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The Legend of Lylah Clare

Play trailer Poster for The Legend of Lylah Clare R 1968 2h 10m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A renowned actress who died years earlier, Lylah Clare (Kim Novak) is the subject of a film masterminded by movie producer Barney Sheean (Ernest Borgnine). Remarkably, Sheean manages to find Elsa Brinkmann (also Novak), a beautiful woman who looks just like Lylah, and he sets about getting the movie off the ground. Directing the film is Lylah's ex-husband, Lewis Zarkan (Peter Finch), who begins to fall for Elsa as he coaches her on how to act like his late wife.

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The Legend of Lylah Clare

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare is an awful movie, but fairly enjoyable. Like the Burton-Taylor Boom, it provides its own grisly satisfaction: You can have fun watching it be so bad. Rated: 1/4 Jul 6, 2018 Full Review Renata Adler New York Times "Lylah Clare" is not funny, exactly-the old Hollywood responses are still enough in effect to bring one to the verge, once or twice of choking up-but it is kind of fun to watch. Jan 8, 2018 Full Review Barbara Grier The Ladder [It's] time to get fussy about how much crowing we do over just having movies with homosexual themes, and start demanding that the Lesbians and homosexuals portrayed have some resemblance to the real item. Jun 29, 2021 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: B Oct 12, 2012 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An expose on the inside Hollywood scene. Rated: B Jul 29, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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jimmy b Very vulgar late 60s fare about a lesbian sex symbol. Multiple Oscar winners have their talent wasted on this helpless project. Sorry I spent $3.99 rental. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/17/24 Full Review Dallas H Vertigo plus Rashomon divided by Sunset Boulevard equals Lylah Clare. Or something very similar to that equation. The movie is a decent watch. But at the same time, it isn't a fantastic flick, either. I had a hurdle to overcome when Kim Novak transitioned from Elsa to Lylah; it looked like she was wearing a bobbed wig the entire time. I couldn't buy into its believability. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/24 Full Review Audience Member This movie is terrible! I love Kim Novak but this movie stinks! Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/19/18 Full Review Audience Member Over the top performance by Novak threads through this film that could have been horror, psychological thriller, or even a modern film noir. Instead it just - mostly - there. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member I originally saw this movie when it opened in Hollywood in 1968, and was baffled. What could have drawn major stars like Kim Novak and Peter Finch into this bizarre, uneven, amateurish-looking production? People now try to pass it off as a satire, but it was presented straight back then. Kim Novak is terrible at playing this "legendary" actress, and having a ridiculously deep, Germanic voice suddenly emerge from somewhere in her innards is laughable whenever it happens, which is too often. Much is made of some mysterious "fall" that propelled the legendary Lylah to her death. Since a prominent feature of her former home is a dangerous, monumental staircase (without any safety railings) that would never pass any building code inspection, it's difficult not to assume that somebody is eventually going to fall from that staircase, maybe even the possessed(?) reincarnated(?) Lylah impersonator herself. The incoherent plot is jumbled with too many similar characters -- lots of mannish lesbians lurk about -- and never makes the slightest bit of sense. I really hated this movie both times I saw it, separated by 40 years. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Yak yak yak yak yak yak yak stab stab yak yak yak yak yak yak. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Legend of Lylah Clare

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Movie Info

Synopsis A renowned actress who died years earlier, Lylah Clare (Kim Novak) is the subject of a film masterminded by movie producer Barney Sheean (Ernest Borgnine). Remarkably, Sheean manages to find Elsa Brinkmann (also Novak), a beautiful woman who looks just like Lylah, and he sets about getting the movie off the ground. Directing the film is Lylah's ex-husband, Lewis Zarkan (Peter Finch), who begins to fall for Elsa as he coaches her on how to act like his late wife.
Director
Robert Aldrich
Producer
Robert Aldrich
Production Co
The Associates & Aldrich Company Inc.
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 22, 2016
Runtime
2h 10m
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