The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is the sort of thing Terry Rattigan could turn out between stage plays and dramatists who were stealing his thunder on the West End stage couldn't turn out to save their lives. Essentially it's froth, Grand Hotel with runways but as Grand Hotel had shown there's something about a group of top actors and/or top 'stars' rubbing stories in confined spaces that appeals to film fans and so it is here. Arguably the selling-point at the time was Burton and Taylor, newly married and already appearing in Cleopatra and the thinking at MGM was clearly while everyone and his Uncle Max wanted to get a look at the newly- weds not everyone wanted to devote four hours of their life to do so and would happily settle for a more manageable half that plus some half-decent supporting roles. Margaret Rutherford rejected Rattigan's original screenplay telling him the role lacked substance; incredibly he listened to her and re-wrote it into an Oscar winner. Though produced in an era when we 'never had it so good' it has all the hallmarks of 'depression escapist fare' and is no worse for that.

I have no idea how you came to The V.I.P.'s, whether it was following Margaret Rutherford or Orson Welles, both of who are funny in this, but I hope you didn't come for Liz and Dick, whose storyline most resembles a movie plot, but is a dull love triangle. The only value of this movie is in the generous time each of its cameo stars get. Orson Welles for instance has multiple scenes, maybe adding up to 15 minutes screen time, I'd be curious to calculate it. They are all little scenes, but add up to a decent amount of value for the Orson Welles completionist. He plays a probably gay film producer who talks like Akim Tamiroff and is having some kind of nebulous trouble with the film he's making. Margaret Rutherford is really fun. She has this kind of batty effortless humour to her. Louis Jordan is infuriating. Rod Taylor is a stereotypical aggressive Aussie, at least the accent is good, because its genuine! Check out Orson in The Southern Star (1969) for the worst Aussie accent I've ever heard. I could try and tell you The V.I.P.'s isn't that great of a movie, but you've clearly gone pretty deep in whatever it is you're interested in, you may as well check it out. For fans of Orson or Rutherford I'd say sure, add it to your collection.

Ultra high-gloss soap opera with such a great cast it's difficult to criticize it. Elizabeth Taylor is trying to leave tycoon husband Richard Burton for gigolo Louis Jourdan. They're fogged in at a London airport along with Orson Welles, Margaret Rutherford, Elsa Martinelli, Rod Taylor & Maggie Smith. Welles is a movie producer, Taylor is a businessman in trouble and Dame Rutherford is in financial straits. All gets resolved by the time the fog lifts. Rutherford won an Oscar and deserved it...she's a hoot. Burton & Taylor have genuine chemistry and Welles has a field day clearly goofing on all the bombastic movie types who gave him grief during his career. The production design, which is dynamite, is by William Kellner and there's an appropriately dramatic score by Miklós Rózsa. Director Anthony Asquith puts together a classy production, assisted greatly by a fine Terrence Rattigan screenplay.

I had to watch this again because I just read Sammy Davis Jr's Hollywood In A Suitcase. In the book he describes some wild nights with Burton & Taylor, and I think it also occurred in England, maybe during the making of this film. So since this movie was on television, I thought it would be fun just to watch Burton & Taylor in action pre-Virginia Wolf. And how campy were they? Taylor did her usual Hollywood camp trademark of acting while Burton camp it up theatrical style. I'm sure they were laughing it up during the making of the movie (possibly between drinks with Sammy). What really got my interest was the story involving Rod Taylor and the young beautiful Maggie Smith. Rod plays an Australian entrepreneur and he gets it right with the larrikin accent and mannerisms. How a petite English secretary falls for him is understandable because what you see is what you get, and that is a rough Aussie bronze male who shows his true emotions. I'd wish they had shown more of that story than the melodramatic one of Burton & Taylor.For extra pleasure there is the little side story of The Duchess of Brighton, played by the delightful Margaret Rutherford. This eccentric character spends her time popping pills to either stay awake or put her to sleep. There is no other real purpose for this side story beside tying up with the other small story involving the homosexual film producer played with humor by Orson Welles. The stories of these two characters is superficial but total fun compare to the soap opera of Burton & wife.Watching this in widescreen on a pristine print also makes a big difference, because I saw this thirty years ago on a small television and thought it was total rubbish. This time around I enjoyed it more and appreciate the little subtleties that make it all worth the while.