Better Late Then Never

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

For years this was panned as a turkey (including Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide which awarded this trip to Eden the infamous BOMB!) I have a great fondness for this completely whacked, fantasy-adult comedy. First, the film opens with what appears to be the trailer for the film but is actually a funky introductory segment. Then we launch right into Paul Anka's opening title track - which is a swinging little number. The film makes no bones that this is intended to be an "adult comedy" with loads of double entendres and Mickey's leering, over-the-top portrayal of Nick Lewis a.k.a. "the Devil." But the true fruits are to be savored in producer Albert Zugsmith's Eden where the fabulous Mamie Van Doren strolls the garden in the tiniest fig leaf bikini yet seen in an American studio release. (And this was two years before Ursula Andress' famous bikini intro. from "Dr. NO.") I just wish Universal would re-strike a new print for DVD release because the current copies yield a Spectracolor that has turned, much like Eve's apple, bloody red. "Adam and Eve" is a pleasure - albeit a guilty one.

This movie is so wrong on so many levels: Paul Anka opens sitting on his $400 hot rod and steering with his feet, Martin Milner and Mamie Van Doren walk into the closing credits with all their marital problems solved on her announcement that she's pregnant, sanitized by her expressing a desire to eat pickles. In between lies a virtual encyclopedia of every snickering, simpering, leering last-gasp-of-the-fifties nudge-nudge battle-of-the-sexes cliche', somehow made all the worse by strictly G-rated language and less exposed flesh than an Iranian quilting bee.Anyone ever caught expressing the slightest nostalgia for anything about the Fifties except beatniks and early rockers should be strapped down, Prisoner 655321 style, and forced to watch alternating showings of this excrescence and Sex Kittens Go to College.

This is one of the very strangest films I have ever seen. Several travelers are en route to Reno, when thunderstorm causes them to take refuge in an abandoned church. Falling asleep, the two leads dream they are Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. The "Eden" sequence, up until the "expulsion" is in color. The first twenty minutes of the film are actually pretty decent, and seem to build up to something good, but the dream sequence in "Eden" is just too silly for words. The sight of Mickey Rooney playing the Devil in a padded snake suit is alone worth watching the film for. Paul Anka sings the theme song and has a rather minor role in the film. Also noteworthy is Tuesday Weld who does not appear in the dream sequence, but who sparkles during her screen time. The film ends with Eve requesting a pickle from Ad. A definite must-see!

It's been years since I saw this movie, but I thought it was wonderful. It's about a group of travelers that get stranded in a storm and start talking about the creations with each traveler becoming a character in the creation. While there's some religious overtones this is a comedy and playing the devil is Mickey Rooney. The Devil (Rooney) trying to get Adam and Eve to take a bite of the apple. Dressed as the snake, his tail splashing in the water of a river and then dressed as an umpire. I can't remember what was said, I just remember I was laughing a lot and it was late at night. If you have the chance I suggest you watch this, it's worth your time. As it was said above this movie didn't win any awards, but I liked it and would buy it if they put it on DVD.