Mary, Mary (1963)

When a newly divorced New York publisher (Barry Nelson) is audited by the Internal Revenue Services, his accountant (Hiram Sherman) asks the publisher's ex wife (Debbie Reynolds) to come in from Philadelphia to help sort out some unaccounted for checks. The publisher's fiancee (Diane McBain) and a movie star (Michael Rennie) provide for some complications. Based on Jean Kerr's inexplicably huge Broadway hit (it ran for over 1,500 performances and Maggie Smith had a hit with it in London's West End), Mervyn LeRoy doesn't so much direct it as supervise it. The play's one set, a living room, remains the film's center with a little grudging opening up for the screen: 2 minutes in a restaurant, 2 minutes on the street, 2 minutes in a car etc. Meanwhile, instead of dialog, the actors bat punchlines and bon mots at each other for two hours. This in itself wouldn't be bad if the lines were witty or scintillating but Ms. Kerr's witticisms come across today like a poor Neil Simon wannabe. Nelson, recreating his stage role, fares the worst. Perhaps a victim of having played the role too many times, there isn't a moment of spontaneity in his performance, just a lot of indicating to the balcony.