Movie review: ‘Dear Brigitte’

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A promotional still photograph from the movie “Dear Brigitte.”

I was totally blown away by how good Bill Murray’s cameo is in “Zombieland” (click here to read my review) and didn’t initially recall another cameo that could challenge it. After all, Murray is pitch-perfect as himself in that terrific gorefest of a film that I consider the best of its genre over the past 25 years. However, I recently recalled an old film and rented it through amazon.com … and WHAM! I found the one cameo that’s even better – Brigitte Bardot in the aptly title film “Dear Brigitte.” It is a terrific old film starring screen legend James Stewart and it’s about a boy who pens nightly love letters to Bardot and gets paid to do homework (and handicap horse races) so he can afford the “air mail” stamps to send them off to France. Bardot was the top screen so-called siren at the time and is terrific in “Dear Brigitte.” It’s easy to get this one, so check it out.

‘Dear Brigitte’
(1965; 100 minutes; not rated – read my explanation below; directed by Henry Koster and starring James Stewart, Glynis Johns and Fabian)

IT ALL ADDS UP TO A TERRIFIC OLD MOVIE

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Sept. 22, 2020. I again expanded the review on April 19, 2025. I updated the review on Dec. 28, 2025, to note the death of Brigitte Bardot.)

In coming up with ideas for movies to review, I dip back into my early movie-going days and I’ve come up with another from 1965 that I remember enjoying: “Dear Brigitte.” While “Dear Brigitte” isn’t in the same class as an epic, legendary film, it does have great moments and excellent acting that other films could only hope for, and a clever plot and some wonderful predictions about our technological future that have since sadly come true.

“Dear Brigitte” stars legendary Hollywood leading man James Stewart as “Professor Robert Leaf.” He’s a poet who loves the artistic side and who is vehemently opposed to the coming of science on university campuses – especially computers. He hates everything science and math and routinely quits his job in protest of the shrinking humanities in favor of the future (his words were prophetic at the time, especially when he says a big machine will be built that will put a million men out of work – of course in the future it would only take sleazy corporate policies and disingenuous executives to accomplish even worse destruction for our society).

Much to Stewart’s disgust, his son “Erasmus,” who is played by Billy Mumy, is a math prodigy. The boy outdoes a bank computer, the university’s computer and ultimately winds up using his mathematical skill … handicapping horse races. Mumy, who is best remembered from TV’s “Lost in Space” (it had its premiere the same year as “Dear Brigitte”) has a profit motive, though, since he needs to buy “air mail” stamps (for those of you too young to remember, those stamps took letters across the Atlantic to Europe). So, enriched through his skill, he writes nightly letters to Brigitte Bardot, who was just about every man’s fantasy at the time.

The movie is simply terrific in developing the characters of Stewart’s family and their interpersonal relationships. Nothing anti-hero here as everyone is mild-mannered, polite and each actually respects one another. Since it is 1965, there’s not a computer in sight (except in a university lab) and at home, the family doesn’t watch any television – they give a family concert each evening.

Still, as Mumy’s handicapping activities get on the police department’s radar, Stewart is sucked into a confidence man’s scheme to make money off the boy. Everything moves along with money coming in (in Stewart’s mind for the foundation; in the con man’s action being spent on his champagne) and things rolling along until Bardot writes back to the boy and invites him to visit her in France.

Well, Mumy balks until he gets to go see Bardot and she provides a wonderful cameo that’s all too brief. While Bardot doesn’t stretch her talent in any way, she is affable and just being herself and therefore all too memorable here.

Of course, it all wraps up neatly in the end after a few anxious moments. The bad guy isn’t even too bad since he winds up playing in one of the family’s concerts as the film ends.

Although she is focus of the film from its title to a boy’s dreams, Bardot’s direct screen presence lasts for just 6 minutes and 5 seconds and it is an uncredited role for her – a cameo … and a great one; one of the best in cinema, if not the best ever. I’ve already written how I first thought that Bill Murray’s cameo effort was best in “Zombieland,” but I’ve updated my opinion after re-watching “Dear Brigitte,” so I won’t belabor the point. Bardot, an avid animal rights activist following her film career, died at 91 on Dec. 28, 2025.

Here’s a rundown of members of the primary cast:

  • A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Dear Brigitte.”

    I don’t know what to make of Oscar winner Stewart here. He gives a truly memorable performance – he is endearing from his passion for the humanities to the parent protecting his child to being able to understand a boy’s fascination with Bardot. However, it’s an uneven performance as he overacts both with expressions and his exaggerated physical motions when making an exclamation point in a scene. At 6-foot-3 he’s towering by Hollywood’s typical usual superstar mini-men, so his gangly body here looks more slapstick than the comedy he was obviously trying to achieve. In any case, it’s a wonderful role for and effort by Stewart, who won his Oscar for “The Philadelphia Story” and was nominated for four other including the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Stewart died in 1997 at the age of 89.

  • An Oscar nominee for “The Sundowners,” Glynis Johns as wife “Vina Leaf” gives a career performance here (I didn’t see her nominated film). Johns is tough when she needs to be, always loving and breezes through the roles with all the confidence of any great actor. Johns was also terrific in “While You Were Sleeping” with Sandra Bullock (click here to read my review) as well as “Mary Poppins” and “The Ref.” Johns died at the age of 100 in 2024.
  • A promotional “still” photograph from the movie “Dear Brigitte.”

