1h 51min | Comedy, Romance | 13 May 1964 | Color, WS
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Margaret Dumont.
Gene Kelly ... choreographer
Richard Humphrey ... choreographer (uncredited)
2 songs performed by Jule Styne, Comden & Green; 2 more instrumentals for the painting segment.
A long-time favorite of mine. The 4th husband is GK, and GK, SM and an ensemble do a number listed as "Musical Extravaganza" in the Soundtracks, plus GK dances twice alone to the "Get Acquainted" music (and sings it), so this is a borderline musical. But the numbers are concentrated in a segment of the film, not scattered throughout, so I won't argue the point.
Seeing that the screenplay credit goes to Comden & Green, my adoration of this film is much more understandable. But everyone executes it really well, too. I love their biting the hand that feeds them with RM, where everything is credited to Lush Budgett during the segment.
The painting segment with PN is also brilliant, and since I've seen a couple of films recently with PN in Paris, this is yet another inside joke to cast him for the American-Parisian husband.
I don't mean to diminish any of the other segments; they all cohere to create this fluffy souffle of a comedy. And that's a great accomplishment.
distr. Fox, dir. Thompson; 7+
