ROBERT MORSE, ROD STEIGER & ANJANETTE COMER 'THE LOVED ONE'

Pamela Curran and Robert Morse in Tony Richardson's THE LOVED ONE Year: 1965 Rating: **1/2 Grade: C+

After American director Stanley Kubrick made DR. STRANGELOVE in England, British director Tony Richardson attempted his own offbeat dark comedy in Los Angeles... with Jonathan Winters replacing the Peter Sellers multi-role device as the owner of a plush cemetery catered to the rich, and a dodgy pet cemetery for just about anyone... 

Where offbeat Robert Morse ends up working after his Hollywood producer uncle (John Geilgud) hangs himself, bringing the audience into Whispering Glades Funeral Parlor that (with Haskell Wexler cinematography) grounds the most intriguing and creatively shot B&W sequences... 

Rod Steiger and Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

But whenever the story ambles outside the box, the overly bizarre, uneven script gets out of hand, featuring Rod Steiger as a flamboyant and meandering mother's boy embalmer, vainly attempting a romance with Gothic, death-obsessed yet beautifully simplistic/airhead-ingenue Anjanette Comer... 

Who's also pursued by wannabe poet Morse, faking a British accent with his dialogue added post-production, making it literally sound like he's phoning in an already lackluster performance...

Liberace in THE LOVED ONE with Jonathan Winters

But THE LOVED ONE succeeds in random triumphs from side-characters who come and go: including Liberace, surprisingly effective as Whispering Glades' coffin salesman or the team of (both) Winters alongside child prodigy Paul Williams, attempting (with military chief Dana Andrews) to rocket bodies from the ground into space... 

An important last-minute plot that should have happened sooner... without so many eclectic distractions in a movie made when avant-garde simply meant anything goes... overall more a parked MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD than the attempted STRANGELOVE-inspired social-commentary ensemble.

Hollywood secretary Asa Maynor in THE LOVED ONE

Whispering Glades Tour guide Tab Hunter in THE LOVED ONE

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE with Liberace and Robert Morse

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE with Robert Morse

Coffin salesman Liberace in THE LOVED ONE

Mad embalmer Rod Steiger in THE LOVED ONE

A smoking Edwin Reimers in THE LOVED ONE

Robert Morse and Milton Berle in THE LOVED ONE

Newspaperman Bernie Kopell in THE LOVED ONE

Twenty-something Paul Williams plays 10-years-old in THE LOVED ONE

Rod Steiger and Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Dana Andrews as an Air Force general in THE LOVED ONE with Jonathan Winters

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE with Robert Morse and Jonathan Winters

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE

Dana Andrews in THE LOVED ONE

Rod Steiger and Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Anjanette Comer in THE LOVED ONE

Hamlet-inspired Robert Morse in THE LOVED ONE

Robert Morse in THE LOVED ONE with Rod Steiger

Dana Andrews with Chick Hearn in THE LOVED ONE

Robert Morse in THE LOVED ONE with Paul Williams

Cameo by James Coburn in THE LOVED ONE

Hollywood-working John Geilgud in THE LOVED ONE with Robert Easton

Hollywood producer Roddy McDowall in THE LOVED ONE

John Geilgud in THE LOVED ONE with Roddy McDowall

Robert Morse with Whispering Glades hostess Roxanne Arlen in THE LOVED ONE