brefane A rarely screened curio adapted from Irving Wallace's novel which took off from The Kinsey Report, this trashy 1962 film is a shallow soaper not in the same league as Doctors' Wives(71); being so unintentionally bad it's a must see. Like Dctor's Wives, The Chapman Report is a "woman's picture", directed without distinction by George Cukor who directed The Women('39) and won an Oscar for My Fair Lady('64). Topped-billed Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is a dull leading man, and even for a movie his character's professional behavior stretches credulity;he becomes engaged to the frigid young widow he interviews. As the voluntary subjects of a scientific sex survey Jane Fonda is coltish and striking, Claire Bloom as a doomed alcoholic nymphomaniac has a couple of intense scenes, Shelly Winters is dullest as a women involved in an extra marital affair while Glynis Johns comes off best as intentional comic relief. There are some unintentional laughs but, The Chapman Report on the whole is rather pointless and mostly of interest due to the people involved. Cukor claims the film was recut, apparently without his consent. No matter how you slice it, it's pretty thin.

moonspinner55 The real-life Kinsey Report on modern-day sexual beliefs and behaviors is barely disguised here while being used as a facile backdrop, with the melodramatic film concentrating more on the hang-ups of four suburban women who have agreed to be surveyed for the project. Gene Allen, Wyatt Cooper, Don Mankiewicz, and Grant Stuart adapted the book by Irving Wallace, but tip their collective hand immediately when delineating the troubles of Claire Bloom's Naomi, a divorcée and man-magnet who is supposed to be a nymphomaniac; the way the character is rendered here, she's more of an alcoholic who (somehow unintentionally) ends up debasing herself with men, always with "no! no!" on her lips. The picture is about pinpointing where sexual repression and ideas of indecency ultimately come from, yet the screenwriters fall into their own trap with Naomi: judging her condescendingly, making her an unhappy lush, and failing to let us see what turns this woman on, what motivates her to meet strange men in seedy places (she isn't allowed to have any sexual fun--this is 'freedom' with an ultimate price). Jane Fonda is a frigid young widow who learns to loosen up with one of Dr. Chapman's own associates (!), while married Shelley Winters has convinced herself she's in love with her playboy and Glynis Johns is busy throwing herself at a beach bum. The sex survey is just an angle to get the movie going, and the professional question-and-answer sequences awkwardly turn into psychotherapy sessions for these frustrated ladies. What might have been an incisive glimpse into today's mores and morals has instead become a glossy, middle-brow soap opera, and everyone involved suffers from the slushy handling. ** from ****

matthew-canterbury A late work of one of the greatest Hollywood filmmakers, George Cukor. This film is utterly devastating. The austere light and shadow, the brilliant and thoughtful color schemes, the tight framing that is characteristic of Cukor (and that, in the interview scenes, is simply suffocating, especially in Naomi's) combine to create images that somehow seem representative of the inner psyches of the characters. And oh so rarely in cinema do we feel so strongly the thoughts and worlds of the characters that are being shown on the screen. Cukor was one of the greatest directors of actors (want proof? see Hepburn in "Sylvia Scarlett"). The whole film is amazing, but the Naomi interview scene so wonderfully "sums up" much of what is special about Cukor's cinema (pay close attention to something she *does* early in the interview). This is a beautiful film...

nneprevilo Movies about nymphomaniacs are always labeled "cheap and tawdry." Well, movies with these women as the focal point of these films are similar to the ladies who appear in porn (a multi-BILLION dollar business). Men are interested in these "strange creatures" with "weak flesh," who can't get enough sex, and the public is fascinated with them: Claire Bloom in "The Chapman Report," Merle Oberon in "Of Love and Desire," Suzanne Pleshette in "A Rage to Live," Joanne Woodward in "From The Terrace," etc.We sit fascinated by them, but condemn them for the "illness" from which they suffer. To be frank, nymphos behave sexually EXACTLY like men (straight and gay). If hetero men had the opportunity to get the amount of stranger sex that "loose women" get, they wouldn't hesitate one iota. Straight men don't get nearly as much sex as gay men do, for instance. Why? Because str8 guys are dealing with "just say no" women. Gay men with the same mentality about sex as their hetero counterparts don't have the "woman factor" to hassle with on dates. A huge amount of gay men feel that sex on the first date is expected, not some hopeful wish. Some gay guys don't care about being labeled a "tramp" or a "slut." But women DO.Yes, women like Claire Bloom, who are "suffering" with their nymphomania are sad creatures being taken advantage of by cruel, sex-hungry men who know their "condition," and cannot wait to take advantage, like the sleazy musician, Corey Allen and his band buddies, also, the water delivery guys in "Chapman Report." Or, Barbara Loden in "Spendor in the Grass," the rebellious sister of Warren Beatty, who acted like a tramp to defy her absent parents. She nearly got gang-banged during a drunken New Year's party. All these scenes are "titilating," but being Americans, we feel guilty and believe that we must dismiss them as "cheap and tawdry." They might be, but most viewers can't take their eyes off the screen.The ironic thing is that hardcore porn is practically in every household in America, not to mention the rest of the world. We can be such hypocrites!