I Am A Camera (1955)

An aspiring writer (Laurence Harvey) in 1931 Berlin hooks up with an amoral party girl (Julie Harris recreating her Tony award winning performance) as the rise of Nazism casts its dark shadow over the nation. Based on the play by John Van Druten which, in turn, was based on Christopher Isherwood's GOODBYE TO BERLIN and later morphed again into the stage and film musical CABARET. Directed by Henry Cornelius (GENEVIEVE), this version is lighter and frothier. The bubbly Harris plays Sally Bowles as more of a junior Auntie Mame and while delightful, she's saddled with the enervated Harvey who has most of the screen time. While quite daring for its time (it was condemned by the Catholic church's Legion Of Decency), director Henry Cornelius can't quite find the sparkle in the material. The play was a critical success but the film version, saddled with the censorship restrictions of the day, was critically dismissed for the most part. Malcolm Arnold did the score and Oscar winning Guy Green (Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS) is responsible for the cinematography. With Shelley Winters and Anton Diffring in the Jewish heiress and the gigolo subplot and Ron Randell, who overdoes the vulgar nouveau riche American bit. With Patrick McGoohan and Lea Seidl.