The loosening of the code made many studios stand up and become more daring in the subject matters they were tackling and the way they went about doing so. The 1960 novel seemed like it might be perfect adult cinematic fare, but the results are indeed just fair. The four women of the story are so completely different that they seem to be paper dolls pranced around like Ross Hunter movie heroines, generic and far from realistically fleshed out.
Jane Fonda, in fabulous hats, is glamorous but frigid, and she never really gets a chance to flesh her widowed character out because she obviously needs her own two hours to tell her story. Shelley Winters is a still beautiful woman, even if matronly, and she wants to be fawned over as if she was still 20. Husband Harold J. Stone obviously likes her a bit dowdy because he's a stay at home type anyway, so she steps out on him with Ray Danton who's still being presented as a gigolo to the point I'm surprised that no one ever cast him as Johnny Stompenato.
Claire Bloom is the most neurotic, scared of sex but addicted to it, a poorly designed character that is dangerous to herself and others because her sexuality is so powerful that it could snap her mind at any moment. The best of these four is Glynis Johns, so fascinated by the subject of Andrew Duggan's study that she wants to beca part of the study from start to finish, like a cheerleader screaming "It's about time!"
As directed by George Culor, it's certainly his oddest films, and I certainly couldn't see any of his MGM ladies in those roles. It's like he's trying too hard to be hep, and the film in trying to be daring just comes off as a dirty joke that just goes on far too long and ends up a lecture. I didn't find any of the men really interesting although they do get an opportunity at the beach to wear very little, where the ogling Johns (whose sexuality is aggressive, more like a man's would be) has a great view. She's the most refreshing element of this wanna be camp misfire.
Jane Fonda, in fabulous hats, is glamorous but frigid, and she never really gets a chance to flesh her widowed character out because she obviously needs her own two hours to tell her story. Shelley Winters is a still beautiful woman, even if matronly, and she wants to be fawned over as if she was still 20. Husband Harold J. Stone obviously likes her a bit dowdy because he's a stay at home type anyway, so she steps out on him with Ray Danton who's still being presented as a gigolo to the point I'm surprised that no one ever cast him as Johnny Stompenato.
Claire Bloom is the most neurotic, scared of sex but addicted to it, a poorly designed character that is dangerous to herself and others because her sexuality is so powerful that it could snap her mind at any moment. The best of these four is Glynis Johns, so fascinated by the subject of Andrew Duggan's study that she wants to beca part of the study from start to finish, like a cheerleader screaming "It's about time!"
As directed by George Culor, it's certainly his oddest films, and I certainly couldn't see any of his MGM ladies in those roles. It's like he's trying too hard to be hep, and the film in trying to be daring just comes off as a dirty joke that just goes on far too long and ends up a lecture. I didn't find any of the men really interesting although they do get an opportunity at the beach to wear very little, where the ogling Johns (whose sexuality is aggressive, more like a man's would be) has a great view. She's the most refreshing element of this wanna be camp misfire.