''Something for Everyone'' is a 1970 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film starring

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...

Michael York Michael York (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television, and stage actor. After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo ...

, Anthony Higgins, and

Jane Carr Ellen Jane Carr (born 13 August 1950) is an English actress. She is well known for her first film role as Mary McGregor in drama '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' (1969) and the voice role of " Pud'n" on the animated '' The Grim Adventures of ...

. The film was based on the novel ''The Cook'' by Harry Kressing, with a screenplay by

Hugh Wheeler Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987) was a British-American novelist, screenwriter, librettist, poet and translator. Born in London, he moved to the United States as a young man, and became a naturalized citizen in 1942. He h ...

. The plot to the film is quite different from the novel. Directed by

Harold Prince Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. One of the foremost figures in 20th-century theat ...

(in his feature directorial debut) for

Cinema Center Films Cinema Center Films (CCF) was the theatrical film production company of the CBS Television Network from 1967 to 1972. Its films were distributed by National General Pictures. The production unit was located at CBS Studio Center in the Studio City ...

, the film began shooting on 30 June 1969 and was originally released by

National General Pictures National General Corporation (NGC) was a theater chain holding company, film distributor, film distribution and film production, production company and was considered one of the "instant majors". It was in operation from 1951 to 1974. Division ...

in July 1970. Lansbury was nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset * Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucesters ...

. In the UK, the film was retitled ''Black Flowers for the Bride'' (subtitle: ''A Comedy of Evil'') and released in May 1971. In 1986 and 1990, a VHS of the film was issued followed by DVD and Blu-ray on 6 December 2016.

Plot

A handsome young stranger, Konrad Ludwig, is fascinated by a castle near the Bavarian village of Ornstein. He dreams of owning and living in the castle, which is the property of widowed countess Herthe von Ornstein, who lives in the

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish estate (house), estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house fr ...

, unable financially to open and live in her castle. As Konrad schemes to become one of the countess's servants, he romances a beautiful and wealthy young lady, Anneliese Pleschke, daughter of a nouveau riche couple. The idea is to use their wealth to reopen castle Ornstein. After an afternoon of chauffeuring the Pleschkes around the countryside, he gets Rudolph, the countess's footman, drunk at the local Biergarten and then run over by a train. Konrad then takes Rudolph's place in the countess's household. Helmuth von Ornstein, a shy and attractive young man, and Lotte von Ornstein, a plain and annoying girl, are the countess's children. Helmuth is gay and begins to be romanced by Konrad when the stern

majordomo A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a larg ...

, Klaus, tries to put a stop to it by firing Konrad. When the mayor of Ornstein is militantly disposed to root out all Nazis remaining in Germany, Konrad reports Klaus to the mayor after discovering he is harboring a scandalous secret: his father was a Nazi colonel, whose memory is fondly enshrined in Klaus's bedroom. Klaus is summarily and quietly put out of the countess's employ, leaving Konrad free to be Helmuth's lover while taking Klaus's place as majordomo. Konrad now plays up to the countess, encouraging her to throw a daring, expensive party at the dower house in order to initiate a pseudo romance between Helmuth and Anneliese Pleschke. Konrad, the lover of both Helmuth and Anneliese, induces them to become engaged to each other, while secretly assuring both of them that he would always be there at the castle. When the marriage contract is signed, the Pleschke money flows in to reopen and refurbish the castle Ornstein. The marriage takes place, but the honeymoon is a disaster with both the bride and groom wanting an annulment. The demise of the grand design is hastened along by Anneliese, who walks in on Konrad and Helmuth kissing. Anneliese, shocked and speechless, is ushered to the limousine in which she and her parents are to be driven to the castle by Konrad. When Anneliese hysterically opens up to her parents, Konrad turns the limousine down a steep embankment, managing to jump out before it crashes, killing Anneliese and her parents. Konrad escapes with a broken leg. Konrad goes through a pleasant convalescence with the countess herself becoming his new romantic interest. After an amorous night in the countess's boudoir, they plan to be married. Helmuth is devastated. He reluctantly allows the marriage to go on rather than have Konrad be forced to leave by a scorned countess. Helmuth's sister Lotte has other plans. On the eve of the wedding she informs Konrad that she knows all about his murderous and scandalous exploits. Ingeniously she uses blackmail to avoid being Konrad's next victim and have him marry her instead of her mother.

Cast

as countess Herthe von Ornstein *

as Konrad Ludwig * Anthony Higgins as Helmuth von Ornstein (billed as Anthony Corlan) *

as Lotte von Ornstein *

Heidelinde Weis Heidelinde Weis (17 September 1940 – 24 November 2023) was an Austrian actress. Weis died on 24 November 2023, at the age of 83.Despo Diamantidou Despoina "Despo" Diamantidou (; 13 July 1916 – 18 February 2004) was a Greek actress. She appeared in more than seventy films from 1949 to 2003, frequently in support of Melina Mercouri and directed four times by Jules Dassin. She had flashy r ...

as Bobby (billed as Despo) * John Gill as Herr Pleschke *

Eva Maria Meineke Eva Maria Meineke (8 October 1923 - 7 May 2018) was a German actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films from 1942 to 2008, including ''Yesterday Girl'' and ''Something for Everyone''. Selected filmography References External link ...

as Frau Pleschke * Klaus Havenstein as Rudolph *

Walter Janssen Walter Janssen (7 February 1887 – 1 January 1976) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1917 and 1970. Selected filmography * '' The Dancer'' (1919) * ''Destiny'' (1921) * '' Wandering Souls'' ( ...

as Father Georg

Reception

In a contemporary review, critic

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film an "essentially empty charade" and wrote: "In a diversion like this it is necessary—if only to engage the viewer's sympathies—to align your evil demon against some person or persons who are at least relatively good. But there's not really anyone to root for in 'Something for Everyone.' Miss Lansbury is rather more innocently corrupt than York, but it's also obvious that she can outwit him any minute she puts her mind to it." Regarding first-time director

, Champlin surmised: "Prince set himself an initial assignment which was probably even more imposing than it seemed to be ... But he never defines a unifying intention for the movie—social satire, tense psychological thriller or suspense drama with comedic overtones." Critic John Simon called ''Something for Everyone'' "a thoroughly unsavory film" and decried its immorality and glorification of homosexuality: "I submit that the entire film exemplifies a kind of vengeance on the heterosexual world by a mentality resenting its real or alleged compulsion to disassemble and hide its predilections. In retaliation, anything that the so-called normal world considers healthy and decent—and some of it, so help us, ''is'' healthy and decent—is systematically trodden underheel." Prince felt that Cinema Center butchered the final edit of the film and vowed never to direct a film again without final approval of editing, advertising and distribution. On its British release as ''Black Flowers for the Bride'', film critic Margaret Hinxman, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, called it “a dazzling compendium of skulduggery” and “a wickedly funny film, richly inventive in selecting the targets (including lingering Nazi fervour) for its humour.”

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0066392
Vincent Canby review, ''The New York Times'' (July 23, 1970)
1970 films 1970 black comedy films 1970 LGBTQ-related films American black comedy films American LGBTQ-related films Films based on American novels LGBTQ-related black comedy films Films set in Austria Cinema Center Films films National General Pictures films Films directed by Harold Prince 1970 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Gay-related films English-language black comedy films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links