Filmmakers sure tried to make George Maharis into a star during the mid-1960s. "The Satan Bug", with its beautiful photography, great plot, and good cast didn't do it; "Quick, Before It Melts", with its comedy angle and dopey story didn't do it; and "Sylvia" didn't do it, either."Sylvia" starts out as rich guy Frederic Summers (Peter Lawford) hires iconoclastic P.I. Alan Macklin (Maharis) to investigate beautiful, young Sylvia (Carroll Baker). The story takes Macklin from one intriguing situation to another, as he tries to decipher the life of the woman known as Sylvia. Naturally enough, Macklin falls in love with Sylvia at the end of the film. Baker is so beautiful that I probably would have done the same thing.Maharis and Baker look good, but the real strength of "Sylvia" is the veteran supporting cast. Viveca Lindfors, Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Ann Southern, Lloyd Bochner, Nancy Kovack, and Aldo Ray appear as characters Maharis meets during his investigation. The B&W cinematography is good and captures the mid-1960s quite nicely.You're not going to sing the praises of "Sylvia" to the heavens, but it's certainly worth watching. The strong supporting cast adds lots of substance to the story and helps maintain interest in Macklin's investigation. After this film, movie makers quit trying to make Maharis into a major star, letting him return to TV and character roles. Still, it was a very interesting experiment.

Despite almost universal condemnation by contemporary critics, I like this film. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a team comprising screenplay writer Sydney Boehm, director Gordon Douglas and cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg, dancing too far into the wrong. And here, if anything, they excel themselves. Other writers would be hampered by the screenplay's necessarily picaresque structure, but Boehm skillfully turns it into an asset, making each episode such a memorable vignette with its brisk dialogue and astute character-drawing that the various elements make a glorious whole. Of course, he is considerably assisted by the marvelous cast, topped by Carroll Baker, plus the deft direction and mood-mirroring camera-work.

The filmic trope of presenting a mystery woman to the viewer through the recollections of her friends and lovers has a long history. Perhaps "Laura" is the most famous. A much lesser-known one is the British "Woman in Question." "Sylvia" is in that tradition: a wealthy man wants to find out about the background of his fiancée, Sylvia, so hires a private detective to investigate. As the P.I. encounters people from Sylvia's past, the stories that they tell him are the flashback elements of the film. There's a very touching episode with Viveca Lindfors, as well as one with Ann Sothern. While the film is somewhat desultory in its pacing, it's got some great folks-Edmund O'Brien, Joanne Dru, etc.--and a suitably disengaged performance from Carroll Baker in the title role. It actually works well for the character, who throughout a series of tawdry experiences has kept a part of herself removed and untouched. We also get to see a well-toned George Maharis with his pajama top off--another reason to catch the film if it ever shows up.David Raksin, who composed the score for "Laura," some twenty years earlier, provides a nice score for "Sylvia" (note the use of the waltz from William Wyler's "Carrie"--also a Paramount film-- in the scene at the restaurant with Sothern and Maharis).

Sylvia is a well developed film, from cast to direction. It was far ahead of its' time. The plot is slow in the beginning but quickly moves to a steady pace. Sylvia confronts difficult issues few movies can handle with any lasting credibility. The characters are rich and diverse in their perspectives. Carroll Baker delivers a superb performance as the female lead. Carroll Baker's supporting actors and actresses enrich the weave of the emotional undercurrents of the film. Sylvia is also complemented with the use of vivid symbolism and well formed dialogue.