Victor Victoria (1982)

A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Blake Edwards (screenplay), Hans Hoemburg (concept),

Stars:

Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston

Won 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julie Andrews	...	Victoria Grant
James Garner	...	King Marchand
Robert Preston	...	Carole "Toddy" Todd
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Norma Cassady
Alex Karras	...	'Squash' Bernstein
John Rhys-Davies	...	Andre Cassell
Graham Stark	...	Waiter
Peter Arne	...	Labisse
Herb Tanney	...	Charles Bovin (as Sherloque Tanney)
Michael Robbins	...	Manager of Victoria's hotel
Norman Chancer	...	Sal Andratti
David Gant	...	Restaurant Manager
Maria Charles	...	Madame President
Malcolm Jamieson	...	Richard DiNardo
John Cassady	...	Juke

Storyline

In 1934 Paris, trained coloratura soprano Victoria Grant, a native Brit, can't get a job as a singer and is having trouble making ends meet. She doesn't even have enough money for the basics of food and shelter. Gay cabaret singer Carole 'Toddy' Todd may befall the same fate as Victoria as he was just fired from his singing gig at a second rate club named Chez Lui. To solve both their problems, Toddy comes up with what he considers an inspired idea: with Toddy as her manager, Victoria, pretending to be a man, get a job singing as a female impersonator. If they pull this scheme off, Toddy vows Victoria, as her male alter ego, will be the toast of Paris and as such be extremely wealthy. That alter ego they decide is Polish Count Victor Grazinski, Toddy's ex-lover who was disowned by his family when they found out he was gay. The Count auditions for the city's leading agent, Andre Cassell, who, impressed, gets him a gig performing in the city's best nightclub. In the audience on the ...

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Plot Keywords:

singer | nightclub | cabaret | 1930s | opera | 

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Taglines:

The disguise surprise comedy of the year!

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

6 May 1982 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Victor/Victoria

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross:

$21,933,614 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Peerford Ltd., Artista Management

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the second consecutive movie that actress Julie Andrews provoked controversy in relation to sexuality. In S.O.B., Andrews had controversially appeared topless thereby smashing her nice Mary Poppins image. Andrews then in this movie appeared in drag, playing a man, pretending to be a woman, pretending to be man.

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Goofs

The film is suppose to take place in 1934. During Norma Cassady's song and dance number at King Marchand's Club in Chicago she sings about Chicago getting a an airport. Chicago Midway Airport was built in 1923 for Mail service and opened a passenger terminal in 1931. In 1932 Midway Airport claimed to be the World's Busiest with over 100,846 passengers on 60,947 flights.

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Quotes

Victoria: Well it's probably for the best.
King Marchand: That's as bad as "love is a two-way street."
Victoria: What it lacks in originality it makes up for in prophecy.

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Connections

Remake of Viktor and Viktoria (1957)

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Soundtracks

"Finale/Shady Dame From Seville (Reprise)"
Performed by Robert Preston

User Reviews

A Great 1962 Movie -- Made in 1982

Despite all of its gender-bending commentary on sexuality, both hetero- and homo-, "Victor/Victoria" looked and sounded in 1982 (year of "ET" and "The Road Warrior") as if it were made in 1962 -- and that was a good thing. Blake Edwards' trademark ability to combine lush romanticism with immitable slapstick comedy was here matched by a wonderful score by his longtime collaborator Henry Mancini, "Voila!" -- we're back in the early sixties again. (It didn't hurt that stars Julie Andrews and James Garner were hottest in the sixties, and had acted together in 1964's "The Americanization of Emily.")

Robert Preston, "The Music Man" of late fifties Broadway and 1962 screen fame, further added an element of early sixties nostalgia -- with the twist that he here used his booming vocal tones in the service of a delightfully out and comfortable gay man. Preston was one of two hot contenders for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year. The winner was Lou Gossett, Jr. for his Drill Instructor in "An Officer And A Gentleman."

Rounding out the great cast are Lesley Ann Warren (sexy and very funny) in an Oscar-nominated role as Garner's mob moll floozie, and Alex Karras, continually funny as Garner's softhearted ox of a bodyguard. (Karras gets a classic Blake Edwards slapstick routine trapped in the freezing snow outside a Paris hotel, getting big laughs out of the simple line: "You've got heat? That's good.")

And be sure to keep a lookout for "Sherloque Tanney" as the French private detective on Victor/Victoria's trail. Tanney was Blake Edwards dentist, and appeared in almost every Blake Edwards film from "Darling Lili" (1970) on. Other than his corpse in "SOB," (1981), the French detective is possibly Dr. Tanney's greatest role on the screen. Tanney, too, gets to anchor several great trademark Blake Edwards slapstick routines.

Oh, and there's music, too. Enough music for a Broadway musical (which is what "Victor/Victoria" became), and with a sad and wistful Mancini title tune (reprised in the film by Andrews) that reminds one a bit of "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses." Just like in the early sixties.