Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

HotToastyRag In this silly sixties flick, Dick Van Dyke is the butler to the wealthy Edith Evans—only she's not very wealthy. The truth is, she's practically broke. But, to keep his beloved mistress living in luxury, Dick and the rest of the household staff, including John McGiver and Sam Waterston, pull cons and robberies. When a new secretary, Barbara Feldon, is hired, will she ruin all their schemes? Without Dick van Dyke, the film would be pretty flat. He's easy to root for, even though he's a criminal, and his usual enthusiastic energy gives the film just enough pizazz to keep audiences interested. Barbara Feldon is pretty annoying, so I couldn't understand why the other characters liked her so much. Still, the script is pretty clever, and John Williams's music is cute and fitting, so if you like Dick van Dyke movies, check out this well-intentioned heist film on a rainy afternoon or during Christmastime, since one of their jobs takes place during the holiday.

calvinnme But that is the theme of this most unusual Christmas movie that is a Christmas movie more because of the spirit of the thing than the time of year in which it is set.Dick Van Dyke, in probably his best screen role, plays Claude R. Fitzwilliam, Fitzwilly for short, butler to Miss Vicky (Edith Evans). He is head of the household servants and they all act as thieves for him, running a series of con games and out and out brazen thefts all so that their beloved employer Miss Vicky will think that she is still wealthy and can live out the rest of her life in the manner to which she is accustomed. The fact is that when her father died she was left the whopping total of 180 dollars. Dad was flat broke. Fitzwilly runs this operation with military precision, aware that if Miss Vicky ever found out she would demand that they all return the money, which they cannot. You see, Miss Vicky's servants are not the only generous people in this film - albeit with other people's money - Miss Vicky is too, always giving away her money to charities. She just can't seem to say no. Now Fitzwilly usually apprehends her checks when the mail goes out, but occasionally a check will get through. This assures that they are continuously operating while teetering on bankruptcy.And then an outsider intrudes into Fitzwilly's well oiled machine. Miss Vicki has decided to employ a secretary, Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon), to help her with her alternative dictionary that shows all of the ways that each word can be spelled incorrectly. This dictionary was Fitzwilly's idea to keep Miss Vicky busy, but now it has blown up in his face as this secretary begins snooping around and asking questions about the goings on in the mansion.What is so great about this film is that there really are no bad guys. Everybody has good motives. Miss Vicki is a philanthropist with no money, her servants could easily land jobs doing less for more without the worry of being incarcerated, and Miss Nowell is suspicious that these servants are stealing from their employer.I've never seen anything quite like it and I highly recommend it. It truly has the Christmas spirit.

edwagreen Am still wondering how that brilliant actress-Dame Edith Evans, who gave us monumental performances in "The Nun's Story," as well as "The Chalk Garden," and "The Whisperers" ever allowed herself to be talked into this nonsense.In this film she plays an elderly dowager. At least, she thinks she has money but she does not. Her butler, Dick Van Dyke, and an assortment of workers steal to keep her in the lifestyle she is used to and of course make plenty of extras for themselves.Van Dyke, who is always quite adept at comedy, is no different here. Miss Evans acts like an aristocratic woman to what we saw Margaret Dumont try to do in the Marks Brothers' Films of the 1930s and '40s.The film has an ample supply of supporting characters. Barbara Feldon is witty as the Columbia graduate school who comes to work for Evans and in the process discovers what has been going on. John MacGiver plays a former priest who is in with the group. Only Ann Seymour, who portrayed Broderick Crawford's wife in the Oscar-winning "All the King's Men," is above aboard. You know about their capers but they are unbelievably carried out and some times even hard to follow the methodology. It is only with the gang's last caper at Gimbels Department Store that the film takes on an hilarious body of scenes.As I stated above, Fitzwilly is basically silly. Famed script-writer Isobel Lennart bombed away here.

MaryaRud It was Miss Vicky's Father who died not husband It is a very good Movie not seen enough on tv. It is one of my favorite movies with a great cast of supporting actors