Kirpianuscus one of films of Elizabeth Taylor. not memorable, not seductive, not so bad. only a simple story of a call girl and her fight to survive to social pressure, to her men, to the desire to be herself. only good point - the hard work of Elizabeth Taylor to create a credible character and the few sparkles who proves her talent. because she has the chance to drive Gloria Wandrous in the direction who transforms ordinaries clichés, the music of the period and the conflict mother - daughter in a realistic portrait of a young girl looking her personal way. and that is the basic virtue of a film who search to tell more than the moral of period permits. the game of suggestion, bizarre today, the manner to use it are the pillars of a rare performance of an actress who, in many occasions, was only the beautiful, eccentric woman or the second violin in films dominated by her partners.

TheLittleSongbird The best thing about BUtterfield 8 is the performance of Elizabeth Taylor, it is a superb performance(especially during Gloria's rape revelation) that did deserve the Oscar it got and she to me has only been sexier in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But that is not to say that she is the only good thing because the locations and costumes are just splendid and the whole film is very good-looking and rich in colour. The showdown between Taylor and Dunnock and especially the rape revelation scene(a very daring theme and scene for the time and still hits hard, the best line of the film is also in this scene) are very vividly done and are the dramatic highlights. Some of the supporting performances are good too, Mildred Dunnock is very touching, Betty Field has a ball and savours the catty dialogue she has and Kay Medford is always good value. BUtterfield 8 is a case however of the lead performance faring far better than the film itself, it's far from a terrible film but what is not so good about it comes across rather weakly. Laurence Harvey looks uncomfortable throughout, as you can see at the end and in the practically non-existent chemistry between him and Taylor, and Eddie Fisher is wasted, going through the motions in a thankless and confusingly-written role. Dina Merrill has next to nothing to do in a performance that manages to be overdone and underplayed. The music score from personal opinion was over-the-top and irritating as well as at times excessive, BUtterfield 8 would have benefited a little more from the score being used sparingly or not having one at all given the nature of the story. The pacing and direction like the film start off well but as the writing weakens the more lethargic both get. And the script and story didn't come off well to me, the controversial, daring aspects come across as tepid and out of date now and the script is as far away from naturally-flowing as you can go, has far too much talk and reeks of melodramatic soap opera complete with some of the catty dialogue sounding ridiculously over-heated. The ending came across as far too moralistic and the dialogue and Harvey's delivery of it in his very tacked-on final speech have to be heard to be believed. Overall, not terrible, not great but worth the viewing for Taylor and the production values. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Applause Meter The movie is about a high-priced call girl. Elizabeth Taylor as Gloria Wandrous is a prostitute but Hollywood, in 1960, still bound by antiquated production codes couldn't reveal her real resume. This leaves the film uncomfortably constrained and contrived. The audience has to go with what's presented, a story line crafted to sanitize the world's oldest profession. So the censors have given us a character Gloria, who is a "club girl," a model paid to wear fashionable clothes and be seen in trendy watering holes. These gathering places are frequented by men in suits, the wealthy and influential whose hands are never empty of a glass, downing one drink than another, the highball or martini. Gloria, a "good time girl," is promiscuous, BUT what she's really selling and out to get is "true love." She herself is an elitist in her own line of work, not just a common gold digger, but also a girl with an elevated purpose. And then in comes one of the regulars Gloria has hooked, Weston Liggett played by Laurence Harvey. Harvey's an actor accomplished at playing characters practicing deception and enduring subsequent remorse, and he's able here to deliver this type of troubled personality. Liggett, we soon learn is suffering from a terrible malady. He is married to a wealthy society woman, and works for the family company where he feels undervalued and unproductive. With all the entitlements of the good life, he is still a wretch, enslaved to a life of dull, staid opulence. His wife Emily, played by Dina Merrill, is the ever suffering, understanding spouse, putting up with her husband's philandering. His wife's indulgence of his shortcomings only increases Liggett's self-loathing and guilt. What's a young, good-looking man with money to do when he's destined to endure such a banal lifestyle? Why take up with a fancy slut and then of course, fall obsessively, madly in love with her. Eddie Fisher, Taylor's husband at the time, is awkwardly positioned into this melodrama, giving less a performance than a "walk through." He plays Gloria's childhood friend Steve who serves as her devoted, unfailing confidante. He's always there for her when she is in need of emotional support, which for Gloria means an almost daily cry for help. Steve's jealous finance Norma hates his relationship with Gloria. Susan Oliver as Norma gives a serviceable performance as she has little to do but by turns look aggrieved and frustrated. Her confrontations with her boyfriend Steve are verbal jabs, inviting Steve to challenge her dramatic statements, ones usually centered around Gloria's cheap behavior: "Is she not the biggest tramp in the whole city!" Since Manhattan contains somewhere around 8 million inhabitants…this is certainly quite a distinction. Mildred Dunnock is Gloria's mother, a woman living a genteel life of denial. Her daughter is a "good girl." Mrs. Wandrous' one time man friend, and prospective husband, sexually abused the young teen-aged Gloria, a heinous exploitation over a protracted period of time. Whether the mother even knows of her daughter's childhood ordeal is never in fact made clear to the audience. Kay Medford, provides the most noteworthy, spirited performance in this otherwise dour production. She is the ironically named Happy, the owner of a popular motel, a rendezvous for illicit love. Happy, herself a "good time girl" in her younger days, maintains a cynical but upbeat philosophical outlook on life. She's a self-defined expert on male/female relationships, the guru ready to dole out wisdom and advice gained from her own hard luck lessons of life. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly disliked making this movie and her displeasure shows. Her portrayal is deficient in conveying the emotional and physical scars of misuse. Taylor gives us the emotional posturing of an uninspired acting technique. She's too much The Screen Goddess throughout, unblemished by any of the authentic grit and misery defining a victim of a sordid past and present. No piece of used merchandise, Taylor on screen is every inch the Movie Star. Liz got the best actress Oscar for this movie, purportedly the "pity vote," in acknowledgment of the illness that almost took her life. The win certainly couldn't have been for the undistinguished performance she gave in this movie.

jmillerdp *** SPOILERS ***A "shocking" movie about sex! Which, in America, must be met with punishment! And, of course, Liz Taylor is made to pay for being a call girl. The whole very-soap-opera-y film concerns the five-some romantic goings-on of Liz's Gloria, Weston, the client she's fallen in love with, Emily, Weston's neglected wife, Steve, Gloria's decades-old friend, and Norma, Steve's girlfriend.There's LOTS of drama, little of it believable. And, everyone, including Gloria, are utterly horrified that she's a call girl! Liz gives a very good performance, and won an Academy Award for it. The irony is that she really didn't want to do the part, but had to so she could finish her MGM contract. She did insist that her husband of the time, Eddie Fisher, be in the film. His acting skills are certainly lacking, which impacts the film somewhat. But, the other performances are fairly soap-opera level, so it doesn't make too much of a difference.You can see the ending coming a mile away, since Liz, as I said, must pay for being a call girl, and more importantly, having sex. Oh, my! Shocking! But, not really. There could have been much more interesting ways to approach the material, but they certainly aren't attempted here! The film score gets to be too much, but the composer does know where to be quiet. Everything else is fine, but not especially remarkable.***** (5 Out of 10 Stars)