While this movie lacks a bit in plot it has many funny moments that make it worthwhile. Stella Stevens as Violet Lawson is great and the first third of the movie with her in it is the best. Lionel Jeffries is wonderful in all his roles and adds unique touches to his characters that make them much more than a "Peter Sellers copy". The movie is quite silly and very entertaining if you're in a silly mood. It also portrays a bit of Great Britain which is appreciated by some of us who are new to the country. The Brits politeness and courtesy are parodied very well by the insurgents. Who else would serve champaign to a government official they have abducted and left to crash in a plane with no pilot. They're all so bloody nice about it. Keep an eye on Mrs. Tate - she's quite the sneaky little lady! The opera scene contains some unexpected and bizarre hilarity.
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smith13215620 December 2007
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Bob-453 April 2006and that's, "How did this inane project ever get greenlighted?" It's a particularly peculiar secret, considering the largely topnotch cast (Shirley Jones, Honor Blackmun, Stella Stevens and Lionel Jeffries) and sensational production values (art direction, costuming, set decoration and special effects) provided by MGM. Why lavish such professional sheen on an inane script, listless direction and a colorless leading man. Sadly, in fact, James Booth deserves most of the blame. He gives such a bland performance, Jones, Blackmun, Stevens and Jeffries are forced to shamelessly overact just to pump some life into the scenes. Given the script, even the best of funnymen couldn't have made much out of "Secret ". However, just imagine how much better it would have been were the leading man Benny Hill.
I have to mention this. Those who only saw Honor Blackmun in "Goldfinger" cannot appreciate how genuinely beautiful she is. Blackmun has never looked better, even when one is distracted by the question, "Is she, or is she not going to fall out of her blouse?" I give "The Secret of My Success" a "4". -
funkyfry31 October 2002An amusing concept irregularly executed. A man who always follows his mother's advice to "help other people, and never look for the evil in them" is catapulted through a series of promotions, beginning as a flatfoot cop investigating lovely Stevens for murder to the dictator of a central American nation. In every case he is easily duped by the lovely criminals he encounters, and likewise in every case his mother intercedes after the fact with a little well-placed blackmail to advance him.
Probably appeals more to British audiences. The comedy is uneven, with few laughs but charming performances by Jones as a self-serving revolutionary and Jeffries, who appears (Sellars-like) in four parts. Worth it only to the most die-hard black comedy fans. -
jimjo12161 April 2012The cast is intriguing, with Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens, and Honor Blackman playing three femmes fatales and British character actor Lionel Jeffries pulling an Alec Guinness ("Kind Hearts and Coronets") or Peter Sellers ("Dr. Strangelove") by playing several different roles.
The production values aren't up to par for an MGM release, as the film has a low-budget British feel. But despite its shortcomings, THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS (1965) is a fairly amusing black comedy.
Arthur Tate (James Booth) lives by his mother's advice to have faith in people and not go looking for evil. And that blind faith has carried him up to positions of wealth and power. Or so he thinks. The true secret to Arthur Tate's success in life is his naïvité, coupled with his clever mother's gift for persuasion (extortion?).
Throughout his various careers, Tate encounters beautiful women who may not be the innocent victims they'd have him believe. Does Stella Stevens know more about her husband's disappearance than she lets on? Is Honor Blackman telling the truth about the mutant spiders? Is Shirley Jones really only staging a political coup for a movie? Tate is willing to give the beautiful women the benefit of the doubt.
Tate's mother (Amy Dalby), however, sees through the lapses in her son's logic and pulls some strings behind-the-scenes to secure him the promotions and transfers he attributes to his faith in human goodness.
The movie is cheap-looking and pretty silly (spiders the size of St. Bernard dogs!), but I give it the benefit of the doubt for knowing how silly it is (unlike some schlocky low-budget flicks). This is an off- beat British comedy about murderesses, potentially mad scientists, blackmail, giant spiders, bloodless revolutions, bodies in the cellar, and corpses under the sofa.
The three leading ladies look wonderful: Stevens as a redhead, Blackman her usual blonde, and Jones as a brunette. They have Tate and just about every other male character eating out of their hands, as femmes fatales often do. (Interestingly all three women play characters named after flowers: Violet, Lily, and Marigold.)
Jeffries is always recognizable in his various guises, but it doesn't get in the way of the film.
The ending of the movie is a nice touch of black comedy, proving yet again that Mrs. Tate's advice is rubbish: people should NOT be trusted. -
JohnSeal28 July 2002I've just viewed the gorgeous print recently shown on TCM, and I can assure the previous reviewer, and anyone else who has seen a pan and scan copy, that the film is no better in pristine condition than it is otherwise. James Booth is deadly dull as the lead, Lionel Jeffries is obviously trying to channel the spirit of one of Peter Sellers multi-role performances, and the story is ineptly developed. The giant spiders are vaguely amusing but gosh, I went to see Eight Legged Freaks the day before I watched this, and the spiders in that film were a lot more fun.
