If the movie studios in the 50’s and 60’s were so concerned about competing with television, why did they insist on releasing so many theatrical films that were of the quality and nature of small screen fare? If somebody wanted to see a comedy where the humor is largely people shouting at each other, and which is set in a London that is obviously studio sets, they could have stayed at home instead of paying to see 1965’s Strange Bedfellows.
The only elements of this that distinguish it from a TV production are it being widescreen, in color and starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida. This is a pretty sad affair, which could have been on a double-bill with Hudson’s Man’s Favorite Sport? from the year before. I like this one more than that dire picture, but not by a considerable margin.
The picture opens in London where a young (*cough*) man played by Rock Hudson stands in front of a rear projection of the Thames and has a meet-cute with Lollobrigida who, while painting political graffiti on a wall, puts him in blackface. Well, she paints his entire face in a single brushstroke with what looks like tar. They are married a day later, but soon discover they are polar opposites on all matters. He leaves and, seven years later, he is a diplomacy expert. Now, he finally wants a divorce.
We’re told everything that is happening, and what the characters are thinking, through narration. Usually, I would be upset none of this information is relayed to the audience through dialog and acting. For a change, I was grateful for this shortcut, as this movie would otherwise be three hours long, since all of this transpires before the opening credits.
Following a meeting to initiate divorce proceedings, they share a cab together to avoid the rain, and he drops her off at her place, and she invites him in for coffee…and the inevitable. Given the rushed, narrated opening, we have no vested interest in these characters.
Admittedly, the scene the next morning starts out fairly amusingly as he asks the nonplussed maid if she finds a strange man in the bedroom each morning. I like her reply to this: “Yes. She validates their parking.” S.J. Perelman it’s not, but I’ll take my laughs where I can get them. But then Lollobrigida says she needs to get ready, because she has a big day ahead as she is picketing the American embassy. Then he starts yelling, and she’s throwing at him every breakable item she owns, etc. I can understand what is considered humorous changing over time, but I don’t see how this was ever funny.
She had wanted a divorce so she could marry Edward Judd, a man who seems far more relaxed about the previous night’s shenanigans than I would have been. Hudson, on the other hand, wanted to finalize their split solely so he could enter into a sham marriage. He is angling for a big promotion, and his pal Gig Young informs him that only happily married men are regarded as executive material in their organization.
Young’s exact words to Hudson are, “No more gay unmarried bachelor.” Now, I know the general public wasn’t aware of Hudson’s homosexuality at the time, but that, and some other material, seems to be making winking asides at that subject, as if we’re all in the joke. One scene will have him and Judd sharing a bed, though only because the other beds in the house are otherwise taken. I guess neither man considered sleeping on the floor.
The situation that led to these, well, strange bedfellows is a good example of how much of the humor falls flat here. Bad weather has prompted Lollobrigida to open her house to a large group of fellow protestors, and people seem to be sleeping on every square foot of hallway and common room space. This begs for Hudson to accidentally step on a long series of sleeping people. Instead, the film squanders the opportunity that was set up by just having him gingerly step between them.
Still, I laughed at a few scenes in the movie. To the best I can recall, these involved British character actors one may recognize from bit parts in a great many films. One bit has a couple of cabbies coerced into relaying messages between the bickering spouses through their radios. Needless to say, it quickly devolves into a game of telephone. By the time all is said and done, Hudson supposedly is capable of a having a child since that nasty operation in the Middle East. He also had a fantastic experience in an Arab tent and he’s in love with the Russian president. Another bit has the always dependable Terry-Thomas as a mortician.
As I alluded to before, the stars are never in London, really. I suspect they never left the lot of Universal Studios. I’m used to films employing rear projection, but this has the additional misfortune of using early bluescreen. The result leaves what looks like weird, blue crackles of static electricity around the edges of the actors.
Strange Bedfellows is a sad excuse for a comedy, though I have seen worse films of a similar variety and vintage. At least I laughed a few times, which is the only true measure of a comedy. And, even with its faults (which are many), it is a curious snapshot of the era in which it was made. It may be completely unrealistic, but it still reflects the aspirations and tastes of the general public of the time or, at least, what the studios thought the public wanted.
Dir: Melvin Frank
Starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Gig Young
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray