Expected more

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Kissing an elegant statue on a whim, nit - witted store clerk Eddie unintentionally unravels a sensual and chaotic entity in the form of Ava Gardner's Venus, making romance and farce abound.Considering my take on the general storyline is that it lacks strength, in lesser hands One Touch of Venus could have been a farce of a completely different kind. However the talent which was a part of this feature played a major role in raising its standard. This is mainly due to the leads Ava Gardner and Robert Walker. Being naturally beautiful there is little cause for explanation concerning Ava Gardner in the role as a Goddess of love, but she applied more than just her looks. She gave Venus a sensuality which oozed through every moment emphasising her presence to a greater extent. Despite Eddie being nitwit, Robert Walker makes him a likable fellow whose whimsical reactions to his bizarre situation resulted in numerous laughs. The development of Venus and Eddie's relationship began chaos and misunderstandings slightly reminiscent of the screwball genre.Constantly on the run for being accused of stealing Venus, Eddie finds himself in various situations avoiding arrest. With the help of Venus these situations contain visual and physical gags that work well, the most vivid in my mind was Venus turning Eddie's arrest warrant into a paper chain and temporarily suspending the pursuing detective by turning him into an owl. In spite of this sounding peculiar it worked well for comic purposes. The musical sequences were equally executed in effect for the sake of the feature's primary theme of romance. Singing "That's Him" the principal female characters convey their romance for the man they love whilst not losing their individual characteristics adding the perfect light to the sequence. Particularly from Molly, played brilliantly by Eve Arden who sticks to her heavy – hearted vocal tone throughout "That's Him" and is constantly witty. "I wish she reminded me of me" upon her first sight of Venus, keeping together her quick humour with a sense of longing for her Boss Whitfield, whose own sighting of Venus makes him crazy for her and continues the saga that was Venus and Eddie's relationship.From my viewpoint it can not be said One Touch of Venus is a perfect feature, though it is satisfactory in the majority of its scene thanks to the principle actors along with witty writing from Harry Kurnitz and Frank Tashlin, whose dialogue serves the pinnacle of One Touch of Venus' smart and charming humour.

Supernatural fantasies were popular on both sides of the Atlantic during the late forties and early fifties, possibly because the heavy death toll during World War II had made people think about the possibility of an afterlife. "One Touch of Venus" is one of a number of such films from this period; others include "It's a Wonderful Life" "Portrait of Jennie", "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" and, from Britain, "A Matter of Life and Death" and "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman".The story of "One Touch of Venus" is loosely based upon the Pygmalion myth. (In turn it inspired the two "Mannequin" films of the late eighties and early nineties). Whitfield Savory, a wealthy department- store owner, buys a statue of the goddess Venus for $200,000 and plans to exhibit it in the store. Eddie Hatch, a window dresser, kisses the statue on the lips, which has the effect of bringing Venus to life. The film then explores the various complications which arise when the newly awakened Venus falls in love with Eddie, Whitfield falls in love with Venus, Eddie's jealous girlfriend Gloria falls in love with his best friend Joe and Eddie himself is arrested on a charge of stealing the statue, there being no other way to account for its mysterious disappearance. The film started life as a Broadway musical, but most of the music composed for it by Kurt Weill is left out. I have never seen the stage version, so I cannot comment on the quality of the omitted musical numbers, but I felt that the film might have worked better as a large- scale Hollywood musical in colour than it does in the black-and-white version that was actually made, which is less a musical comedy than a romantic comedy with songs. None of these songs are particularly memorable, although the film did confirm my view that Ava Gardner had a fine singing voice. (Her vocals for "Showboat" are often regarded as superior to those we actually hear in the film, provided by a professional singer hired to dub her voice, and were used when the soundtrack was released as a gramophone record). As an actress rather than as a singer, however, this is not one of Ava's most memorable performances, and she is never asked to do much more than to look sexy and glamorous. (I must, however, admit that that is a task which she could perform better than almost any other actress of the period). Robert Walker never struck me as a natural romantic lead- his most memorable appearance was as the villainous Bruno in "Strangers on a Train"- and he is poor here, although it should be pointed on that the film was made when he was going through a serious crisis in his personal life. The best acting comes from Eve Arden as Whitfield's secretary Molly. Molly is that stock Hollywood figure, the bespectacled secretary whose dowdy appearance belies the fact that she is in fact extremely attractive and whose brisk, efficient manner hides a secretly romantic and passionate personality; like most examples of this stock figure she is secretly in love with her boss. The main problem with this movie is that it is too brief and perfunctory. It revolves around not a love-triangle, or even a love- quadrilateral, but a love-hexagon, whose corners are Eddie, Venus, Whitfield, Molly, Gloria and Joe. To do justice to such a fantastic, and convoluted, plot would require both a longer running time and a more carefully written script to explore all the various angles, and as I said making it as a musical might have helped. (Musicals could often get away with fanciful plots that would have seemed ridiculous in the context of any other film). The film that actually exists left me with the distinct impression that the producers simply wanted to cash in on the success of a Broadway hit, but wanted to do so as quickly and cheaply as possible. 4/10

