Jean Negulesco Movies

In this British sex-comedy, a car salesman journeys to France and encounters an apparently lonely woman. He immediately begins to successfully woo her only to learn that she is actually a baron's wife. Fortunately, the baron believes in open marriages and winds up hiring the Englishman to teach his son (from an earlier marriage) everything about automobiles. Meanwhile the car salesman finds himself falling seriously in love with the wife. The baron really doesn't mind as he himself is involved with another. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

20th Century-Fox gussied up its 1954 hit Three Coins in the Fountain for the 1960s, and the result was The Pleasure Seekers. Three American girls in search of wealthy husbands head to Madrid. Ann-Margaret is an aspiring performer, Carol Lynley is a secretary, and Pamela Tiffin is an art student. Ann-Margaret ends up with a Spanish doctor (Andre Lawrence), Carol with an American journalist (Gardner McKay), and Pamela with a man of noble birth (Anthony Franciosca). Gene Tierney, once a leading lady at 20th Century-Fox, takes a back seat to the studio's new starlet crop in a glorified "guest star" stint. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This routine drama is helped by good acting and well-known stars like Rossano Brazzi as an unfaithful French husband, Deborah Kerr as his faithful English wife, and Maurice Chevalier as the uncle who goes to bat for his nephew's loosely held views of marriage. What does not help the story is the viewpoint that the husband is right and deserves to be forgiven. The setting starts out during World War II when Charles-Edouard (Brazzi), an air force pilot, falls in love with Grace (Kerr), the daughter of an English parliamentarian. The two marry and Grace gives birth to their son Sigi (Martin Stephens) nine months later. Nine years later, Grace discovers that her husband has cultivated a string of paramours when he was a war-zone pilot in Southeast Asia and North Africa. The two argue and split. And while Sigi at first appreciates the added attention he gets during the turmoil, he later has his doubts. Between his actions and Charles-Edouard's uncle, Grace does not stand a chance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The Gift of Love is a remake of 1946's Sentimental Journey, with Lauren Bacall in the role originated by Maureen O'Hara. Upon learning that she hasn't long to live, Bacall, the devoted wife of Robert Stack, adopts young Evelyn Rudie so that her husband will never be lonely. After his wife's death, however, the pragmatic Stack grows weary of little Evelyn, who prefers a "fantasy world" to real life. Stack returns the girl to the orphanage, whereupon Bacall's spirit intervenes to set things right. The material was maudlin back in 1946, and even more so in 1958; still, it's nice to see that Lauren Bacall could play a sweet, benign role when given the opportunity. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Italian screen goddess Sophia Loren made her American film debut with this glossy romantic adventure set (and partially filmed) on the Greek island of Hydra. Phaedra (Loren) is a female sponge diver who, while combing the waters, discovers the wreckage of a sunken ship with a number of fascinating artifacts, including a statue of a boy astride a dolphin. When Phaedra tells her boyfriend Rhif (Jorge Mistral) about the find, he is convinced that the statue is valuable, and he begins making plans to bring it to dry land for sale. Looking for help, they approach Dr. James Calder (Alan Ladd), an American archeologist working on a project for a Greek museum. Calder wants the statue but can't pay for it -- he wants Phaedra and Rhif to donate it to his museum as a remarkable example of Greek statuary. This is hardly what Rhif had in mind, so he turns to Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb), a wealthy American art collector intrigued by the statue and other valuables that might be in the ship. Rhif and Victor make plans to salvage the ship's contents and send them back to America, for which Rhif will be paid handsomely. But Phaedra finds herself attracted to Calder, especially after she is disgusted by Victor's blunt offer to make her his mistress, and she begins a romance with the principled American. Now Phaedra and Calder must try to rescue the ship's valuables before Rhif and Parmalee can get to them. The love scenes between Sophia Loren and Alan Ladd presented something of a problem for director Jean Negulesco and his crew -- Ladd was 5' 4" and Loren was 5' 8", requiring him to stand on a box for two shots; for a scene where the two walked together along the beach, the crew dug a trench for Loren to walk in, so Ladd would appear taller. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This last remake (thus far) of the Jean Webster novel Daddy Long Legs was extensively revised to accommodate the talents of Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Fragments of the basic plot remain: American millionaire Astaire is the unknown benefactor of French orphan girl Caron, financing the girl's education on the proviso that his identity never be revealed to her. Moved by Caron's letters of thanks, Astaire's secretary Thelma Ritter advises Astaire to go to France to visit the "child". When he arrives, he finds that his ward has grown up rather nicely, and the two fall in love--though Caron never knows until the very end who Astaire really is. The old story has been updated to allow for an elaborate "cowboy" number and a couple of Eisenhower jokes. Highlights include a solo ballet by Caron and a wonderful Astaire routine involving a set of drums. The score for Daddy Long Legs is unremarkable save for Johnny Mercer's hit "Something's Gotta Give". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted by playwright John Patrick from a novel by famed globetrotter/filmmaker John H. Secondari, Three Coins in the Fountain offers the splendors of Rome in Technicolor, CinemaScope and Stereophonic Sounds. For all its lovely picture-postcard images, the film is at base a reworking of 20th Century-Fox' favorite plotline: three pretty girls on the prowl for husbands. The three lovelies, who toss their coins in the Trevi fountain and wish for romance, include Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara. Before the film is over, secretary McGuire has wooed her boss, Clifton Webb, Peters has won the heart of a co-worker Italian translator Rossano Brazzi (despite being fired, in the process, for having an office romance); and McNamara finds happiness with prince Louis Jourdan. Three Coins in the Fountain won two Academy Awards: "Best Color Cinematography" (Milton Krasner), and "Best Song" (written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, and sung in the pre-credits sequence by an uncredited Frank Sinatra). The film was remade in 1965 as The Pleasure Seekers, and also served as the basis for a never-sold TV pilot starring Yvonne Craig, Cynthia Pepper and Joanna Moore. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A remake of 1933's The Greeks Had a Word for Them, as well as a retread of 20th Century-Fox's favorite plotline, How to Marry a Millionaire was the first Hollywood comedy to be lensed in Cinemascope. Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe play three models of modest means who rent an expensive Manhattan penthouse apartment and pose as women of wealth. It's all part of a scheme hatched by Bacall to snare rich husbands for herself and her roommates. The near-sighted Monroe is wooed by an international playboy, but ends up settling for the tax-dodging fugitive (David Wayne) who owns the girls' apartment. The knuckle-headed Grable goes off on an illicit weekend in the mountains with a grouchy married executive (Fred Clark), but falls instead for a comparatively poor--but very handsome--forest ranger (Rory Calhoun). And Bacall very nearly lands an aging millionaire (William Powell), but has a sudden attack of conscience and opts instead for the supposedly poverty-stricken chap (Cameron Mitchell) who has been pursuing her since reel one. It turns out that she has actually landed one of the richest men in New York--and upon learning this, our three luscious heroines faint dead away. Before the opening credits roll in How to Marry a Millionaire, we are treated to a "live" orchestral rendition of Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" overture, conducted by Newman himself. In addition to its being the first wide-screen comedy, Millionaire was also the first-ever presentation of the weekly NBC series Saturday Night at the Movies, premiering on the small screen on September 23, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were together again for the last time in Scandal at Scourie. Filmed on location in Canada, the plot concerns a childless Protestant couple, the McChesneys (Garson and Pidgeon), whose lives are profoundly altered by an orphaned Catholic girl named Patsy (Donna Corcoran). Through a series of far-fetched coincidences, Patsy wanders into the McChesney home, immediately capturing the heart of Mrs. McChesney. Mr. McC, a local politician, is a bit harder to win over, but eventually his wife convinces him to adopt the child. This stirs up a tempest in a teapot, as McChesney's political enemies accuse him of using Patsy to win over his Catholic constituents, while one of Patsy's former orphanage classmates spreads a rumor (backed up by circumstantial evidence) that the little girl is a "firebug." Sentimental to a fault, Scandal at Scourie is also undeniably effective. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

