Promise Her Anything (1966) Online

The only reason why this picture isn't awful is because of the beautiful baby boy. The baby definitely steals the film but there is only so much a baby can do. How many times can he utter the cute Dada?

Keenan Wynn and Hermione Gingold, two late gems of the screen, are given little to do here. Gingold walking around with a bird on her head in one scene could have been made funnier. She is the landlady who mildly accepts Warren Beatty's excuse for not coming up with the rent.

Even Bessie Love is thrown in in one scene as a customer in Wynn's store.

Cathleen Nesbitt has her moments as Bob Cummings hip British mother. Cummings who could act up a storm in comedies as the romantic interest, plays a child psychologist who doesn't want children of his own. More should have been made of this fact to enhance the comedy. Beatty, as the way-off neighbor of Leslie Caron,provides the comic relief, especially when he is constantly baby-sitting.

The ending is silly, but at least the widow Caron gets a husband! Basically, this is all silly, inane nonsense. The stars deserved a far better script.

This is a prime example of this show biz dictum. Beatty and Caron both act as if they are embarrassed to be in this cheap, poorly written, smutty comedy, and well they should. Apparently they were having an affair at the time and would rather be off alone. So would you if you were in this movie. Give it a miss unless you're a fan.

Hollywood was stumbling through of one of its worst times in film history: lush budget financial disasters drained studios dry, the end of the studio era left few to no actors or directors on contract, studios were selling land and movie props to stay alive, floundering studios were bought out, budgets for films were practically zilch, films were produced overseas to cut costs, influx of foreign films imported to the US compared to lack of exported films was debilitating, and birth of the made for television movies sets the stage for this mid-60's Hiller miracle, Promise Her Anything.

Having seen several of Arthur Hiller's films that I've enjoyed, most notably The Out-of-Towners and The Americanization of Emily, I was eager to see Promise Her Anything because of its rarity. I was pleasantly surprised. Is Promise Her Anything a side-splitting flawless comedy worthy of Oscar nods? No. Is it a unique piece of comic cinema making the most out of what little it had? Yes.

Promise Her Anything is unique because of the wide variety of subject matter presented to the audience in a single film, touching on anti-social anarchist topics like beatniks and independent mail-order "hoochie coochie" films, but it doesn't stop there. The movie tackles topics such as divorce, open sex, sex outside of marriage, a female's desire for sex, deception in relationships and goes into even more serious topics touching on single mothers, fatherless children, validity of child psychology, and exploitation of children. It addresses all these topics yet somehow manages to be cohesive and entertaining enough to watch through to the end. That credit goes directly to director Arthur Hiller.

Never a Beatty fan, Beatty's work is either good or bad but in Promise Her Anything, he shows he has the ability for comedy, screwball comedy, slapstick comedy all the while commanding a sincerity that makes his actions believable. I compare Beatty's performance as Harley Rummell to Cary Grant's as Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace. Both films have a similar physical comedy style and situational content, but Beatty shows the same desperation to cover up the truth with balance, not exaggerating his performance as much as Grant. In a role which could have easily been taken over the top, Beatty keeps grounded and with Hiller's direction gives a performance that, for the role, is spot on. His repeated encounter with the sofa as well as numerous times hiding his equipment and actors somehow doesn't get old, and I found myself surprised at that. Beatty's charisma shows through every time, with a different feeling of frustration, desperation, or excitation that lends itself to making the scene feel fresh.

Leslie Caron made her natural vulnerability and determination shine equally in Promise Her Anything. Caron's role as Michelle O'Brien, a beautiful sexy single mother who captures the loins of every man that sees her, is the impetus for much of the insanity that ensues in the film and she carries that with grace and passion. Her determination to do what is right all the while going about it in a way that is wrong juxtaposes itself but she breathes the breath of life into that dichotomy. In a role that doesn't take advantage of her talents as a dancer or singer to entrance the viewer, Caron must make it through on acting ability, and with Hiller's direction, she does. Caron's real life gives her much to draw upon, grounding the part of Michelle and making her motives unquestionable while adding gentle nuanced truth to her performance.

