Best remembered for "Smell of Vision" - I can't judge it on that because I saw it without smells. I can judge it as a movie. It's a weird thing, in 70 mm, because it was make by Mike Todd's son, so presumably he felt he had to maintain the family tradition. It also has a travelogue narrative, a little like Around the World in 80 Days, and also like that there is a slightly stuffy British hero (Denholm Elliot here), and he has a sidekick akin to Don Quixote which Todd Snr was going to make.
If you enjoy Spanish scenery you will like this more than I did, because there's a lot of it. Denholm Elliot having the lead has novelty - there's a lot of him too. He doesn't have much chemistry with his Sancho, played by Peter Lorre who looks unwell (indeed, he had a heart attack). There's no 80 Days complication of a pursuing detective or Indian princess... though I did like the device that Elliot knows someone is going to be murdered but doesn't know what the proposed victim looks like.
There's no all star cast - you've got Leo McKern in an American accent, and Diana Dors in a bikini and American accent in a cameo. Yet again Dors is better than the female lead. Elizabeth Taylor pops up with a fun cameo.
But I found it irritating - I never got a fix on Elliot's character (nothing wrong with a Don Quixote imitation... but make him like Don Quixote) or why Lorre would go along for the ride. It doesn't have much of a plot. The widescreen photography was annoying more than anything else. They should've made Lorre's character a love interest to give the scenes some pep.
I give it points for having a swing.
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