Strong and Moving!

One of my all time favorites.

Fantastic!

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

This film was shown on British television yesterday and aware of the controversial initial screenings some sixty years ago I decided to give it a whirl. I found a delightful sophisticated romantic comedy with elements of other works - Holden himself would vie with an older man (Bogie) in Billy Wilder's Sabrina Fair the very next year - a film that was also based on a Broadway play - for the affections of a delightful ingenue (in that case, Audrey Hepburn, who several people on this very site have mentioned in the same breath as McNamara, and in a later Wilder film, The Apartment there's a scene where a relative - in that case a brother, here, a father - walks into a room and sees something he misconstrues and socks the innocent protagonist. Light as a soufflé, reeking of sophistication, this is a definite charmer.

This is one of my favorite old movies. Although William Holden is the leading man here this is one of those movies where one of the side characters is the most memorable. In this case it's David Niven. He's such a stuffed shirt that about as cavalier as he can manage to get is when he tells Peggy's character "I want to kiss you until your lips are somewhat bruised". He relates the story of the failure of his first marriage to a "southern gal" who was always baking pop overs and served them at every meal. After dinner she would always drawl "wasn't them popovers good?". He stood all he could of this airhead until one day when he hit her across the rear end with a hot popover pan. He said " it raised quite a welt, although I was not privileged to see it." When Peggy later says her feet hurt he says "never say your feet hurt. My foot hurts singular is acceptable but to say my feet hurt is a rather sordid admission." The fact that I am writing these lines from memory will tell you how much fun I had watching this movie over and over. William Holden was the king of the movies as far as I'm concerned and he was charming and at his best in this movie. He made more really good memorable movies than Clark Gable could have hoped for. This movie is not well known and as far as I'm able to find out is not available of DVD. I'm hoping is will be eventually because it's a nice funny little movie that shows New York in it's heyday.

Forget the 'stale sex comedy' label; there's nothing here that's in the least shocking any more. What remains is an enchanting Fifties farce of misunderstandings, as Patty O'Neill -- the girl with a talent for saying exactly what she means and precisely what she should not -- innocently turns the lives of Don Gresham and his upstairs neighbour upside down.Maggie McNamara is all artless elfin charm as the worldly but naive Patty, and William Holden provides solid support as Don, the architect who makes a pass at a pretty stranger without realising quite what he's letting himself in for. But, frankly, it is David Niven who steals the show, with a performance of endearing shamelessness as David Slater plus an exquisite sense of comic timing. With his appearance on the scene, the film ceases to be a simple screwball romance and becomes extremely funny.Ironically, it is Slater the middle-aged playboy who shows the most sensitivity to Patty's own desires and expectations -- where the younger man demonstrates first an exploitative and then a self-righteous streak -- and Niven, with his knack of debonair self-deprecation, fully lives up to the 'sweet' and 'adorable' tags which to Don's fury she so casually bestows upon him. And even when the tables are apparently turned, David Slater's reaction is a good deal more generous-spirited than that of his rival. An ageing opportunist and ineffective father makes for an improbable attractive character, but in his way Slater is more likable than either of the younger but equally self-centred protagonists.This being a romantic comedy, there has to be a proposal of marriage; several, in fact. Other features of significance include also a baking-tray, a bath, an electric iron, a fire-escape, an Irish cop, a promotional spot for beer, and the inevitable state of blameless but multiply-misinterpreted undress -- all the ingredients for a classic farce, with the aid of a snappy script, and expressive reactions from all the principals. This film had me laughing out loud in front of the television (admittedly mostly at Niven's tongue-in-cheek contributions!) but it also has the vital touch of humanity lacked by too many entries in the screwball genre. Crucially, despite its subject-matter, it doesn't depend on the shock-value of 'naughty' words to get its laughs, and as a result has worn well. Attitudes to pre-marital relations may have changed, but crossed wires and ironic repartee are as entertaining as ever.

The problem about censorship is that inevitably it dates. D.H.Lawrence, James Joyce, Gustave Flaubert, Leo Tolstoi were all censored for "Lady Chatterly's Lover", "Ulysses", "Madame Bovary", and "The Kruezer Sonata" when they came out, but today these books seems very run-of-the-mill in terms of their steaminess. The same happens with movies. "The Moon Is Blue" is typical. The hubbub in 1953 was the use of the word "virgin" in the film. Maggie McNamara's seeming willingness to experiment with sex is another reason (although it turns out she is more talk than action). Nowadays this seems to be relatively nothing.Censorship also breeds publicity, and in show business most publicity is good for the sale of tickets to the public. "The Moon Is Blue" had good box office. So much for the efficacy of censorship.Despite some of the favorable comments, most people are bored watching this film now. It was not terrifically funny. Holden and Niven are chums who are rivals for McNamara. Their actions in competition over McNamara now seem witless.One final point. This film was the subject of a plot in an episode of the television series, "M.A.S.H." Hawkeye and B.J. hear about how the censors are against this film, and they have a chance (by trading favors) of seeing it. When they get the film at the 4077th they are both appalled at how unfunny and tame it is. Enough said.