"The Honey Pot" was not successful when it was released. I assume much of this is because the film is VERY unusual. The first half is a clever comedy but midway through the film, it abruptly becomes a murder mystery. The end result is a film that seems like two different films chopped apart and glued together. For me, I wish it had stuck with the comedy throughout--it would have been a better film.

The film is about a very rich man (Rex Harrison) who has decided to enact his own real-life version of the Ben Johnson play "Valpone". It's a play in which a man pretends to be dying and does this to fool his friends. Like "Valpone" (which literally means 'the fox'),Harrison's name is Fox. However, in this case, Fox has invited his three ex-wives to his home--telling them through his secretary (Cliff Robertson) that he's dying. However, instead of this complicated plan being seen through to the end, folks start dying. What gives?! The film has a nice cast. In addition to Harrison and Robertson, there are the wives (Capucine, Edie Adams and Susan Hayward--who is quite entertaining). Also, Adolfo Celi and Maggie Smith are along for support. However, despite the story being directed by the brilliant Joseph L. Mankiewicz, it just didn't work. It wasn't just that the film was two different films but the ending was VERY talky and had to explain everything to the audience--which was very awkward. Overall, the film is also a bit overlong. For me, despite some nice performances, it just didn't work.

In Venice, fabulously wealthy Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) is inspired by a famous play to get revenge against three of his exes. He hires sometimes actor William McFly (Cliff Robertson) to trick the trio into believing that he's dying and leaving his fortune to one of them. Merle McGill (Edie Adams) is a fading Hollywood star. Princess Dominique (Capucine) is independently wealthy. Texan Mrs. Sheridan (Susan Hayward) brings her own nurse Sarah Watkins (Maggie Smith).

There are moments of creepiness but at least, these are ex-lovers. I don't find the scheme actually funny since I'm uncertain about the rooting interest. It's certainly not Cecil. Only the nurse is worth any rooting interest and she is initially presented as having no actual stakes. It gets more interesting for her to get involved later on. It becomes slightly compelling due to its unpredictability. There are many ways to finish this story and some of them are actually interesting. I'm not sure if this ending is more than overly complicated.

This is a very good film adaptation of a story that has had a number of permutations. The original source of the story dates to British poet and playwright Ben Jonson's (1572-1637) satirical play, "Volpone." Thomas Sterling's "Evil of the Day" was a 1955 novel, and playwright Frederick Knott then adapted that source into the play, "Mr. Fox of Venice."

The theme of the original work is carried through all the renditions of the story. It's a biting satire on greed, with a complex staged practical joke as the main plot. The comedy isn't of the rollicking laughter type, but in the exaggerations with the drama and the characters themselves. Most of the characters of the Ben Jonson play are carried through all renditions, except that in the 20th century story the three characters of avarice are women instead of men.

Director Joseph Mankiewicz does a masterly job of adapting and then directing the story, with an introduction and closing comments in voice over by the main character, Cecil Fox. He uses this technique very subtly for one other character toward the end. Another reviewer delighted in what he called the "Maltese Falcon" ending. It is fantastic in itself.

The film was made mostly in Rome, with some canal scenes shot in Venice. The producers assembled a first-rate cast to play the diverse roles. All give performances worthy of academy award nominations. Rex Harrison is superb as Cecil Fox, and Susan Hayward dominates her scenes as Mrs. Sheridan - Fox's "Lone Star" mistress from the past. Cliff Robertson adds enough mystery to his dutiful and slyly charming role as William McFly. A nearly 40 Capucine still radiates the sophisticated beauty for which she was known, here playing Princess Dominique. And Maggie Smith shows for the first time on film her deftness for deadpan humor. Her nurse Sarah Watkins is both demure, suspicious and slightly sly.

Adolfo Celi is very good as Inspector Rizzi, who plays some scenarios superbly for comedy. The scenes in his home are hilarious where his family members are glued to the TV watching a Perry Mason mystery show. The Italian voice-over for Raymond Burr's Mason is hilarious - a high-pitched male voice coming out of the tube when Perry speaks.

But the star who provides most of the laughter in "The Honey Pot" is Edie Adams. She plays Merle McGill, an otherwise attractive movie star who, underneath, is little more than a ditzy blonde and opportunist. She was someone Fox picked up off the street years before and turned into a movie icon.

Here are some favorite lines form this film.

Inspector Rizzi, "Miss McGill, I understand the necessity of you to arrive in Venice incognito." Merle McGill, "I wouldn't go anywhere (sic) uninvited." Inspector Rizzi, "I must have used the wrong word. My English is uh...." Merle McGill, "It must be hard for you to imagine, inspector - a man like Cecil Fox and I." Inspector Rizzi, "Not hard at all." McGill, "How can I say it, inspector? He was my first... man. Somehow, you just never forget your first man." Rizzi, "I remember mine, vividly. He also got away."

Merle McGill, "OK, shamus, so what's on your mind? Or, to be exact, on both your minds?" Inspector Rizzi, "Shamus? You use too many American idioms I do not know."

Merle McGill, "When you do talk to Princess Dominique, you know what she's gonna tell ya?" Inspector Rizzi, "If I had such capability, I would never get out of bed." McGill, "She's gonna say that she and I were here, in my room, all night, playing gin rummy together. That'll be a lie. For one thing, she can't even play gin rummy." Rizzi, "Fascinating! Now why would she choose a game she could not play?" McGill, with a "caught" look on her face, "Yeah, that was stupid of her, but the name of the game isn't important."

Princess Dominique, "I have no need for Mr. Fox's money." Inspector Rizzi, "That is what truly baffles me. This incredible wealth which nobody needs and everybody wants."