Middling George Cukor adaptation of Graham Greene’s jolliest novel is mostly redeemed by Alec McCowen’s dab hand at portraying a stuffy middle-aged bank manager, Henry Pullings, whose life is turned upside down when his mother dies and her long-lost sister, Augusta (Maggie Smith), comes calling. Former Courtesan, perpetual bohemian, and consummate intriguer, Augusta is desperate for finances to save her long-time lover, Mr Visconti (Robert Stephens) from a gruesome death at the hands of north African brigands, and she draws her unlikely nephew into her schemes and restless peregrinations.
This puts Henry in the company of Augusta’s much younger, pot-smuggling Sierra Leonese lover Wordsworth (Lou Gossett Jnr) and a careless hippie chick (Cindy Williams!) on the road to all sorts of illegality and general funny business. Travels’ production was hampered by Katharine Hepburn’s having to drop out, requiring Smith’s hurried participation (the screenplay was written by Jay Presson Allen, who wrote the stage and screen adaptations of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), and Smith is energetic but also broader than usual, and always obviously too young for the part.
Much like fellow Hollywood old-timer Billy Wilder’s films of the early ‘70s, Cukor tips his hat to faded glories of yesteryear and retro ideals of glamour mixed with tarter, contemporary dashes of sauce and irony, with some sprightly flashbacks to Augusta’s carefree youth.
Otherwise the film is heavy-handed and caked on as thick as Augusta’s make-up. It also drains away the melancholy that underpinned the knockabout grace of Greene’s work, including the darker final act which essayed the intriguing theme that often happiness demands consciously ignoring the tragic, and substitutes some half-hearted efforts to be swinging that were dated when this was made. Still, it’s worth a look on a slow Sunday.