    Mumy is very fortunate as “Erasmus ‘Ras’ Leaf.” He works with great actors, but he has great lines from an excellent screenplay. He doesn’t overplay the smart kid routine and especially is low-key (by being a little boy overwhelmed by the star power of Bardot) when meeting the title character. Mumy was directed very well here and filmmakers benefited from his talent. Mumy was a TV veteran (more than a dozen credits on TV alone) when “Dear Brigitte” had its premiere at only age 11. His acting credits include the TV series “Babylon 5” and, strangely enough, he reprised a role on the TV series remake of the “Lost in Space” … but it was of “Dr. Smith.” Of course, he was too young with the remake series arrived in 2018 to play “Will Robinson” again. Sadly, he wasn’t one 1960s kid star who appeared on “The Love Boat” (click here for my review of the series).

  • John Williams plays “Peregrine Upjohn” and is the “bad” guy here who tries to use Stewart and Mumy for his own purposes. The versatile Williams had experience on Broadway, television and films with being notable for his “urbane” characters. It’s no exception here and he’s smooth, convincing as a con man needs to be but also fatalistic when he loses the money to a good purpose. Williams is likable here and was noted for his work in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder” and was in the classics “Sabrina” with Humphrey Bogart and “To Catch a Thief” with Cary Grant. He died at 80 in 1983 and his last credit was four years earlier on TV’s “Battlestar Galactica.”
  • An Oscar nominee, Jack Kruschen plays “Dr. Volker” and is the stereotypical shrink of his day. He has the right accent for his Freudian turn and is the first to hear about Mumy’s fixation on Bardot. Although Kruschen sticks to his psychiatric guns, he’s also pragmatic when mumbling agreements to one-liners delivered by Mumy. He’s great here because he adds to the film with his presence and delivery and doesn’t detract from it. Kruschen was nominated for “The Apartment” and was also in the original “Cape Fear.” He died at 80 in 2002.

Here’s a look at other actors in “Dear Brigitte:”

  • Cindy Carol plays daughter “Pandora ‘Penny’ Leaf” and does a competent job here (although why she lets Stewart go buy her prom dress without her is quite a puzzlement). There’s not much for her resume here and she was also the ersatz “Gidget” knockoff in “Gidget Goes to Rome” and the original “Cape Fear” with Gregory Peck. Carol didn’t work in entertainment after 1966 and only 16 credits on her resume.
  • Teen singing heartthrob Fabian plays Carol’s boyfriend “Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Taylor.” He does a solid job here and is comfortable and smooth in front of the camera. It would have been nice to see his role expanded a bit, but I’m not sure at what expense to other actors. Fabian, who is a primetime Emmy nominee for an informational series “The Wild West” in 1993, was also in the war classic “The Longest Day” (click here to read my review).
  • An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Ed Wynn plays “The Captain” and is the film’s narrator. He does the perfect job as the film segues from one scene to the next. He does essentially the same emotion throughout, so it’s difficult to judge his range as an actor. He earned his nomination for “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 1960 and was also in “Mary Poppins” before his death of cancer at 79 the year after the premiere of “Dear Brigitte.”

There you have it. A little-remembered gem from the 1960s (along with “The Glass Bottom Boat” from the next year – click here to read my review) you can find easily find in today’s streaming world.

BTW – films were not rated in the mid-1960s. An antiquated system of approved or not approved by a censoring board was the soon-to-end standard of the day. It comes from Hollywood’s rating system known as the “Hays Code” from the name of its chief censor, according to Wiki. From 1938 through 1968 films were evaluated and either deemed approved or disapproved (“moral” or “immoral”). Although officially abandoned in 1968 in favor of the start of the initial version of the rating system you see today, the “Hays Code” had pretty much disappeared in the 1960s due to the influence of television, edgy directors and U.S. Supreme Court rulings, according to Wiki.

“Dear Brigitte” didn’t crack the top 24 films of 1965, according to Wiki, and it brought in approximately $2.2 million. The No. 1 film was “The Sound of Music” with $163.2 million and the No. 2 film was “Dr. Zhivago” with $111.7 million. Here are the other films from 1965 that I have reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com and Wiki):

  • Stewart’s middle name was Maitland and he was 6-foot-3; Johns’ full birth name was Glynis Margaret Payne Johns; Mumy’s full birth name is Charles William Mumy Jr.; Fabian’s birth name is Fabiano Anthony Forte; and Carol’s birth name is Carol Annette Sydes.
  • Mumy claimed in an interview that “Dear Brigitte” had Bardot’s first kiss in an American movie – and it’s with him!
  • Johns’ accent wasn’t home-grown in Great Britain. She was a native of South Africa.
  • Mumy was suggested for the part to filmmakers by his Sunday School teacher.
  • Alice Pearce does a nice turn as an unemployment office clerk. She’s sharp, she’s sassy and has just the right touch for the bit part. You’ll more remember her as the nosy neighbor “Mrs. Kravitz” on TV’s “Bewitched” (she took over after the original actor in the role died of cancer).
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “This movie was going to be called ERASMUS WITH FRECKLES, after the book on which it was based. But Brigitte Bardot only agreed to appear on the condition that her name did not appear in the credits or any of the promotional materials. The only way the producers could capitalize on Americans’ fascination with Bardot was by changing the title to alert the audience that she was in the movie.”

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1 Comment

  1. I just watched the movie and was upset that BB was uncredited until I read this article. Thank you for explaining the situation. Got to love Brigitte, and she was terrific in her cameo. I didn’t realize that her English was so proficient and delightful!

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