Woman Times Seven DVD with Laurence Badie, Lex Barker, Michael Caine (Unrated) +Movie Reviews

The Seven Faces of Shirley MacLaine

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 07/05/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you love Shirley MacLaine, chances are you'll really like WOMAN TIMES SEVEN (1967), one of her more offbeat movies, directed by Vittorio De Sica. In the movie she plays in seven different vignettes strung together by the themes of love and revenge.

While you might think this movie to be a re-tread of MacLaine's 1964 comedy "What a Way to Go!", WOMAN TIMES SEVEN is a more understated, European flavoured film experience. With the aid of several wigs, Ms MacLaine successfully shifts between seven different women. Each one tells a very special story.

My favourites include Edith, the housewife trying to compete with her author husband's (Lex Barker) exciting fictional heroines; Maria Teresa, who tries getting revenge on her cheating husband (Rossano Brazzi) by becoming a hooker; and Eve Minou, determined to outshine her arch-rival (Adrienne Corri) during a night at the opera! The final story is the most poignant one. In "Snow", Jeanne is followed by a handsome young stranger (MacLaine's "Gambit" costar Michael Caine), though he's actually a private detective employed by Jeanne's husband...and has also fallen in love with her.

There's equal moments of hilarity and heartache in these stories of seven different shades of womanhood, and you're bound to find your own personal favourites within the mix. The musical score by Riz Ortolani is absolutely gorgeous; and the costumes created by Marcel Escoffier represent the 1960's at it's glamorous--and outlandish--best.

Lionsgate/StudioCanal will be releasing this often-requested title on September 16. Fans of Shirley MacLaine will adore seeing it again, but I hope casual viwers will also give it a spin. Highly-recommended."

Funny and Touching

Byron Kolln | 03/19/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A collection of 7 short stories about 7 totally different female characters. Supporting cast is superb, Alan Arkin, Peter Sellers, Micheal Caine, Rosanno Bratzi, etc.Maclaine does a wonderful job of capturing the differences amoung woman, along with making the audience feel empathy for all of her character's situations. Lots of marvelous scenes in this movie. The rich socialite dress fiasco and the italian philanderer are my favorites."

Don`t call me Shirley (just kidding)

Private Dick | midwest, U.S. | 07/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WELL, It`s about time! Wonderful 60s comedy film. Now if only "John Goldfarb Please Come Home" will only see the light of day. PLEASE!"

Complete Dialogue Please

Mark E. Herriott | North Bend, WA | 10/20/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've enjoyed this movie for years, seeing it in various incarnations, either on television (cut and edited depending on society's mores at the time) and also on video (where it was released years ago). The seven stories are entertaining and some do really touch you. However, I did noticed that some of the original dialogue has been cut, particularly during the Eve segment. I guess when they re-released this on DVD, the studio felt that the audience of 2008 couldn't handle Eve using the "B word" over the telephone to her fashion rival or telling her husband that she doesn't go to be with frightened yellow chickens. True, in the scheme of the universe, the cutting of a word here or there is inconsiquential, but when one has seen this film so many times, its kind of like hitting a speed bump."

"Woman Times Seven"/Shirley MacLaine Italian Style

V. Risoli | Highlands, NJ, USA | 11/04/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the sixties, the Italian cinema that was at a height had particular tendency to produce episodic movies such as "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" (1964) (all three episodes directed by Vittorio DeSica and winner of the Foreign Film Oscar) and "Boccaccio '70" (1962) (with episodes by different directors: Fellini, Visconti and DeSica). DeSica (who was best known for "The Bicycle Thief" (1949) was considered "superb" and an auteur. He also acted before the camera in, for example, 1965's and Paramount's "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" starring Kim Novak.

DeSica became somewhat Americanized with his success and in 1966 directed Peter Sellers in a Neil Simon written script, "After the Fox." In 1967, he supplied Shirley MacLaine with a showcase of seven different roles in a series of episodes that, as with these episodic films, some are better than others but generally this batch are genuinely touching on the whole, all dealing with the general theme of "adultery." Peter Sellers, the great (and under-rated) Alan Arkin, Anita Ekberg and Michael Caine are some of her co-stars in a script by Cesare Zavattini (the author of some of DeSica best known films (including two of Sophia Loren's best: "Two Women" and "Marriage, Italian Style") and lush parisienne music by Riz Ortolani (whose forgotten masterpiece from "The Yellow Rolls-Royce" (in which MacLaine had a part),"Forget Domani" should surely be re-released). Best of the episodes, however, and perhaps worth the cost of the DVD is the final one, "Snow" in which Shirley and Anita Ekberg are followed by Michael Caine (MacLaine has a charming naivete about her as she realizes the stranger following them is indeed interested in her (of the two when they decide to test him by splitting up), "Jean" (MacLaine's character in "Snow") who never thought to cheat on her husband (because she "never found anyone better than her husband") becomes enamoured by the idea. As it begins to snow, leaving their footprints, it never connects with her that he is her absurdly jealous husband's detective "tail." What she gathers from this "imagined?" un-encounter should be savored. It being the ending episode, the fabulous music swells up for the end credits and marks a sense of having watched a grand film.

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