Blake Edwards dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. It has been described as "perhaps the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced, more pessimistic than Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend"". The film gave another major boost to Edwards's reputation as an important director. "Darling Lili" star Julie Andrews married Edwards in 1969. While a few critics such as George Morris thought the film a major picture ("it synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honor, the tension between appearances and reality, and the
Blake Edwards emotional, spiritual, moral, and psychological disorder" in such a world. Edwards used difficult cinematography techniques, including long-shot zooms, tracking, and focus distortion, to great effect."), the film failed badly with most critics and at the box office. At a cost of $17 million to make, few people went to see it, and the few who did were unimpressed. It brought Paramount Pictures to "the verge of financial collapse", and became an example of "self-indulgent extravagance" in filmmaking "that was ruining Hollywood." Edwards is best known for directing most of the comedy film series "The Pink Panther", the majority of installments