Love is a Ball, 1963
Etienne Pimm (Charles Boyer) has a semi-benevolent scam going whereby he helps titled-but-poor bachelors find wealthy wives. He has a small entourage who help stage events to help the couples fall in love. His latest project is a friendly-but-clumsy duke named Gaspard (Ricardo Montalban) whom he intends to pair with wealthy heiress Millie (Hope Lange). But when Millie develops a crush on a man Etienne has placed in her home as a chauffeur, John Davis (Glenn Ford), it threatens the entire operation.
I thought this was a fun little romp--a low-stakes romantic comedy that gets a boost from some above-average handling of its main characters.
Romantic comedies that pair wealthy women with less-wealthy men are often hard to watch, as they frequently trot out some really tired and obnoxious dynamics. She's stuck up, he teaches her a lesson. Or he's crude and she makes him more refined.
This film doesn't really go in either of those directions, and instead lets the characters find love through, imagine this, shared interests and enjoying each others' company. Millie is very into cars and John is a former racer. In their very first meeting, he tries to correct her mechanical work and she tells him to beat it and, winning my heart forever, tells him, "And don't call me honey." *chef's kiss*. The film indulges in a little of the obligatory "she bosses him around" stuff, but it doesn't fit that well with either of the characters and the two are soon given a real way to bond when Millie helps John work on repairs on his boat. From there, conflict develops as Millie is determined to compete in a car race and John is strongly opposed as he doesn't want her to get hurt.
Aside from a few broader attempts at humor with Millie's character (mostly in the first third), it is easy to like and empathize with these characters. When Millie discovers that she has been targeted for their scam, her reaction is completely understandable. John is a little more enigmatic--he just wants to be able to settle down into a quiet life--but mostly exudes an air of someone who is basically a good person.
In terms of hangups with the film, I only really had two.
The first is that there are some FABULOUS outfits in the film (especially Millie's Penelope-Pitstop-esque pink racing jumpsuit), and I wish that the costume design had been at that level the whole movie.
The other is maybe predictable, given the year of release, but it was kind of disappointing to see the way that Millie's idea of her own future get simplified so quickly when she decides to get married. She goes from someone who talks about loving machinery and racing and dancing and travel to someone who is totally stoked about getting to "take care of him and bring him breakfast every morning". And the problem is that we never hear John say what he will offer Millie. It would have felt so different if she'd added literally anything else to that statement. It's not hard to imagine Millie enjoying being someone's wife, but it does seem strange that all of her quirks, interests, and ambitions just seem to vaporize.
I would say that this movie lands a bit short. The central romance is fun and the performances are all solid, but it lacks a little something to boost it up into a more special category.