{"id":4499,"date":"2007-10-06T16:26:54","date_gmt":"2007-10-06T23:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2023-09-25T13:40:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T20:40:24","slug":"legend-of-lylah-clare-the-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4499","title":{"rendered":"Legend of Lylah Clare, The (1968)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;She was the most remarkable woman I&#8217;ve ever known. So what do you do? You spend the rest of your life trying to find her again.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-62972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1-178x270.jpg 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Lylah-Clare-Poster-1.jpg 497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA shy actress (Kim Novak) named Elsa is recruited by a reclusive director (Peter Finch) to play the lead role in a biopic about his ex-wife, Bavarian movie star &#8220;Lylah Clare&#8221;, who died mysteriously some 20 years earlier. Soon Elsa begins acting more and more like Lylah, even imitating her deep, gravelly voice &#8212; but is she doomed to repeat Lylah&#8217;s fate?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Actors and Actresses<\/li>\n<li>Dick Miller Films<\/li>\n<li>Ernest Borgnine Films<\/li>\n<li>Hollywood<\/li>\n<li>Kim Novak Films<\/li>\n<li>Michael Murphy Films<\/li>\n<li>Peter Finch Films<\/li>\n<li>Possession<\/li>\n<li>Robert Aldrich Films<\/li>\n<li>Untimely Death<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nRobert Aldrich made a number of classic films &#8212; including <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2837\"><em>Kiss Me Deadly<\/em><\/a> (1955) and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2144\"><em>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?<\/em><\/a> (1962) &#8212; during his 32-year career as a director, but this ill-conceived, horribly executed fiasco &#8212; his first film outside the studio system &#8212; exists squarely in the realm of &#8220;what was he thinking?&#8221; mishaps. While Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine try their best with the insipid material (and fans of Coral Browne will undoubtedly enjoy her brief turn as a Louella Parsons-esque gossip columnist), the rest is an incomprehensible mess. The film&#8217;s one (potentially) redeeming quality is the level of camp it achieves through sheer ineptitude: whenever Elsa starts acting like a bitchy diva, for instance, her voice is inexplicably dubbed with a deep, gravelly, almost mannish German accent; unfortunately, while it&#8217;s hinted that Lylah may somehow be inhabiting Elsa&#8217;s body (conveniently enough, they look identical), it&#8217;s never made clear whether Elsa really <em>is<\/em> possessed, or is just doing a darn good imitation of her deceased doppelganger. By the time the utterly confusing denouement &#8212; involving a trapeze act and a dogfood commercial &#8212; rolls around, most viewers will no longer care enough to try to figure out what it all means.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Peter Finch as Lewis Zarkin<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-finch.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-finch.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4501\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ernest Borgnine as a self-important Hollywood bigwig<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-borgnine.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-borgnine.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4502\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The campily constructed &#8220;flashback&#8221; scenes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-flashback.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-flashback.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4503\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The truly awful, deep-voiced dubbing when Elsa is &#8220;possessed&#8221; by Lylah<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-dubbing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/lylah-dubbing.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4504\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some amusing dialogue: &#8220;You&#8217;re moving like a deeply offended Tibetan yak!&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. Although it has a small cult following, I can&#8217;t in good conscience recommend this mess as a &#8220;must see&#8221; for film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0063219\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1968\/08\/23\/archives\/screen-legendary-starkim-novak-and-finch-in-lylah-clare.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-legend-of-lylah-clare-1968\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/80273\/the_legend_of_lylah_clare.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;She was the most remarkable woman I&#8217;ve ever known. So what do you do? You spend the rest of your life trying to find her again.&#8221; Synopsis: A shy actress (Kim Novak) named Elsa is recruited by a reclusive director (Peter Finch) to play the lead role in a biopic about his ex-wife, Bavarian movie star &#8220;Lylah Clare&#8221;, who died mysteriously some 20 years earlier. Soon Elsa begins acting more and more like Lylah, even imitating her deep, gravelly voice&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4499\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4499"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92082,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4499\/revisions\/92082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}