Robert Cummings reprises his role, so to speak, as a bumbling psychologist who has far more problems than his patients, as in What a Way to Go, in which he worked with Beatty's sister, Shirley MacClaine. Cummings plays this type of role well and is capable of deadpan comedy without effort. His interactions with Cathleen Nesbitt who plays his mother in the film are memorable because the dialog is wonderful, though the acting and chemistry between them seems unnatural. The rest of the cast was believable considering they were actors playing actors in no budget "misdemeanor" mail order films.

Though the film looks like it was shot without a budget on super-16, it works. It looks rough and spontaneous which gives gritty texture to the film, offering the viewer an additional subtle layer of believability. The horrible over-extended rear-screen projection sequence could have been edited down, but otherwise, editing was quite tight, shot selection was good; use of fast motion was minimal and appropriate and not used as a comedic "fast-motion-is-funny" Munsters crutch.

The dialog was true to life, intelligent and clever. Every line is pertinent and on the mark. Michelle, thick with a french accent and European ideals, may have a humorous flubbed word or lost in translation moment but it is not over-used. Not only was the script fitting to the characters, the situation and the mood of the film, but it allowed the viewer to recognize the depths of the characters without much effort. For example: I caught myself trying to name the movie or novel that Harley would use lines from in everyday conversation. A man so immersed in the classics that he contextually and naturally speaks lines from the greats gives more subtext for Beatty and raised my respect for Harley the character. It made his ambition to become a real film maker "real". He wasn't an uneducated dolt happy with the work he was doing; Harley was educated and had aspirations of making great films. It takes a great script to convey so much with so little dialog in such a short amount of time.

Considering everything, I believe that Promise Her Anything is a good 60's era comedy that far outshines several others with bigger names and budgets, such as Cactus Flower and Dear Brigitte, though it still falls a little short to it's older sibling, What a Way to Go.

Forget ISHTAR and TOWN AND COUNTRY if you're looking for Warren Beatty's worst film --- PROMISE HER ANYTHING is it. Beatty's an "art film" director saddled with sitting for divorcée Leslie Caron's baby. He's lecherous enough to try and fool her into thinking he's not what he is in hopes of getting her into bed. She has her sights on psychiatrist Bob Cummings. There is very little that's funny despite the presence of comic experts like Cummings, Lionel Stander, and Hermione Gingold. Caron is not bad and she's extremely beautiful, but Beatty is completely at sea and obviously very uncomfortable playing in a farce. For some reason it's set in Greenwich Village but filmed in a studio in England. It looks and feels that way...and that's not a compliment! Promise yourself that you won't bother with this dog. Beatty would have A LOT more luck with comedy ten years later by creating the biting satire SHAMPOO.

This would seem to be a silly, throwaway comedy except for . . . a very cute baby, a very cute girl (Leslie Caron) and a very cute character actor (Lionel Stander).

Beatty, playing a cheapo soft porn director, uses his apartment as his studio. Caron, not knowing his profession, begs him to babysit her toddler son. Beatty agrees, only the kid keeps wandering into the shots.

Light-hearted and fun.

Exceedingly thin comedy from screenwriter William Peter Blatty (paying his bills) about a cheesecake filmmaker in Greenwich Village under duress from his mail-order distributor to spice up the action. Meanwhile, he's got a new neighbor, a young French widow with a rambunctious son...and a shapely behind! Tepid picture from talents seen to better advantage elsewhere. Warren Beatty looks flustered and performs listlessly, while Leslie Caron is all spunky externals and no depth. The entire plot is laid out for us in the first 15 minutes, while Beatty's competition in the love department is none other than sexless Robert Cummings, he of the mannequin's grin. You know you're in for it when the opening montage consists of a toddler wreaking 'comic' chaos in a jewelry store, playing peek-a-boo for the camera while reacting to animated credits hovering about his head. *1/2 from ****

I thought this was a great comedy. Wonderful acting and great writing.

I'm writing this because the other reviews panned it.

They didn't like it but I really did.

The baby is a fantastic actor.

The plot is unusual. From minute to minute one really does not know what will happen next.

There are a lot of great actors.and they all do a first rate job. There are a lot of funny lines from movies and from literature and from advertisements of the day. I think it was extremely entertaining. So, just give it a try...