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SnoopyStyle7 December 2020Arthur Tate (James Booth) inherits 15 million pounds and reveals the secret of his success. He recounts his rise starting as a constable in a small town. Violet Lawson (Stella Stevens) comes looking for her missing husband. With the help of his mother, it leads to more success over and over again.
As a comedy, there is nothing that funny. It's a little quirky in spots but there are no laughs to be had. As a horror, the giant spiders are obviously walking around in miniature recreations. It's old timey special effects. It's cheesy without being scary and it comes out of nowhere. It's very weird and it's short-lived. This is an odd film. It's a jarring mixture. These are almost individual vignettes. They barely hold together. Separately, they are mostly inferior comedies and only fit for British black comedy fans. Arthur Tate is sort of like an Insp. Clouseau type character where he fails upwards. Only he does it in an unfunny way. -
shelly26 August 2002I've been waiting to see this movie for YEARS only because I'm a huge Shirley Jones fan , but even the wonderful Ms. Jones can't salvage this godawful mess. I realize it's supposed to be a black comedy but it's more of a bleak comedy. I really tried liking this, but it just goes to show how really difficult it is to make a decent or even a halfway decent film. This one fails in all departments, but I'm still glad I saw Shirley Jones in her black wig!!! Avoid!
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beresfordjd7 August 2005Aspires to be appalling but falls short of even that. It is never as good as appalling at any time.Whose idea was it that Booth should be given a starring role?
James Booth I used to see in earlier UK movies and he was never able to play a likable character, even when attempting the lovable rogue as in Zulu. Another really bad idea was using US actresses like Shirley Jones and Stella Stevens to appeal to an American audience. Then some fool added monster spiders-yes monster spiders!! This must tell you something about the utter vacuity of ideas on display here. Whoever put up the money for this crap must have been on something mind-bending at the time (well it was the sixties) Give this turkey a miss!! -
"The Secret Of My Success" is an excessively talky and largely unfunny black comedy, but there are a few saving graces: eye-popping cleavage shots of all three leading ladies (all appearing separately, in three different segments), an unexpected giant-spider attack (!), and a surprise ending. ** out of 4.
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sideways81 April 2004A bumbling bobby, with the aid of his mother, rises through the P.D., becomes the leader of a Latin-American revolution and inherits a fortune. 1st Stella murders her husband and buries him in the basement, then Honor raises St.Bernard size spiders and commits her spouse to a mental institution and Shirley cons the hero into the revolution. All without the knowing sense of the hero, aided and abetted by his mother plottings.
What a wacko plot! The should have made this with John Cleese as the star and it would have been a bigger hoot. -
whpratt12 April 2008This picture deals with three different women and one especially who has a husband who has always loved to study spiders and ants and this couple live in this very huge home with so many rooms you could really get lost inside and the basement is the same way. This woman kills a man and she calls in Scotland Yard and they investigate the crime and then one of the inspectors finds out that there are large spiders roaming around and actually running after them. These spiders are big as large dogs and their lives are threatened, the woman convinces the inspectors that her husband committed this murder and he is taken away to prison. The fact is that this woman actually kept these spiders and helped them grow into huge insects. Remember, there are really two more women in this picture who have another strange story to tell.
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mls418212 May 2021This film deserves more recognition. It has several funny moments and is definitely worth a watch.
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Vincentiu17 October 2013not great. but nice. an ironic story, a decent cast, few scenes with monsters, three beautiful actresses and Lionel Jeffries in a collection of characters. it is far to impress but can be not bad occasion of entertainment. a crazy script, a wise mother and a naive son. levels of a bizarre/unrealistic career and acceptable humor. in fact, a parody and puzzle of usual parts from dramas/thriller/horror of period. a play without great ambitions but acceptable for a rainy afternoon refuge. the acting, like the story is only an exercise to give some soul to a chaotic script. unique sparkle - Amy Dalby performance. result - easy form of fun and a gray movie.
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Have been waiting to see this film for ages (like more than 50 years) and finally saw it in 2022 and liked it more than I thought I was going to considering the bad rep it has gotten from critics through the years. I found it quite high on my rating score, crediting mostly the cast, all exemplary, and because he got the most flack, I really liked James Booth in his role. Of the three main stars, the three ladies, Stevens and Jones are extraordinary and Blackman comes across with the least well-drawn performance because she isn't as convincing, as she was probably certainly cast to be, more villainous as the otherwise very funny Baroness. Booth's part isn't supposed to carry the picture as he was meant to deflect from the indication of the title that it is to be about him. It's not about him, it is more about his mother... Lionel Jeffries is a "hoot," if the success of the film depended upon the film having one. The direction is very apt by Andrew L. Stone, who produced with Virginia L. Stone and it was written by Andrew L. Stone, although I am not certain if it is an original story idea by him, but it works for me and I found the whole of the production to work terrifically. The scenes with the couch are extremely well-directed and are only an example of the great skill required to pull off the entire film, and it succeeds. Very British, and a good thing.