Shortly after winning her 1961 Oscar for her harrowing portrayal of a woman struggling to protect her daughter from the ravages of war-torn occupied Italy during the Second World War (some closest to Loren insist the film is semi-autobiographical) in "Two Women", Loren ably demonstrated to the critics of the world that she could not only handsomely dress a set but could be a force to reckon with as a serious actress. That being said, she was off to the races, figuratively speaking, selecting her next projects, again, "ably" assisted by her producer husband Carlo Ponti ("Doctor Zhivago"). It's not too surprising that she would choose a film in a lighter more comedic vein, for, just as every comic longs to play Shakespeare, every serious actor enjoys slipping on a banana peel every now and then. The ever versatile Peter Ustinov (two time Oscar winner, "Spartacus", "Topkapi") wrote and directed, adapting Romain Gary's novel to the screen with characteristic flare and panache, and, has a minor stint in the film as a befuddled crowned head of some remote principality or other, the target of a would-be assassin's bullet that of her anarchist husband Paul Newman (also, an Oscar winner, "The Color of Money"), and, wooed and romanced by her all too understanding entitled affluent husband (yep, you guessed it, yet another Oscar winner, "Separate Tables") David Niven. Personally, I'm a sucker for sumptuous elegant films and "Lady L" is mounted on fairly lavish scale, albeit, those exteriors and interiors which were obviously filmed on locations elsewhere, as well as, period costumes which are both stunning and ravishing to gawk at especially as worn by the curvaceous Loren.
