If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Director: Mel Stuart Mel Stuart

Overview

A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/21/2016
UPC:	0887090122214
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	G
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	6,158

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Suzanne Pleshette	Samantha Perkins
Ian McShane	Charlie Cartwright
Mildred Natwick	Jenny Grant
Murray Hamilton	Fred Ferguson
Sandy Baron	John Marino
Michael Constantine	Jack Harmon
Norman Fell	Harve Blakely
Peggy Cass	Edna Ferguson
Marty Ingels	Bert Greenfield
Pamela Britton	Freda
Luke Halpin	Bo
Aubrey Morris	Harry Dix
Reva Rose	Irma Blakely
Hilarie Thompson	Shelly Ferguson,Shelly Ferguson
Mario Carotenuto	Giuseppi
Patricia Routledge	Mrs. Featherstone
Marina Berti	Gina
Linda Di Felice	Fiat Driver's Wife
Paul Esser	German Sergeant
Jenny White	Dot
Roger Six	Marcel
Frank Latimore	George
Sonia Doumen	Miss Belgium
Lillian Atterer	Miss Germany
Lucien Krier	Miss Luxembourg
Ben Gazzara	Card Player
John Cassavetes	Card Player
Vittorio de Sica	Shoemaker
Donovan	Singer at Youth Hostel
Anita Ekberg	Nightclub Performer
Catherine Spaak	Woman Posing for Photographer
Robert Vaughn	Photographer
Elsa Martinelli	Woman on Bridge
Joan Collins	Girl on Sidewalk
Senta Berger	London Saleswoman
Virna Lisi	John's Beautiful Cousin in Rome

Technical Credits

David Shaw

Mel Stuart	Director
David Shaw	Screenwriter
David L. Wolper	Executive Producer
Stan Margulies	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Rarely has a title been better matched to a movie than in the case of the innocuous If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. That name really does let viewers know what they're in for: a light, slightly farcical, totally unchallenging travelogue-cum-comedy. Anyone looking for a film that will offer insight, sparkling wit, or a contained, well-thought-out plot with deeply etched characters knows automatically to look elsewhere. This isn't to say that Tuesday isn't entertaining. After all, it has a tremendous cast of character actors, each of whom has at least a moment or two to shine; some yummy on-location shots; and a pair of attractive leads to go through the motions of a "should they or shouldn't they" romance. It even pulls in such unlikely stars as Vittorio De Sica, Joan Collins, Donovan, and John Cassavetes for some peppy cameos. If Suzanne Pleshette and Ian McShane can't quite pull off their story, it's not for want of trying; they do very well with standard-issue parts that really exist only to provide what little dramatic conflict there is to the film. Much better served are such delightful performers as Peggy Cass, Mildred Natwick, Reva Rose, and Michael Constantine. Breezy, dated, and totally inconsequential, Tuesday is a good popcorn movie -- not especially nutritious, but fun to ingest.