Though he had more than four busy decades as a character actor in parts large & small, José Ferrer’s traditional leading man days in movies (i.e. the guy who gets the girl) came to a premature end in this odd dramedy, a ‘serious’ farce about a corporate takeover and the longtime assistant executive who misreads the signals on his future at the company. Cold, charmless & unable to modulate his voice from a theatrical base, Ferrer was always a tough fit in ‘Regular Joe’ roles. In any event, by the late ‘50s the baton for suburban middle-class company man was being passed to Jack Lemmon. (See Billy Wilder’s infinitely sharper, warmer, funnier, tougher THE APARTMENT/’60 for confirmation.) Ferrer also directs here, faking a bit of showy style in a wordless one-reel opening bit as he & the wife (a debuting, if not up to much, Gena Rowlands) go thru the morning routine: Wake-Up; Ablutions; Breakfast; Car Honk Goodbye. Meant to be witty, it’s as flat as the compressed grey-scale in George Folsey’s WideScreen/b&w lensing. And when he’s not actively trying for clever, he vamps on farcical plot misunderstandings for 90 contrived minutes.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: As mentioned above, THE APARTMENT.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Instead of a poster, here’s the ‘sexy’ paperback cover of the film’s tie-in novelization. Looks provocative, but it’s just Rowlands handing a glass of O.J. to her showering husband. The film itself holds firmly to the old Production Code with the couple sleeping in twin beds.
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