BUtterfield 8 (1960)

BUtterfield [sic] strives to be a serious and affecting adult drama but the romance side of the story is weak and sluggish. Liz looks bored and oppressed, only really springing to life in scenes wherein she's paired with Eddie Fisher. Laurence Harvey looks the part but doesn't excite as a leading man. If you harnessed the electricity between them it wouldn't even power an LED. The saving grace is the sarcastic comedy that surfaces when there's more than one woman onscreen; at those times, as each tries to gain the upper hand, the dialogue sharpens and puts the rest to shame.

2½ elegantly spiteful bitches out of 5

Night Watch (1973)

Dir. Hutton followed up the disappointing X, Y and Zee (1972) with a slow-moving thriller based on a play by Lucille Fletcher, and again had Liz Taylor cast as the lead. She plays a rich ‘dahhhliiing’ on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She does a much better job this time, but wait until the last third before passing any kind of lasting judgement, because there are red herrings aplenty in both script and direction.
The camera cuts inside and outside of the same window often, into and out of the storm; for the viewer it’s much the same, keeping us at arms reach but attentive, not unlike the frayed-nerved Liz.

3 complete pictures out of 5