The Notorious Landlady

The Notorious Landlady
Directed by	Richard Quine
Written by	Blake Edwards Larry Gelbart
Based on	The Notorious Tenant 1956 Collier's by Margery Sharp[1][2]
Produced by	Fred Kohlmar Richard Quine
Starring	Kim Novak Jack Lemmon Fred Astaire Lionel Jeffries Estelle Winwood
Cinematography	Arthur E. Arling
Edited by	Charles Nelson
Music by	George Duning
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 26, 1962 (1962-07-26)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Notorious Landlady is a 1962 American comedy mystery film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire.^[3][4] The film was directed by Richard Quine, with a script by Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart.

Plot[]

When American diplomat William Gridley arrives in London, he rents the second floor of Carly Hardwicke's townhouse and promptly falls in love with his sexy new landlady. But Gridley doesn't know what many people suspect -- that Carly murdered her husband Miles. However, since there was no body, Carly cannot be prosecuted. To complicate matters further, Gridley's boss, Franklyn Ambruster, doesn't take Gridley's "lapse of judgment" lightly. A Scotland Yard inspector, Oliphant, visits the embassy and convinces Gridley to spy on her. However, that evening, a fire erupts as he and Carly grill steaks in her back yard. The fire makes Fleet Street headlines, and a scandal results. But since Carly is an American, she goes to the embassy to plead Gridley's case. She tells Ambruster that Gridley is a good man and not to transfer him out of the country. Ambruster is touched. He takes Carly to lunch, becomes smitten with her, and proclaims her innocence in the murder affair.

One evening, Miles appears in the townhouse, alive and well. The uneasy reunion between Carly and hubby degenerates into acrimony. Then when Miles attempts to strangle her, Carly shoots and kills him. The fatal report is heard by Gridley while on the phone with Inspector Oliphant. But at the coroner's inquest, Carly is exonerated by eyewitness testimony of her crippled neighbor's private nurse who testifies that Miles assaulted Carly. Ultimately Carly tells Gridley she is being blackmailed by the nurse who wants the pawn ticket to a candelabra that Carly recently pawned. The pawn ticket was actually the cause of the argument between Carly and Miles, who had stuffed it with stolen jewels. When Gridley and Carly go to retrieve the candelabra, they find the pawnbroker murdered. A chase sequence ensues, and Gridley and Carly locate the nurse in a Penzance retirement community. They catch her in the act of pushing her elderly patient off a cliff to silence her. (It was, in fact, the elderly patient who witnessed Miles and Carly fighting, not the nurse.) Gridley and Carly save the elderly lady as Ambruster and Oliphant arrive by helicopter. The crooked nurse is arrested and led away in cuffs.

Cast[]

• Kim Novak as Carlyle 'Carly' Hardwicke
• Jack Lemmon as William 'Bill' Gridley
• Fred Astaire as Franklyn Ambruster
• Lionel Jeffries as Inspector Oliphant
• Estelle Winwood as Mrs Dunhill
• Maxwell Reed as Miles Hardwicke
• Philippa Bevans as Mrs Agatha Brown
• Doris Lloyd as Lady Fallott
• Henry Daniell as the Stranger
• Ronald Long as Coroner
• Richard Peel as Sergeant Dillings
• Dick Crockett as Detective Carstairs
• Ottola Nesmith as Flower Woman
• Bess Flowers as Courtroom Spectator
• Scott Davey as Henry
• Ross Brown as Boy
• Mary O'Brady as Mrs Oliphant

Notes[]

Lemmon and Novak had appeared together on screen twice previously, in Phffft! (1954) and in Bell, Book and Candle (1958). In both later films, Novak portrayed a landlady.

The song "A Foggy Day (in London Town)" by George and Ira Gershwin serves as the main theme for the movie and was introduced in the 1937 Fred Astaire film A Damsel in Distress.

Nominations[]

• Nominated for Best Written American Comedy in 1963 at the WGA Awards.^[5]

See also[]

• List of American films of 1962

References[]

External links[]

• The Notorious Landlady at IMDb
• The Notorious Landlady at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Notorious Landlady at AllMovie
• The Notorious Landlady at the TCM Movie Database
• The Notorious Landlady at the American Film Institute Catalog