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40 Carats
With the director of Butterflies Are Free and the screenwriter of Cabaret as one of the writers, we should have gotten something a lot funnier than the 1973 rom-com 40 Carats, whose actual problem is the miscasting of the leading lady.
This is the story of a 40 year old real estate agent who, while vacationing in Greece and with a lot of coaxing, spends an incredible night in Greece with a 22 year old man named Peter Latham (the late Edward Albert). Ann enjoys her evening with Peter and decides it's history as she returns to life in New York, not long after which, Peter shows up on her doorstep and begins dating her 17-year old daughter, Trina (Deborah Raffin).
Jay Presson Allen, who wrote the screenplay for Cabaret. was actually one of three screenwriters who it took to come up with this totally predictable comedy that offers no surprises and asks us to accept a lot. Every time Ann and Peter run into each other, they stare at each other way too hard and stutter and stammer and we're supposed to pretend that the rest of the characters in the movies don't notice it. Of course, we also have Ann's rakish ex-husband (Gene Kelly) and a Texas millionaire (Billy Green Brush) to make Ann and Peter re-think what's going on between them, but all they do is pad the running the time.
The real problem with this film is casting acting goddess Liv Ullmann in the role of Ann Stanley. This was a big mistake and I know why. Circa 1973, Liv Ullmann was the hardest working actress in Hollywood earning Oscar nominations for The Immigrants and Face to Face, as well as Cries and Whispers and Scenes from a Marriage, making her the flavor of the 1970's, seemingly incapable of giving a bad performance. Unfortunately, this movie is a romantic comedy, a genre that was completely foreign territory for Ullman and that is evident from the opening scene. Ullman doesn't display anything that even resembles comic timing and half of the time it seems she's not even getting the joke. With the Ann Stanley character being in practically every scene, the film invariably bogs down in the cinematic mud.
Milton Katselas' wooden direction doesn't help either. Albert is appropriately pretty as Peter and Kelly steals every scene he's in (no great feat), but this was pretty uninspired movie making.
With the director of Butterflies Are Free and the screenwriter of Cabaret as one of the writers, we should have gotten something a lot funnier than the 1973 rom-com 40 Carats, whose actual problem is the miscasting of the leading lady.
This is the story of a 40 year old real estate agent who, while vacationing in Greece and with a lot of coaxing, spends an incredible night in Greece with a 22 year old man named Peter Latham (the late Edward Albert). Ann enjoys her evening with Peter and decides it's history as she returns to life in New York, not long after which, Peter shows up on her doorstep and begins dating her 17-year old daughter, Trina (Deborah Raffin).
Jay Presson Allen, who wrote the screenplay for Cabaret. was actually one of three screenwriters who it took to come up with this totally predictable comedy that offers no surprises and asks us to accept a lot. Every time Ann and Peter run into each other, they stare at each other way too hard and stutter and stammer and we're supposed to pretend that the rest of the characters in the movies don't notice it. Of course, we also have Ann's rakish ex-husband (Gene Kelly) and a Texas millionaire (Billy Green Brush) to make Ann and Peter re-think what's going on between them, but all they do is pad the running the time.
The real problem with this film is casting acting goddess Liv Ullmann in the role of Ann Stanley. This was a big mistake and I know why. Circa 1973, Liv Ullmann was the hardest working actress in Hollywood earning Oscar nominations for The Immigrants and Face to Face, as well as Cries and Whispers and Scenes from a Marriage, making her the flavor of the 1970's, seemingly incapable of giving a bad performance. Unfortunately, this movie is a romantic comedy, a genre that was completely foreign territory for Ullman and that is evident from the opening scene. Ullman doesn't display anything that even resembles comic timing and half of the time it seems she's not even getting the joke. With the Ann Stanley character being in practically every scene, the film invariably bogs down in the cinematic mud.
Milton Katselas' wooden direction doesn't help either. Albert is appropriately pretty as Peter and Kelly steals every scene he's in (no great feat), but this was pretty uninspired movie making.