{"id":4509,"date":"2025-03-01T11:18:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T11:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=4509"},"modified":"2025-09-07T19:55:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T19:55:57","slug":"20-david-niven-movies-you-should-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=4509","title":{"rendered":"20 David Niven movies you should see"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

David Niven, who was born 115 years ago today and died aged 73 in 1983, gave Ron Base and me the best quote of all time.<\/p>\n

The Oscar-winning British actor was on a book tour to promote his first memoir, the brilliant \u201cThe Moon\u2019s a Balloon\u201d, in 1972. Ron and I, who worked at The Windsor Star across the river, went to a Detroit hotel ballroom for a lunch \u2013 a hospital fundraiser \u2013 at which Niven was to speak. We were told we could interview him afterwards.<\/p>\n

Lunch was great because we sat at a table with actress Constance Towers so we encouraged her to share yarns of her films with John Ford. Niven was a masterful raconteur and he spun hilarious tales from his book.<\/p>\n

\"Jeeves<\/a>Ron and I repaired backstage to interview him only to be told that he had to leave immediately as he was due in Denver for another speech that evening. He came out to apologise for the mix up and then gave us the best quote ever: \u201cWrite anything you like. I\u2019ll swear I said it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Always one of my favourite screen actors, Niven was the definition of suave and debonair from his start in comedies such as \u201cThank You, Jeeves\u201d (1936), in which he naturally played Bertie Wooster (pictured above with Virginia Field and Arthur Treacher as Jeeves), and war pictures such as \u201cDawn Patrol\u201d (1938).<\/p>\n

He might be best known for his role as Phileas Fogg in \u201cAround the World in Eighty Days\u201d, which won five Academy Awards in 1957 including Best Picture. He is perfect and Shirley MacLaine and Robert Newton (pictured below) have their moments although the film is a bloated travelogue stuffed with odd star cameos.<\/p>\n

\"around_the_world_in_80_days_4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are 20 other David Niven movies worth watching:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sea Wolves\u201d (1980) Great fun based on a true story as Gregory Peck, Niven and Roger Moore play former soldiers who are sent on a secret mission in World War II to destroy a Nazi ship based in neutral Goa. Andrew V. McLaglen directs Reginald Rose\u2019s entertaining script with a cast that includes Trevor Howard and Patrick Macnee.<\/p>\n

\u201cMurder by Death\u201d (1976) Neil Simon\u2019s Agatha Christie spoof has some wonderful moments from a cast in which Niven is joined by Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Maggie Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Extraordinary Seaman\u201d (1969) Bizarre comedy that I\u2019ve always been fond of with Niven as the ghost of a drowned World War I sea captain who fetches up with his boat in World War II, helps some American sailors survive and falls for an American woman in the Phillipines. John Frankenheimer (\u201cThe Manchurian Candidate\u201d) directs Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda, Mickey Rooney and Jack Carter.<\/p>\n

\"Lady<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLady L\u201d (1965) Ambitious if flawed comedy directed by Peter Ustinov, who adapated a novel by Romain Gary about an ageing woman played by Sophia Loren who recalls the loves of her life. Niven, Paul Newman, Cecil Parker and Philippe Noiret are among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bedtime Story\u201d (1964) Comedy Marlon Brando and Niven as conmen who challenge each other to seduce women on the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur such as an heiress played by Shirley Jones. Bosley Crowther in the New York Times said the two actors hit \u201ca comedy peak\u201d and \u201cit is a very funny picture. It was remade in 1988 as \u201cDirty Rotten Scoundrels\u201d with Steve Martin, Michael Caine and Glenne Headley, and later became a successful stage play.<\/p>\n

\"Pink<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pink Panther\u201d (1963) Niven and Robert Wagner are the jewel thieves in pursuit of the fabulous gem worn by Claudia Cardinale (pictured above) although Peter Sellers steals every scene as Inspector Clouseau. Blake Edwards directs the first of the \u201cPink Panther\u201d series, which he co-wrote with Maurice Richlin (\u201cOperation Petticoat\u201d, \u201cPillow Talk\u201d). Henry Mancini, of course, wrote the infectious score.<\/p>\n

\u201c55 Days at Peking\u201d (1963) Nicholas Ray epic about American soldiers and British diplomats in the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. Niven stars with Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and a very large cast with cinematography by the great Jack Hildyard (Oscar-winner for \u201cThe Bridge on the River Kwai\u201d) and music by Dimitri Tiomkin (Oscar-winner for \u201cHigh Noon\u201d, \u201cThe High and the Mighty\u201d and \u201cThe Old Man and the Sea\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Best of Enemies\u201d (1961) Smart and cynical comedy about a square-off in the Abyssinian desert in World War II between an Italian captain (Alberto Sordi) and a British major (Niven). Directed by Guy Hamilton (\u201cGoldfinger\u201d, \u201cFuneral in Berlin\u201d), it co-stars Michael Wilding and Harry Andrews atop a raft of British and Italian character actors.<\/p>\n

