Poor romantic comedy that was subsequently talked down by director George Cukor and its two main stars, Yves-Montand and Marilyn Monroe. The latter only doing the film due to contractual commitments to 20th Century Fox. There were also problems with the affair that Montand & Monroe were having since both parties will still married to Simone Signoret and Arthur Miller respectively. Perhaps because they were trying not to show their feelings on screen explains why the coupling comes off as bland and listless? Monroe at least captivates and looks very well here, but Montand is dull as dish water and it's hard to believe that Monroe in character or in real life could go for such dullness.
The plot is unadventurous and it's tough enough to swallow without Cukor forcing in lame humour, lead weight dialogue and sub-par music numbers. A spark of hope that we might get a good movie arrives early with Marilyn's entrance, resplendent in figure hugging costume and warbling "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", but it's a false dawn and only serves to remind us why we loved her in the first place, and, that she deserved better than this. Montand's role had been touted to a number of high profile American actors, notably Cary Grant, James Stewart, Rock Hudson and Gregory Peck, the latter of which did get the gig but quickly got out of it upon viewing the script. Peck is also credited with a humorous and most fitting quote about the finished movie. He wryly observed that the end result "About as funny as pushing Grandma down the stairs in a wheelchair." Now where's Tomy Udo when you need him most eh? He could have pushed this movie down the stairs with Grandma too.
The film is also guilty of other things. It's at least 30 minutes too long and Tony Randall is badly underused as Coffman, PR aid to Clement (Montand). While cameos by Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby & Milton Berle, as pleasant as they are, just smacks of film makers trying to dress up a dogs dinner. There's some enjoyment to be had in Wilfred Hyde-White's sarcastic support turn, while some value can be got from the De Luxe Color/CinemaScope production. But really they are thin excuses from which to use in recommending this to anyone but the hardiest of Monroe completists. 3/10
The plot is unadventurous and it's tough enough to swallow without Cukor forcing in lame humour, lead weight dialogue and sub-par music numbers. A spark of hope that we might get a good movie arrives early with Marilyn's entrance, resplendent in figure hugging costume and warbling "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", but it's a false dawn and only serves to remind us why we loved her in the first place, and, that she deserved better than this. Montand's role had been touted to a number of high profile American actors, notably Cary Grant, James Stewart, Rock Hudson and Gregory Peck, the latter of which did get the gig but quickly got out of it upon viewing the script. Peck is also credited with a humorous and most fitting quote about the finished movie. He wryly observed that the end result "About as funny as pushing Grandma down the stairs in a wheelchair." Now where's Tomy Udo when you need him most eh? He could have pushed this movie down the stairs with Grandma too.
The film is also guilty of other things. It's at least 30 minutes too long and Tony Randall is badly underused as Coffman, PR aid to Clement (Montand). While cameos by Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby & Milton Berle, as pleasant as they are, just smacks of film makers trying to dress up a dogs dinner. There's some enjoyment to be had in Wilfred Hyde-White's sarcastic support turn, while some value can be got from the De Luxe Color/CinemaScope production. But really they are thin excuses from which to use in recommending this to anyone but the hardiest of Monroe completists. 3/10