Simply Perfect

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.No code here? Lots of female buttocks hanging out behind brief swimsuit-type garments. Sophia, indeed, has the extra hammy yammies to make a voyeur's imagination start wandering. De Sica is the stereotypical leering admirer who implies he is too old to take advantage, even though stuffy Gable is the same age and pretends he is not interested in the excessive skin show.On and on. Sophia shows up in a black bra. This is the early 1960s? This is not an Italian film, but American. Mores in the USA were still quite WASP-ish, and didn't have room for frowzy flimsy lingerie looking itself like an unmade bed.Sophia always looks good, however, dressed down or up. Witness her proper black suit in the courtroom scene. She wants to sway the judge to give the kid to her, of course. Meanwhile, she shows enough leg that De Sica literally thirsts for some contact. She is even sexy in this dress suit. She sways the court. Her appearance says she is not the improper relative with which the boy should thrive.The boy is excellent. All street-smart, all knowing, dumb as a cucumber. Sneaking cigarettes, drinking wine and coffee. He has learned American quips, either from Gable or maybe old wartime American movies.De Sica is a card. He steals the show in his own way. Avvocato and pig, indeed. He is a handsome dog, yet his romantic idea is to be young enough to progress with Sophia.The kid wants Gable and Sophia to hook up, which eventually happens after some usual conflict. The denouement shows a bouquet of balloons, the kid, Sophia and Gable walking off into the cinematic sunset.I am a writer, film historian, actress, film critic and movie reviewer.

Clark Gable goes to Naples for his late brother's estate and will etc, but there he finds Sophia Loren as his (ex) sister-in-law. Period. You know the rest. But wait. I have to say more, don't I? Actually, there is a little more to it. Clark is engaged to another woman. So all is not easily predictable, is it? And then, there's the little boy, his nephew. Together they try to put a facade over Clark, but he finds out pretty quick what she does for a living, and that the boy is exposed to things young boys shouldn't be. And, he smokes. So, he tries to take the boy back with him to America. This gets even more complicated, doesn't it?! Granted, the film may have its flaws, but it's the type of film that's so enjoyable and sweet, the viewer doesn't care and sits back and has a gay old time. It was actually a lot funnier than I expected. If you find this on a Saturday afternoon on TCM, please watch it. You will thoroughly enjoy it and wonder why you'd never heard of it before now.

This film could have been so good, but wasn't. Despite two great stars in Gable & Loren it just did not work. The obvious lack of chemistry between Gable & Loren, which was glaringly obvious to everyone in every scene they did, was a stumbling block to the light -hearted atmosphere the film was attempting to portray. Plus, Gable was miscast, as by now he was 61 yrs old to Loren's 26, & it showed. The film lurches along, but the wonderful Isle of Capri scenery shots did help. The comedy falls quite flat most of the time, a pity, it could all have been so much better. Pity too, this was to be Gable's penultimate film, a great film actor, who had a lot more years of acting in him yet.

I've just seen this on a beautiful DVD and I want to echo the positive comments. While not the funniest movie ever made it is amusing and a good family-type picture---assuming that families watch this type of picture these days.What makes it happen for me is seeing Clark Gable and Sophia Loren together on screen with a beautiful background full of Capri Italy, 1960. The story is pretty basic but {like most good movies}provides a framework, plot situations and dialog- a lot of it in Italian, but still understandable- to keep the action moving and show off the Star Power on screen.There is great chemistry between Loren and Gable as well as co-star Vittorio De Sica and the young kid who plays the boy Nando - a star turn at age 10. Charming,amusing with eye-filling scenery and three legendary cinema personalities. Diverting and entertaining.