\"the-guns-of-navarone<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guns of Navarone\u201d (pictured above, 1961) Grand wartime adventure directed by J. Lee Thompson and based on a novel by Alistair MacLean about a group of Allied soldiers who must destroy a giant Nazi cannon so that convoys at sea might remain safe. Niven stars with Gregory Peck, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, James Darren, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, Richard Harris and Anthony Quinn, whom Peck told me was the greatest scene-stealer in the movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk Any Girl\u201d (1959) Frothy comedy about brothers who fall for the same woman although one doesn\u2019t realise it. Shirley MacLaine stars with Niven and Gig Young (\u201cThey Shoot Horses, Don\u2019t They\u201d) with the late Rod Taylor also in the cast.<\/p>\n

\"SEPARATE_TABLES<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSeparate Tables\u201d (1958) Niven was named best actor at the Academy Awards for his performance as a stiff British Army officer with a secret in Delbert Mann\u2019s version of the Terence Rattigan play about a group of off-season residents of a middle-class hotel at the English seaside town of Bournemouth. Deborah Kerr (pictured above), Rita Hayworth, Burt Lancaster and Gladys Cooper co-star with Wendy Hiller, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress.<\/p>\n

\"bonjour-tristesse<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBonjour Tristesse\u201d (1958) Saucy Otto Preminger story of an unconventional playboy (Niven) and his fetching daughter, played by Jean Seberg (pictured above). Deborah Kerr and Myl\u00e8ne Demongeot co-star in a film whose reputation has grown over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Man Godfrey\u201d (1957) Niven is a butler with a dubious past to an American family dominated by women played by such as June Allyson, Jessie Royce Landis, Eva Gabor and Martha Hyer. Henry Foster (\u201cHarvey\u201d) directs.<\/p>\n

\"Matter<\/a>\u201cA Matter of Life and Death\u201d (1946) Highly regarded surrealistic fable written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger about a World War II bomber pilot who falls in love with a radio contact (Kim Hunter, pictured left) after his plane is shot down. Robert Coote and Richard Attenborough co-star.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Way Ahead\u201d (1944) Carol Reed (\u201cThe Third Man\u201d) directs a morale-building drama written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov about conscripts who learn about battle in North Africa. Niven stars with a raft of British character actors including Stanley Holloway (\u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d), James Donald (\u201cThe Great Escape\u201d and William Hartnell (the first Doctor Who).<\/p>\n

\u201cSpitfire\u201d (1942) British actor Leslie Howard (\u201cThe Painted Desert\u201d, \u201cGone With the Wind\u201d) directs and stars as the airplane designer who created the famous machine flown by \u201cthe few\u201d in the Battle of Britain in World War II. Niven, who left Hollywood to return to England for the war, co-stars with Rosamund John.<\/p>\n

\"David_Niven<\/a>\u201cRaffles\u201d (left, 1939) Niven stars as the dashing art- and jewelry-thief and first-class cricketer A. J. Raffles in a caper directed by Sam Wood (\u201cGoodbye, Mr. Chips\u201d) that involves the theft of an Old Master from London\u2019s National Gallery. Olivia de Havilland co-stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cBluebeard\u2019s Eighth Wife\u201d (1938) Directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder adapted from a play by Alfred Savoir. Screwball comedy on the French Riviera with Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. Niven co-stars along with the incomparable Edward Everett Horton.<\/p>\n

\u201cDodsworth\u201d (1936) William Wyler\u2019s screen version of the Sinclair Lewis novel about a US industrialist (Walter Huston) and his wife (Ruth Chatterton) who drift apart on a European holiday picked up six Oscar nominations.\u00a0 Niven co-stars along with Paul Lukas, Mary Astor and Maria Ouspenskaya.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charge of the Light Brigade\u201d (below, 1936) The famous tale directed by Michael Curtiz, who gave Niven the title of his second memoir along with other very funny English-language clangers, my favourite of which is when the exasperated director told Errol Flynn (who starred opposite Olivia de Havilland) and Niven: \u201cYou think I know fuck nothing, but I know fuck all!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Charge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett David Niven, who was born 115 years ago today and died aged 73 in 1983, gave Ron Base and me the best quote of all time. The Oscar-winning British actor was on a book tour to promote … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,1263,2257],"tags":[2367,2366,2368,2365],"class_list":["post-4509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-comment","category-film","category-memory-lane","category-recalling","tag-around-the-world-in-eighty-days","tag-the-moons-a-balloon","tag-constance-towers","tag-david-niven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4509"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11524,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509\/revisions\/11524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}