This unusual take on mid-60s culture features Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld. Released in 1966 and directed by George Axelrod, "Lord Love a Duck" is an oddball comedy/drama that follows a detached student genius (Roddy McDowall) who becomes captivated by a classmate (Tuesday Weld), using his extraordinary abilities to fulfill her questionable requests. Lola Albright portrays the girl’s cocktail waitress mother, while Harvey Korman appears as the principal. Martin West plays the girl's eventual boyfriend and Ruth Gordon is his mother. It’s an expansive satire of teenage life in the mid-60s, targeting everything from beach movies to marriage and divorce, to progressive schooling. The film’s originality and eccentricity are its strongest assets. It resembles a combination of “Village of the Giants” (1965) and perhaps "What's New Pussycat" (1965). The movie shifts abruptly between comedy, satire, drama, tragedy, and dark humor. A real drawback is that it was inexplicably filmed in black & white, which seems odd for a mainstream pop film made in 1965. McDowall was 36 years old during filming while playing a high school senior, but he manages to make it believable because of his youthful appearance and the black-and-white photography helped obscure his age. His character, Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave, is fascinating—a blend of Svengali, Professor Higgins, and Faust after making a deal with Mephistopheles. Some have described Mollymauk as a nerd genius. Although he's clearly intelligent, he isn’t a nerd because he’s too self-assured, cool, and almost condescending toward those he considers inferior—which turns out to be everyone, both teenagers and adults. The film’s tagline reads: "It's about a man living in our insane world who suddenly goes stark raving sane and commits mass murder." What led to the downfall of this remarkable person? His obsession with the beautiful but superficial Barbara Ann (Weld), whom he had the power to give everything she wanted, yet couldn’t earn her affection. Being exceptionally intelligent in high school is a gift, but also a social burden. Alan was helplessly drawn to Barbara Ann, but recognized that she wasn't the type of girl who would be interested in him. Still, she held power over him. Despite my dislike for the black-and-white photography, this stands among the best films about 60’s culture from that time period. Axelrod had a knack for filming women, with Lynn Carey being particularly memorable as Sally, along with several other attractive actresses. No disrespect to Ms. Weld, but she was the least impressive of them. I also prefer the lively first half over the second, which transitions into drama, tragedy and dark humor. But it’s hard to fault the film for lacking depth. The movie runs 1 hour and 45 minutes and was filmed in the Los Angeles area (West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Newport Beach). Axelrod & Larry H. Johnson wrote the screenplay based on Al Hine’s novel. GRADE: A-/B+

Source on TMDB