David Trask (Gary Merrill), the sole survivor of an airplane crash, takes it upon himself to contact the families of the various victims. Though he's already formed preconceived notions of his deceased fellow passengers, he's in for quite a few surprises when he meets the relatives. His first visit is to the wife (Beatrice Straight) and son (Ted Donaldson) of a profoundly troubled doctor (Michael Rennie). His second stop is at a nightclub managed by the domineering mother-in-law (Evelyn Varden) of an aspiring actress (Shelley Winters). Finally, he meets the invalid wife (Bette Davis) of an outwardly obnoxious travelling salesman (Keenan Wynn). After his odyssey into other people's lives, Trask gains a new perspective on his own personal travails. Few studios could pull off the "multi-story film" format as well as 20th Century-Fox, and Phone Call From a Stranger is a grade-A example of that format. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lure of the Wilderness is a remake of 1941's Swamp Water, with Walter Brennan repeating his role as a half-crazed fugitive from justice. Living in the deepest recesses of the Okeefenokee Swamp with his daughter Laurie (Jean Peters), Jim Harper (Brennan) is discovered by young hunter Ben Tyler (Jeffrey Hunter). Believing in Harper's innocence, Tyler tries to raise enough money to mount a decent courtroom defense for the old man. Meanwhile, the actual perpetrators of the crime attributed to Harper do their best (or worst) to see to it that he never gets out of the swamp alive. While the original Swamp Water was the better of the two films, Lure of the Wilderness has the advantage of rich Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The mudlark is Andrew Ray, an illiterate London street urchin of the mid-19th century. Having seen a picture of Queen Victoria on a coin, Ray determines to meet the Great Lady, and to that end he sneaks into Windsor Castle. Victoria (Irene Dunne in a padded costume) has sequestered herself in the castle since the death of her beloved Prince Albert, and has refused to make any public appearances, much to the consternation of Prime Minister Disraeli (Alec Guinness). When the boy breaks into the Queen's sanctorum, her courtiers are convinced he's part of an assassination plot. But Victoria is regenerated by the boy's natural good humor, and for the first time in a long time she emerges from mourning to see her loyal subjects again. Filmed in England, The Mudlark not so much an historical drama as it is an acting lesson from such masters as Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness, and Finlay Currie (as a kilted Scotsman). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi