July 8, 1953
United Artists
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B-
This movie was controversial six decades ago, for what we would now call "adult themes and language," although my guess is it'd get a PG if released today. At the time, Otto Preminger couldn't get it approved by the Code and released it anyway, which was the very beginning of the end for the Code. (The movie did fine at the box office.) Watching it now, it's mildly amusing but not particularly shocking. I was more offended by the lines that joke about violence towards women, but I think we're meant to be offended. The view of television-- "We're years away from color!"-- is about as dated as the view of sex. David Niven plays the middle-aged scoundrel, William Holden the young scroundel. Gregory Ratoff (Max Fabian in All About Eve) has a small role as a taxi driver.
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