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Friday, April 5, 2013

The Marriage Go Round (1960)

A happily married Academic couple, she (Susan Hayward) is the Dean Of Women and he (James Mason) is a professor, are entertaining a house guest from Sweden. But when the statuesque house guest (Julie Newmar, recreating her Tony award winning stage performance) makes a proposal that he father her baby, what begins as suggestion not taken seriously leads to a marital meltdown. What was daring and risque in the 1958 Broadway play by Leslie Stevens (THE WAR LORD) and its film version barely raises an eyebrow today. Which removes much of the play's teeth and leaves us with a gummy sex farce. Who thought it was a good idea to cast Hayward and Mason in a sex comedy anyway? Neither are exactly known for their farcical abilities. Fortunately, Newmar is a delight as the Swedish amazon who wants a genius to father her child and compensates for the two leads. However, Hayward does acquit herself nicely in a confrontational scene with Newmar over her husband. If only the rest of the film were on that level. Directed by Walter Lang (THE KING AND I). With Robert Paige and June Clayworth.

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