When naïve young Eddie Hatch, a window dresser at Savory's Department Store, falls for a statue of Venus and gives her a chaste kiss, Venus steps off her pedestal and gives Eddie more than he bargained for. This creaking example of what Hollywood can do to a Broadway musical manages to emphasize the inane story and eliminate most of the first-rate songs. The purpose was to make a safe, popular movie without too much investment while capitalizing on Ava Gardner's upward mobility to super stardom. Robert Walker as Eddie gets lost in a thankless role. Eddie's not just naive, but dithering and hapless. Gardner is gorgeous, but the only things that give the movie any life are Olga San Juan as Eddie's loving but jealous girl friend, Tom Conway as the suave owner of Savory's and Eve Arden as Savory's long time, wise cracking secretary. It's a role Arden could play in her sleep, and she's good at it. The musical opened on Broadway in 1943 and made Mary Martin a big-time star. The only point of a musical, however, is to have music. Since One Touch of Venus was intended to be a social satire of sorts, Kurt Weill, composing, and Ogden Nash writing the lyrics, came up with a series of stylish, witty songs and one masterpiece. Without the satire, or the clever songs or Martin (or an equivalent showstopper), the movie becomes just a weak comedy fantasy where much of the comedy is predictable and the fantasy is worked to death. Not only did the producers of the movie toss out almost all the Weill/Nash songs, they brought in the movie's music director, Ann Ronell, to write new lyrics for one of the songs that survived, turning sharp observation into lovey-dovey romance. Ronell was no hack; she wrote Willow Weep for Me. Wonder what she thought about while she replaced or tweaked Ogden Nash's clever work. The one bright spot in the movie is that Weill/Nash masterpiece. "Speak Low" is as great a love song as anyone ever wrote. It's given one of those ultra-professional and lifeless treatments by Eileen Wilson dubbing Gardner. Dick Haymes contributes a chorus. As for Ann Ronell, she was one of the few women in Hollywood to become a major music director, as well as composer and lyric writer. Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley is a fascinating documentary of some of the women who made it in the business, including Ronell, Kay Swift, Dorothy Fields and Dana Suess. And for those who would like to hear what little of the Weill/Nash score was recorded by the original Broadway cast, you might be able to track down the CD, One Touch Of Venus (1943 Original Cast) / Lute Song (1946 Original Cast). The music is paired with Lute Song, another Broadway show that starred Martin.

Enjoyed viewing this B&W film from the late 40's with Robert Walker, (Eddie Hatch),"Strangers On a Train",'51, who played a window dresser in a department store and kissed a statue of Venus which was owned by his boss Tom Conway, the store owner and after than one Kiss, Eddie Hatch had his hands Full. Ava Gardner,(Venus & Venus Jones),"Mogambo",'53 did a great acting performance and looked very beautiful as Venus, she even sang a few songs through out the picture. Dick Haymes, (Joe Grant),"State Fair",'45 was a big singing and acting star during the 30's, 40's and late 50's and gave a nice supporting role. Eva Arden,(Molly Stewart),"Falcon Crest",'87 TV Series, played a secretary to Tom Conway and had plenty of funny comments which got quite a few laughs. This was a great look back in the past and if you like old timers, this is the one for YOU.