Harold Prince's black comedy "Something for Everyone" casts Michael York as a man who goes to work for fallen Bavarian aristocrat Angela Lansbury, not refraining from doing what he wants to in order to take over the estate. By extension the movie comes across as a look at how Europe's old aristocracy was forced to accept the new realities of the post-war era. Capitalism had been driving out feudalism for over a century, but the baby boom came of age in an era of the greatest social change in history. No longer would the aristocracy get seen as the most virtuous entity of all (although we all saw the hoopla over William & Kate's wedding, and then their baby).

Aside from that, it's a pretty funny movie. The aristocratic family has more than a few skeletons in its closet. Not the funniest movie, but worth seeing. It's apparently available on DVD, but I could only find a VHS copy.

Dark comedy, "suggested by" Harry Kressing's novel "The Cook", has opportunist Michael York worming his way into the lives of the eccentric, cash-strapped family living in a weathered German castle, at first by gaining employment there as a footman. York is exceptional as the shameless Conrad, who uses his charm to beguile everyone around him, but Angela Lansbury is too beautiful, too vital to be convincing as a dowager Countess (one can imagine this curvy lady having her pick of any eligible man in the country). Still, Lansbury's fluttery flamboyance, which the Countess seems to put on--like a costume, for show--is colorful and amusing, while theatre director Harold Prince oversees the proceedings with knowing wit and self-assurance. Not for every taste, but a well-done show of manners and immorality. ** from ****

Handsome young MICHAEL YORK is a drifting social climber who takes advantage of an impoverished Countess (ANGELA LANSBURY) and her underwhelming family--a plain daughter and a homosexual son--using them for his own twisted needs to become the Prince Charming of a Bavarian castle.

Directed with finesse by Harold Prince, it's a dark comedy that abounds with wit and a never ending series of complications that ensue when York manipulates and charms his way into everyone's affections. It has a TALENTED MR. RIPLEY kind of feel to it, but decidedly more comic than serious. ANGELA LANSBURY did not even mention this film during a one hour session with Robert Osborne on TCM recently, but it has to be among her best work.

It raised eyebrows but failed to connect with whomever the target audience was back in the '70s and became a favorite among the art house crowd for obvious reasons. Rampant with sexual implications, it's way ahead of its time and would probably do better box-office business in today's more accepting world of oddball themes.