morrison-dylan-fan Searching around on Amazon Uk for titles that have come out on the Warner Archives DVD label,I was happy to stumble upon a Comedy directed by Otto Preminger,who I had heard about for the first time,thanks to the excellent Film Noir Bunny Lake Is Missing.Talking to my dad and a friend,I was surprised to hear both of them give me the same response when I mentioned the title to them,with each of them saying the movie inspired "That M.A.S.H. episode!",which led to me deciding,that it would be a good time to find out how blue the moon really is.The plot:Taking a break from his work as a building designer in an office based in the Empire State building by doing some window shopping,Donald Gresham notices a very pretty girl called Patty O'Neill,who is also window shopping at a store near by.Keeping an eye on O'Neill, Gresham is pleased to see Patty head to the Empire State building.Deciding to go up and talk to O'Neill,Gresham is relived to find out that Patty is very easy going,and soon starts to arrange for O'Neill to come along with him to his apartment,so that Donald can cook a meal for both of them.Walking into the tower block that Gresham is based in,Donald accidentally shows Patty that his last relationship ended less than mutually,when they both come face to face with the less than welcoming face of his ex-girlfriend Cynthia Slater.Moving O'Neill as quickly on from meeting his ex as Gresham is possible to do,Donald welcomes Patty into his lush apartment.Discoveing that there is no food at all in the fridge,Gresham decides to go to the local shop to pick up some good,whilst O'Neill makes herself comfortable.10 Minutes later:Hearing a knock on the door,O'Neill rushes to the door,excited about finding out what Gresham has picked up.Sadly for Patty,instead of finding Donald standing at the door,O'Neill finds a man who claims to be Cynthia Slater's dad.View on the film:Transferred from its stage origins, (for which he had also been a producer on) director Otto Preminger disappointingly shows an inability to break the movie out of its stage confines,due to Preminger making the limited number of locations that the film takes place be ones that feel confined and closed off,with Preminger only showing a stylish eye in his directing for the appearances of Cynthia Slater, (played by an alluring Dawn Addams)who thanks to distinctively dressing all in black,is shown by Preminger as an icy Femme Fatale.Whilst Otto Preminger shows a limitation in his directing of this adaptation,writer Hugh Herbert shows an impressive amount of skill in adapting his own play,thanks to giving the screenplay a wonderful snappy pace that has each of the character's talking over one another,and hitting each with huge,screwball Comedy gum-balls,which also allows Herbert to cleverly give each of the character's gender-reversing personality's.Bravely playing against the roles that they were meant to,due to the Hays Code still being enforced,each of the lead actors give fantastic performances that wittingly mess with (at the time) audiences expectations on how men and women should behave in films,with Maggie McNamara (who died from a suicide age 48 in 1978,and is tragically buried in an unmarked grave) giving a delightful performance as Patty O'Neill,thanks to McNamara delivering Herbert's sharp dialogue of questioning Donald and Slater's dad bedroom activates with a real Comedy relish.Contrasting the frank & brash McNamara,William Holden and David Niven each give terrific performances,with Niven showing Slater's dad to be someone who fears that he may be getting pushed to the side as a "washed up" playboy by a whip-smart O"Neill,whilst William Holden shows Donald's reservations in meeting his match in Patty O'Neill,which soon leads to all of the character's finding out how blue the moon really is.

Xjayhawker For the life of me, I have to admit I had never seen this until a rainy Thursday on TCM. It is easy to see this stage play was easy enough to adapt to the screen.The entire movie takes place in two apartments and a hallway. Well I suppose you have to include a shot of a fire escape in the rain. Two fathers (David Niven and Tom Tully) and two daughters attracted to the same man , a 35 year old William Holden playing 35. A girl of 23 looking very much like a young Debbie Reynolds..really quite cute and charming and capable of holding her own with two veteran actors Niven and Holden..just a little sad she ended up a typist and overdosed in NY at the age of 48..She is splendid in this piece and the five are all pretty good. It is a little "tell" that Tom Tully admits in this movie he's a cop when he would end up playing a cop in San Francisco Beat/the Lineup with Warner Anderson also in the early 50's maybe a year or two later. I admit this is a delightful film and it is only at the end of the movie that you hear the movie's title uttered by William Holden.

drwolner Having not seen this film in over 50 years, I remembered it as a great bore. But I was surprised - just a bit. This is really theater with limited sets and 3 main characters who continually talk with very little physical movement. Not much for a teenager - except that it didn't receive the Breen Hollywood Seal of Approval because of the use of sexy words like virgin, pregnant, and seduce. I, like so many others, had to see this picture ( just like I had to see "The Outlaw"). Unfortunately, nothing really sexy happens and it was a real let down in more then one way.But now, although the story is totally ridiculous (two adult men wanting to marry a 23 year old wisenheimer after just meeting her) I really enjoyed David Niven. He looks great, has the best lines in the film and drinks enormous, unbelievable amounts of alcohol. Poor Maggie McNamara (and I mean poor Maggie who committed suicide at 48) doesn't really look like Audrey Hepburn at all - her close ups are a little scary. This was her first movie after modeling (her figure makes it hard to believe). And her speaking voice is really very unusual and ultimately very annoying (yet she received an Academy nomination). William Holden is totally artificial and although he was 35 at the time he, sadly, looks so much older.So why did I enjoy this. Niven,Niven,Niven and the 50's apartment sets, and the 50's mentality with a little bit of Dawn Addams to boot. My favorite line: Holden- Why are you so preoccupied with sex? McNamara- Isn't it better to be preoccupied than occupied?

Igenlode Wordsmith 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.