on her, and it's not clear if there's anything to the romance at first. Not to mention that it's 1918 so the war is going to end soon anyway - meaning Lili's efforts are a Foregone Conclusion.
• Uncertain Audience: The bulk of the movie is a sexy thriller, with a Cabaret flavoured wartime romance. Yet there are two comic relief characters whose slapsticky scenes are more reminiscent of The Pink Panther.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The aerial dogfight sequences are truly spectacular, and they took two years to film.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The film got advertised as another family-friendly Julie Andrews musical. The G-rating led to parents bringing their children and getting horrified at the risque content.

---