Lord Love A Duck (1966) is perhaps one of the most offbeat satirical comedies of the sixties, a film that attempts to and succeeds at lampooning both the teen sex comedy films of the day and the socio-political structure of American society. The film, based on an Al Hine novel of the same name, stars Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld with Lola Albright, Ruth Gordon and Harvey Korman under the excessively campy direction of George Axelrod. Despite a very talented ensemble cast, the most watchable part of the film is Roddy McDowall (who refers to himself in the third person as Mollymauk), whose over the top theatrical performance coupled with Axelrod’s sense of modern architecture give the film a feeling of fantasy that could only be compared to Frank Tashlin’s work with Jerry Lewis. And it is this air of fantasy that enables the film’s narrative; Allan (McDowall) dedicates a year of his life to make fellow high school student Barbara Ann’s (Weld) every wish come true even if it means murder, perfectly acceptable.
