CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

sunznc Secret Ceremony displays Mia Farrow's excellent portrayal of madness. In fact, her portrayal seems to come so easily to her we were wondering about her own sanity. She plays emotionally disturbed almost too well. Elizabeth Taylor at times may have wondered just what she got herself into by accepting this role. It's even stranger than Reflections in a Golden Eye. She at least uses some restraint and knows her character well. Still, despite the idea that an emotionally disturbed Mia could be helped by a mother figure strongly resembling her own birth mother and despite the fact that actress' both contribute a lot to their roles, there isn't really anything that deep happening here. If anything, the story never becomes too informative. We are given the basics and it never progress' beyond that. What happened to the birth mother? What was the relationship about between the mother and daughter? What is the true role of Robert Mitchum's character? We don't really get anything too descriptive and for that the film just becomes another soapy melodrama with some odd characters. What it really needs is to dig deep and give us more information and we only get small bits and pieces. Despite the odd story, nothing too profound here.

boblipton The major talents involved with this movie -- director Joseph Losey and actors Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow, have done some great work and some lousy work -- Mitchum was inclined to phone in performances unless he got interested. But, like many people who get involved with the arts, when they were doing something on the edge, they doubtless knew they could fail -- but a lot of the people here seem to fall into the common fallacy that great talent can never fail -- as if DONOVAN'S REEF is a great film because it was directed by John Ford or A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG was a laugh riot because it was directed by Chaplin. Or that every performance given by Paul Newman was great. Sometimes people make mistakes and the greater the genius, the greater the mistakes.About the only good thing I can say about this movie is that the camera work by Gerry Fisher is excellent and occasionally distracting. After that, everything bogs down because of the idiotic, minimalist story in which nothing is ever really explained -- but the plot is that psycho Mia Farrow's mother has just died so she falls in with psycho hooker Elizabeth Taylor, whose daughter has just died, until psycho step-daddy Bob Mitchum, in a hideous beard and sporting an accent that varies form Irish to Australian to his basic accent, discourses on statutory rape.That's very little to build a hundred-minute movie on and, despite everyone -- except possibly for Mitchum -- doing their best, there are long periods of nothing. Some might look upon these as meditative sequences. I find them boring.So what is the result? You have characters you don't care about doing very little of interest in a cluttered world -- I suspect the set decorator was getting a kickback from prop suppliers -- and the question arises why this was released at all. Answer: because some people would go to see it based on the track record of the major talent involved and even if the project would not show a profit, at least the loss would be ameliorated.... and forty years later some money is still being picked up by showing it on cable TV.

The_Void Secret Ceremony has an excellent central cast in Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum, but unfortunately it really misses out in the most important area; that being the story, as while the film features a handful of interesting themes and ideas, it never really seems to know what it wants to be and this results in a film that just feels completely pointless and thus will leave most viewers feeling cold. The film is based on a short story by Marco Denevi and primarily focuses on the idea of how people handle great loss. We focus on a young girl named Cenci, who prowls the streets since the death of her mother. She's looking for a woman to call her mother and finds that in look-alike Leonora, a prostitute who, coincidently, just happens to have lost her daughter also. Cenci takes Leonora back to her house and while it soon becomes apparent that Cenci is a few cards short of a full deck; the pair soon form a strange and playful mother and daughter bond. Things are going quite well for the pair until Cenci's stepfather, Albert, turns up...The source material is a short story, and at over a hundred minutes; I wouldn't call Secret Ceremony a short film, which largely seems to be one of the problems. Director Joseph Losey (who previously made the underrated Hammer Horror classic The Damned) gives the story too much time and since there isn't actually a lot of ideas; the film does soon start to drone on. The only real saving grace is the performances. Elizabeth Taylor gives a strong leading performance as always and manages to keep things at least slightly interesting. Mia Farrow is also good; although not as good as she was for Roman Polanski in the same year in the masterpiece Rosemary's Baby. It's a different and challenging role, however, and it gives the actress a chance to show her range. The real standout is Robert Mitchum as the detestable stepfather - he plays up to the role brilliantly. It becomes obvious very early on in the film that there's not going to be a point made at the end; and unfortunately, the film delivers on that promise. Overall, there really isn't many reasons to bother with this film; and I don't recommend anyone goes out of their way to find it.

emuir-1 I have been an admirer of Joseph Losey's films for many years, but if they are going to show this clunker, why not dust off the far superior Accident, which starred a pre Cabaret Michael York, as well as Stanley Baker and Vivian Merchant? Although not THE most awful film I have ever seen, this film plays as a ridiculous parody. Once again Elizabeth Taylor plays a hooker, and an over the hill one at that! Mia Farrow decked out in a ridiculously top heavy black wig acts the demented waif. Robert Mitchum must have needed the money. Miss Taylor does not miss an opportunity to pose with furs and flimsy negligee, presumably to cover up her limited acting talent. Every time she opens her mouth and that strident quaver comes out I want to switch off and pick up a book. Did no one ever give the woman voice lessons? The only thing going for this film is the splendid art direction. The film was worth watching just for the lovely stained glass throughout the house.