Review of The Loved One (1965) by Lita T — 30 Mar 2008
Apparently the author Evelyn Waugh journeyed to Los Angeles to experience the film industry and also visited Forest Lawn Cemetery. The result of this travel was "The Loved One" a satirical look at both industries during the 1960s.
It starts out with a British poet named Dennis who travels to LA for the first time to bunk with his Uncle Frank in a very fine example of Storybook House architecture (modeled after Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Then Uncle Frank gets dumped by Hollywood and hangs himself. So Dennis then has to make the arrangements for his funeral which takes him to the most elaborate cemetery estate, Whispering Groves (actually filmed at Forest Lawn) as well as the strangest cemetery employees you'll ever see including Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy (a corpse cosmetician).
This movie has a life... er...afterlife of its own! It transforms from a very ordinary beginning to a dreamlike state to the very bizarre and twisted.
There's a cameo by Liberace trying to sell you a damp and moisture protective coffin. And later there are scantily clad prostitutes that emerge from the same coffins. I guess there are times when you don't want the coffins to protect you.
A young Paul Williams (music composer of The Muppet Movie) is in this as a little boy (even though he was 23 when he played the part) who invents rockets that shoot corpses into space.
Haskell Wexler, the cinematographer, does an impressive job with black and white photography while shooting at Forest Lawn cemetery.
I hear there was an extended version of about 4-5 hours that was too raunchy to include in the final cut. Too bad I'll probably never get to see it.
This review of The Loved One (1965) was written by Lita T on 30 Mar 2008.
The Loved One has generally received positive reviews.
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