Love is a Ball (1963)
Etienne makes a good living out of marrying off poor but titled young men to rich but untitled young ladies. Millicent is now in his sights on the Riviera, and Grand Duke Gaspar is the bait. But what if Millicent starts to fancy planted chauffeur John instead, and Gaspar takes a shine to Etienne's secretary Janine?
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Strong and Moving!
The acting in this movie is really good.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
The real reason to see this movie is the CARS. Shot in the early 60's, I actually remember seeing a promo on the Carson show. It takes place during the Grand Prix, but in addition to the race cars, you can see what are now classics, 3500 GT Spyder Maserati, 300SL cabriolet, Rolls Royce cabriolet, 50's Corvette, Mercedes gullwing, the list just goes on. For any REAL car nut, this movie is a gem!
Tremendously entertaining and fun romantic comedy, set on the Riviera, filmed in warm sunshine with a top cast of real professionals. Saw it at the Royal in San Francisco, 3-31-63; co-feature was the Stewart Granger swashbuckler SWORDSMAN OF SIENA. Walked to the theatre from my apartment on a pleasant evening, for a comfortable evening at the movies, in a well appointed neighborhood house, for which I had a Pass. In the old days, one could expect a good time at the movies most times out, and always get value for money. In my case, it was a cinch
Having never seen LOVE IS A BALL (really insipid title), but reading IMDB reader's glowing comments of the film, I watched it in letterbox on TCM. The first thing that struck me was, why was a movie that had so many MGM contract players released by United Artists. The movie certainly immediately displayed handsome production values (though, a lousy score). Also, David Swift (POLLYANNA, THE PARENT TRAP, GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM) has always been a favorite. After a few minutes watching, I understand if MGM really did pass on this one. I'm willing to cut a comedy (particularly a funny one) a GREAT deal of slack. HOWEVER, the idea of an eccentric millionaire running a clandestine matchmaking service to get together "poor" nobility and "rich" commoners is a bit munch. How long could such an operation stay secret, the first successful match or (more likely) the first disasterous failure. Rich people STAY rich by carefully checking out ANYONE whom approaches them. Couple that with the idea that a champion race car driver (Glenn Ford) would go along with this nonsense rather than going back into racing to get his boat out of hock. And that the "madcap" heiress (a surprisingly charmless Hope Lange), herself a racing car enthusiast, would not recognize either Ford's face or his name. Is one really expected to believe titled nobility (Ricardo Montleban, very good) would have to be taught virtually ALL the social graces? Or that Lange,rebelling against the setup, would offer to marry the repellent count?Even with its problems, the movie improves a great deal in the second half. Hope Lange gets better as her wardrobe improves (its goshawful in the first half). By films end, she does generate chemistry with Ford. However, this is WAY too late to save the movie.Perhaps the best reason to see this movie is to see Telly Savalas when he still had a little hair.Love IS a Ball; Too bad this movie isn't...
Loved it. One of my all time favorites. Glenn ford is great, Mr Boyer is a real hoot, and the young Ricardo Montalban is a delight. Does anyone know who owns the rights? I would love to see it again. Been waiting for years. Please e-mail me. Thank you for reading this.