"The Notorious Landlady" is a comedy mystery that also is a light satire. It does a little spoofing of the Foreign Service of the U.S. State Department. It pokes some fun at Scotland Yard, busy bodies of the time, and of the press. I suspect that a number of viewers might miss the gentle rubs and pokes of satire. The movie is somewhat based on a story by Margery Sharp that appeared in Collier's Weekly Magazine of Feb. 3, 1956. The plot is okay for a mystery, but the parts of two of the main characters aren't very well scripted or acted. Those are Kim Novak as Carly Hardwicke and Fred Astaire as Franklyn Ambruster. Novak does okay in roles in which she plays a sultry, mysterious character. She was just right for "Vertigo" and "Bell, Book and Candle." Her part here is somewhat that way. But it also calls for a little more life than she is able to muster. At least one other reviewer noted Novak's limits as an actress. The film credits did note, though, that she made her own gowns. Fred Astaire doesn't quite fit the role of a Foreign Service officer in the State Department. His Franklyn Ambruster seems about ready to break into song and dance any moment. So, the load of the acting is carried by Jack Lemmon as Bill Gridley. And Lemmon is up to the task. The best part of this film is the crispy script with the witty exchanges of dialog between Lemmon's and Astaire's characters. Incidentally, references in the story line and reviews to Fred Astaire's part as being the ambassador are ridiculous. There's nothing in the script or screenplay that identifies him as such. And the scenes of his office in the embassy are further evidence to the contrary. The American embassy in England is the largest U.S. embassy in Europe. Other movies that show ambassadors' digs in Europe correctly show large, rather regal offices, befitting the positions. They have outer offices and waiting areas that are more elaborate than Astaire's small one-chair inner office in this film. They usually have the prime spot with commanding views, a huge desk, sofas and elaborate decorations. Astaire's office in this film is one of many along a long a corridor of plain doors. Astaire's job isn't spelled out in the film or screenplay, but he's understood to be the chief of some unnamed section or office within the embassy. Indeed, the New York Times and other papers that reviewed the movie on its opening, referred to Astaire as a chief or boss within the American embassy. But none called him the ambassador. The court room scene toward the end is the most interesting part, and the film builds to a climax with a funny and frenzied chase at the end. My favorite line in the film is by Inspector Oliphant (Lionel Jeffries). He says to Bill Gridley, "I am merely illustrating for you the homicidal tendencies of the fair sex. Females make not only loving wives and devoted mothers, but very efficient killers, bless them."Here are some more good zingers. For more witty dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Franklyn Ambruster, "We go where we can serve, not necessarily where we can amuse ourselves." Bill Gridley, "Oh, I wasn't complaining, sir." Ambruster, "Of course not."Ambruster, "Be prepared to give us a report on the report in the morning." Gridley, "Right, sir."Carly Hardwicke, "You didn't learn to mambo like this in Saudi Arabia." Bill Gridley, "No, South America. Student riot." Hardwicke, "Hmmm?" Gridley, "Well, you had to move something or everything was over."Bill Gridley, "You want me to be a male Mata Hari?"Ambruster, "I want you to know that I have no intention of watching you go down the drain and using my career as a raft."Gridley, "Sir, if I may, I don't think you're taking the proper share of the blame…" Franklyn Ambruster, "Gridley, you will learn that the higher your position, the more mistakes you're allowed. In fact, if you make enough of them, it's considered your style. Now you happen to be in what I would call a one-mistake position, and you've made it."Ambruster, "Gridley couldn't have done that." Inspector Oliphant, "Maybe not, sir, but the death rate has certainly gone up since he arrived in London."

Kim Novak was a Columbia star and went from a supporting role in Jack Lemmon's great Phfft to co star in Bell Book and Candle to lead and top billed over Jack Lemmon in this wickedly funny comedy mystery directed by Richard Quine. This was the last movie Kim Novak made at Columbia and ended a legendary relationship between studio and star where Kim made Picnic, Pal Joey, Bell Book and Candle, Strangers When We Meet among others and her declared favorite film Middle Of The Night. Looking at times like the fabled Jean Harlow Ms. Novak reaches the top of the stardom ladder in this film. To me Kim Novak was what a movie star looked like!

"The Notorious Landlady" exemplifies how all the right ingredients can add up to a failed movie. Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, and Fred Astaire are megawatt stars. The look of the film is great; high quality, deeply textured black and white film stock records interesting, early sixties sets. The direction is the weak point. The film never comes together. It badly needs to be edited; it should be at least 25 percent shorter. Much of the humor is derived from extended dirty jokes about Kim Novak's spectacular figure. Jack Lemmon leers and gawks and cops feels. Yuch, not yuck. Even Fred Astaire steals a kiss. Sad, undignified, and not funny.The movie is clunky, awkward, and badly pieced together. Parts are leering dirty joke, parts are murder mystery and courtroom drama, parts are attempts at broad humor, and other parts are painfully bad romantic comedy. Jack Lemmon comes across as a very creepy, overbearing, almost stalker-like tenant. At one point he shoots the lock off of his landlady's bathroom and walks in on her as she is bathing. The audience that will find this scene appealing is, one would hope, very small, and certainly deranged and unaware of appropriate courtship behaviors.Sadly, according to IMDb comments, the director, Richard Quine, killed himself because he lacked the skill to make frothy romantic comedies. One can only shake one's head at the irony of that.

Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, and Fred Astaire struggle to enliven minor mystery-comedy involving an American man working in London, renting a room from a sexy, shady lady who's under surveillance after her husband died rather suspiciously. First-half of the movie is lax, with a witless build-up of the characters; by the second-act, director Richard Quine turns the whole thing into mad slapstick, and the characters into ninnies. Novak's comedic timing is commendable, though Quine does his best to exploit her--and no actress could keep her dignity during a bathtub scene wherein she's required to cover her bare chest with her arms throughout a long conversation. Kinda tacky. ** from ****