I've been tardy in this next post because....well....I absolutely hated this movie and I felt so let down by both PN and JW having anything to do with it. I honestly didn't think it would be possible for me to hate a PN movie and yet, here we are. So without further ado:
A New Kind of Love1963
Billed as a romantic comedy, I knew going in it wouldn't be anything that was going to change my life or anything. I was prepared for it to be a light-hearted romp starring 2 actors I greatly admired who happened to be married in real life. Directed by Melville Shavelson, he began his career in the 30s working as a comedy writer for Bob Hope. I never thought Bob Hope was particularly funny so maybe it just isn't my sense of humor. I think the only other work of his that I've seen is the movie Houseboat that starred Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.
The story line goes like this - Newman plays a newspaper columnist, Steve Sherman, who gets sent to Paris to cover fashion after he unwittingly has an affair with the wife of his boss. On the plane, he runs into Samantha Blake (Woodward), who is going to Paris to copy expensive fashion to parlay into cheap knock-offs for the New York department store she works for. They do not hit it off. Samantha dresses and acts like a tomboy. She hates him because of his boorish behavior and constant drinking.
While in Paris, Samantha attends the St. Catherine's Day celebration - which I'd never heard of before but is apparently when all the single women party hardy and "pray" for husbands. This included a very strange performance by Maurice Chevalier (Thank Heavens for Little Girls from Gigi) *insert barf emoji*. After which Sam has a vision of St. Catherine advising her on how to attract potential husbands. Soon after, she is given a make over in a French salon and comes out looking very different. So different that when Sam runs into her at an outdoor cafe, he assumes she is a prostitute and does not recognize her. He thinks he can use the stories of this French prostitute to write his columns about and she in turn creates elaborate stories for him in order to keep his interest in her going. All the while they begin to fall in love with each other.
Steve thinks he can 'save' Sam from a life of prostitution and takes her to see a priest. She runs away screaming. Steve finally recognizes Sam from the plane and he sets up a scheme to trap her drawing her into a kiss and then pulling off her blonde wig. Of course they forgive one another and at the end of the film there is a 'fantasy' sequence showing Sam running away in a wedding gown with Steve in a football uniform running her down and carrying her to the wedding bed.
There was just so much I hated about this movie it is difficult to know where to begin. I know it is a different time but the way women were portrayed in films like these is literally physically nauseating to me. The men don't come across as much better. I kept thinking to myself, "I know this is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy so why do I feel so nauseated?" And why are the talents of these 2 superb actors being wasted on such a project? I mean....after the drama and intensity of Hud, I guess I can understand the need to do something light and something to enjoy with the spouse/family. I'm sure money was a factor as well - or maybe being under contract, IDK.
Here is a list of some other rom/coms that were out around this time:
That Touch of Mink - Cary Grant and Doris Day (1962)
Sunday in New York - Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, Cliff Robertson (1963)
Boys Night Out - James Garner, Kim Novak (1962)
Charade - Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (1963)
McClintock - John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara (1963)
Sex and the Single Girl - Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda (1964)
I think I've seen McClintock but none of the others. Could they all be this bad?
I guess I'll close with one minor redeeming factoid - the costumes in A New Kind of Love were pretty cool and scored an Academy Award nomination for Edith Head.