Friday, June 16, 2006
VIRGINITY
It is clear, as I have pointed out, that the NYTimes Best 1176 Films contain some items of dubious value just because they are period pieces or genré examples that take a deserved place in movie history as the best of their kind.
None of the three Doris Day/Rock Hudson films are works of art but they are funny, have great gags, use talented supporting casts and, in their time, ground breakers of a sort.
I don't know if this one is the best of the lot, but it is good enough.
Watching this film is like being in a time machine.
The suspense at the center is 'will Doris and Rock have any form of sex together'?
Not in this scene! (The film is in color).
All the plot and business around it are, fortunately, very entertaining because the answer to the question will be a very qualified 'yes'; while blind drunk, with a Maryland marriage license (people used to elope there) and they don't remember any of it.
It is a testament to Hudson's acting ability that he was openly gay and out to everyone in Hollywood but acted straight on screen and off for forty years. He is very sexy in this picture.
Doris, on the other hand, is Doris. Distant. But cute-distant.
She is one of those female stars who was managed to the nth degree by her husband; Marty Melcher. Her personna does not deviate to even a wrong flicker of the eyelid. They even fuzz the lens on her closeups; totally unnecessary. And they don't do a very good job of it! When they pan away from a two shot to her, the fuzz goes on. Micro managed.
We are treated to great performances by Tony Randall and Edie Adams.
I enjoyed it; a guilty pleasure. It is a movie movie. Totally divorced from reality. Improbable.
I will still give it a 4 out of Netflix5 for being best of breed.
