Ein Frosch in Manhattan

I saw this film years and years ago, but was listening to a "best of"

CD the other day and heard Dionne Warwick singing the title tune

of "The April Fools" - I remembered how much I loved this film. The

truth to the performances of Jack Lemmon and Catherine

Deneuvre, along with great performances from Peter Lawford and

Sally Kellerman, makes this film a classic of the late sixties in the

vein of Breakfast At Tiffanys. There is something pure, haunting

and deeply bittersweet about this movie - well worth a viewing.

The April Fools, starring Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve is a likeable, though not outstanding film. The film, somewhat bereft of a script, deals with Lemmon's character who arrives at his extremely trendy boss's apartment for a social gathering, which, to Lemmon's sheer amazement, is a fully-fledged swinging 60's hip shindig in classic over-40's type psychedelia. Deneuve plays the rather neglected wife of Lemmon's boss and of course the two meet at the party and do a terribly unconvincing job of falling in love. Deneuve, while pretty to look at, strolls through this film acting like she's hanging around for her agent to come up with something better. And in this film Lemmon just doesn't cut it as a romantic interest. The scene stealers are Lemmon's two drunken cohorts.

This film is far more interesting as a time piece, however. It's fun and engaging to watch this film and see how Hollywood was interested in projecting the late '60s high-class psychedelic world. The scene where Jack Lemmon takes Catherine Deneuve to the private club which is completely fitted out like the jungle and features sexy waitresses who slink around in various animal skins, with the only way to attract their attention is to shoot them on the bottom with a cap gun, really does make you marvel at the fact that clubs like this really did exist. Ah! Those were the days....

Typically good Jack Lemmon performance enhances this uneven Hal Dresner script that strains too hard to be whimsical. Great supporting cast, with Charles Boyer, Myrna Loy and Peter Lawford standouts. Catherine Deneuve is impossibly beautiful in this, one of her few American films, and her melancholy is nicely balanced by Lemmon's trademark veneer of glibness masking a streak of cynicism. Lovely score by Marvin Hamlisch, with the title song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Very 60's in milieu and cinematography, but the two leads especially lend some unexpected poignancy to the plot shenanigans.

In New York, the newly-promoted in the Street Broker Howard Brubaker (Jack Lemmon) is invited by his boss Ted Gunther (Peter Lawford) to come to his fancy apartment. However, there is a party and the clumsy Howard feels uncomfortable and misplaced. Ted's wife Catherine Gunther (Catherine Deneuve) is amused with Howard and he invites her to have a drink in a club that Ted has suggested. Howard has a loveless marriage and his wife Phyllis (Sally Kellerman) does not pay attention to him. Catherine is unhappily married with Ted. When they meet the couple Grace (Myrna Loy) and Andre Greenlaw (Charles Boyer) that have been married for many years and are still happy, they decide to travel together to Paris to start a new life together. Will they leave their marriages behind?

"The April Fools" is a shallow, naive but funny romantic comedy. The plot is pleasant mostly because of the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve. It is hard to see what she liked in the clumsy character performed by Jack Lemmon. In the end, "The April Fools" is a silly romance that entertains. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Um Dia em Duas Vidas" ("One Day in Two Lives")

You have to watch this one a few times to get its rhythm. If you don't, you'll miss some gems. Jack Lemmon plays a man who finds himself disconnected from the world. No one wants to listen to him – his wife, son, boss, lawyer friend, even the family dog.

The movie lacks punch. And one reason is the real absence of romantic chemistry between Lemmon and Deneuve. Jack Lemmon, as an actor, needs a lively romantic love interest to better match his manic style. Deneuve comes off as beautiful, wooden and lethargic. But Lemmon's acting power is undeniable. So again we're treated to the brilliant, sad clown.

Harvey Korman and Jack Weston serve up a hilarious train ride and domestic scene. Charles Boyer's energy and wonderful voice entertain. Sally Kellerman does well epitomizing the Lemmon character's plight.

It's a late Sixties period piece and manages to capture some of that.