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The Moon is Blue
Though a lot of it appears to be hopelessly dated in 2021, I can definitely see why a saucy little battle of the sexes from 1953 called The Moon is Blue, based on a Broadway play that raised a lot of eyebrows in 1953, even labeled controversial due to its very adult storyline rich with previously unheard of dialogue in a 1950's comedy.
William Holden plays Don Gresham, a handsome architect who meets a pretty young girl named Patty O'Neill (Maggie McNamara) atop the Empire State Building and actually charms the girl into coming to his apartment for dinner. While Don does some shopping for dinner, Patty meets David Slater (David Niven) who lives in Don's building with his daughter, Cynthia (Dawn Addams), who was seeing Don but broke up with him the night before the story starts. Don and David find themselves both attracted to Patty despite the fact that she's made it clear to both of them she doesn't plan on sleeping with anyone until she's married.
This film is based on a play by F. Frank Herbert, that opened on Broadway in 1951 and ran for over 900 performances and it's very easy to see why the play and the film caused such a stir and how the film attracted a director like Otto Preminger. The film shocked 1953 movie audiences with the use of words like "virgin", "mistress", and "pregnant" for the first time, but for a central character who in 2021 might be labeled a whore. This Patty actually meets the much older Don at the empire state and makes it clear that she is only interested in marrying an older wealthy man, but goes home with Don anyway. She learns about Don's fight with Cynthia and sticks herself right in the middle of it. Then she meets David and tells him she has no interest in him, but will take $600 in cash from him as a "gift."
Preminger is a director who has never been known for shying away from controversial material, but his direction really doesn't add much to the proceedings and doesn't expand it beyond the "photographed stage play" stage. Not to mention, this Patty character is really kind of annoying. She never stops talking, has absolutely no boundaries, and doesn't see any problem with the way she leads these two men around by the nose for the entire running time. In 2021, this Patty character also might be characterized as a "tease."
Preminger's direction is surprisingly pedestrian though the performances from the three leads are terrific. McNamara actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress here, though I thought it was Niven who really did the Oscar-worthy work here. There are selected funny moments during the film, but this story is just too dated to be relevant entertainment in 2021.
Though a lot of it appears to be hopelessly dated in 2021, I can definitely see why a saucy little battle of the sexes from 1953 called The Moon is Blue, based on a Broadway play that raised a lot of eyebrows in 1953, even labeled controversial due to its very adult storyline rich with previously unheard of dialogue in a 1950's comedy.
William Holden plays Don Gresham, a handsome architect who meets a pretty young girl named Patty O'Neill (Maggie McNamara) atop the Empire State Building and actually charms the girl into coming to his apartment for dinner. While Don does some shopping for dinner, Patty meets David Slater (David Niven) who lives in Don's building with his daughter, Cynthia (Dawn Addams), who was seeing Don but broke up with him the night before the story starts. Don and David find themselves both attracted to Patty despite the fact that she's made it clear to both of them she doesn't plan on sleeping with anyone until she's married.
This film is based on a play by F. Frank Herbert, that opened on Broadway in 1951 and ran for over 900 performances and it's very easy to see why the play and the film caused such a stir and how the film attracted a director like Otto Preminger. The film shocked 1953 movie audiences with the use of words like "virgin", "mistress", and "pregnant" for the first time, but for a central character who in 2021 might be labeled a whore. This Patty actually meets the much older Don at the empire state and makes it clear that she is only interested in marrying an older wealthy man, but goes home with Don anyway. She learns about Don's fight with Cynthia and sticks herself right in the middle of it. Then she meets David and tells him she has no interest in him, but will take $600 in cash from him as a "gift."
Preminger is a director who has never been known for shying away from controversial material, but his direction really doesn't add much to the proceedings and doesn't expand it beyond the "photographed stage play" stage. Not to mention, this Patty character is really kind of annoying. She never stops talking, has absolutely no boundaries, and doesn't see any problem with the way she leads these two men around by the nose for the entire running time. In 2021, this Patty character also might be characterized as a "tease."
Preminger's direction is surprisingly pedestrian though the performances from the three leads are terrific. McNamara actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress here, though I thought it was Niven who really did the Oscar-worthy work here. There are selected funny moments during the film, but this story is just too dated to be relevant entertainment in 2021.