The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

A Navy Lieutenant (Steve McQueen) joins forces with a computer programmer (Jim Hutton) to use his ship's new supercomputer to predict where a ball on a roulette wheel will land in a Venice casino! Based on the 1959 Broadway play by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (PRETTY POISON) and directed by Richard Thorpe (IVANHOE). On Broadway, the show (Suzanne Pleshette and Tom Poston were the leads) was a flop but someone at MGM apparently thought it would make for a sparkling comedy. They were wrong. The play took place entirely in a hotel suite but the film opens it up to include a casino but it still feels stage bound. The romantic leads, McQueen and Brigid Bazlen (KING OF KINGS), have no comedic skills though their chemistry is a tad better. The rest of players do have comic skills including Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Jack Weston and Jack Mullaney but their effort hardly seems worth it. Still, it's a nice looking movie thanks to the art direction by Preston Ames and George W. Davis and Bazlen and Prentiss look quite glam in their Helen Rose frocks. With Dean Jagger, Ken Lynch and Barbara Morrison.