Verdict
Summary
A sprawling epic (131 minutes long), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders is done in a spoofy, sex farce style by filmmaker Terence Young (From Russia With Love), and it boasts an all-star cast, but it’s star Novak who shines best with her bosom-busting corsets and whooshy red hair. It’s not a classic or an essential film, but it’s fun, if far too long. It goes the distance and gives Moll Flanders her due, but the tone is never really serious, despite being based on a classic novel by Daniel Defoe.
Plot:
A young, beautiful woman comes to London and falls into love and lust with many men, and many men fall into love and lust with her.
Review:
Raised in an orphanage but unable to receive the spiritual guidance taught to her as a child, Moll Flanders (played by Kim Novak with flaming red hair) has only devoted her heart, body, and soul to one thing: Love! Her entire life seems destined to stir the loins of men, and she’s well suited for such a task. As a servant girl to a wealthy family, she is swept off her feet by one man after another, and her first marriage ends in tragedy when the fool she marries is killed in a silly accident. Unable to inherit his money (some technicality), she lucks out when she gets a wealthy banker to eventually marry her because he believes her to be wealthy as well. Which isn’t true, of course, and that union proves to be an uneasy one because, well, Moll is a gold digging thief who picks pockets, tricks, connives, and swindles every man she meets. The one man who seems to see her for who she actually is is a thief as well (played by Richard Johnson), a man who travels with a fellow thief (played by Leo McKern), but fate isn’t for that union, as she continues to get in deeper and deeper with her cons, eventually conning a dressmaker (played by Vittorio De Sica) and other men, which ultimately lands her in prison. Set to be executed (hung alongside a bunch of other women of ill repute), she pulls off one final con, which frees her and lands her aboard a pirate ship, setting sail for her next “amorous adventures!”
A sprawling epic (131 minutes long), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders is done in a spoofy, sex farce style by filmmaker Terence Young (From Russia With Love), and it boasts an all-star cast, but it’s star Novak who shines best with her bosom-busting corsets and whooshy red hair. It’s not a classic or an essential film, but it’s fun, if far too long. It goes the distance and gives Moll Flanders her due, but the tone is never really serious, despite being based on a classic novel by Daniel Defoe.
Kino Lorber brings this film to Blu-ray for the first time in its uncensored uncut version, and the new HD transfer is sharp and vivid. Special features include a new audio commentary by film historians, plus the trailer.
