Gare à la peinture

What a cute movie! I thought it was going to be enormously silly, but I ended up really liking The Art of Love and laughing all the way through. Dick Van Dyke and James Garner seem to really enjoy playing up their comic elements, and their energies balanced each other well. With the romantic setting of Paris as its backdrop, the movie can take off on any number of ridiculous situations and it doesn't even feel ridiculous.

Dick is a starving artist, renting a room from his pal James. When they get drunk and muse about how if Dick committed suicide, his paintings would sell like hotcakes. Dick falls in the river, James can't find him, and the hypothetical appears to have come true. All of a sudden, his paintings do sell like hotcakes! But Dick has to stay hidden, so he seeks refuge in a burlesque run by Ethel Merman. As he battles his attraction to new employee Elke Sommer, James falls for Dick's fiancé, Angie Dickinson.

Believe it or not, that's the simple version of the plot. This Carl Reiner screenplay is very funny, with jokes around every corner and surprises no matter how much you think you know what's going to happen. The humor is a perfect element of tongue-in-cheek, obvious set-ups, and classic situational comedy. There's even a throwback to A Tale of Two Cities with the crazy old lady crying "guillotine!" Try this one out if you like the two leads, even if you think it might be too silly. It won't be, and it'll keep you laughing from start to finish.

A struggling American painter in Paris (Dick Van Dyke) fakes his death so his paintings will sell. His buddy (James Garner) helps him along. However Van Dyke's girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) believes he's dead and falls for Garner. Then there's Elke Sommer (who's great) as an innocent down on her luck girl and Ethel Merman as a madam (in a wholesome PG sort of way).

Frantic and somewhat amusing comedy. It moves at a fast clip and has a great cast. The main problem is that it just isn't that funny. Dickinson fainting at everything gets old real quick and Garner is a real jerk. However I kept watching and the fast pace kept me interested. This was not a hit when it came out and is kind of difficult to see now. Look for it on TCM.

I would have to totally agree with some of the other comments, that this is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommers, Ethel Merman and others make this movie so hilariously hysterical. Yes it is not an Oscar winning plot, but the story still is so funny that I am hard pressed not to include this in my list of top ten 'Funnist Movies to see' only problem is that unless you find it on the TV as an old movie you cannot see it at all. Which leads me into my question to you 'Imdb'and The Hollywood Moguls how can we solve this horrible oversight. Yes I can play it again in my mind but to watch and hear again especially the hysterical old lady who is cackling "Guillotine! Ha Ha! Guillotine!" would be so awesome, on DVD with lots of bloopers would be a dream come true. Please do not fail us. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, (an E for each year of this oversight, let's hope you don't want FFFFFFFFFFFFF's)

Theowinthrop: "There is also a short story by Mark Twain entitled "IS HE DEAD?" about a plot to make a reputation for a prominent 19th Century artist, Gustave Courbet, by him pretending to be dead, and his paintings being sold for larger and larger amounts of cash so that the still living Courbet and his friends make a huge profit." It was Millet, the artist responsible for THE GLEANERS and other works, who faked his death in order to raise the value of his art. Twain later turned the scam into a play, IS HE DEAD?, which finally got discovered in 2002 and produced on stage in 2007.

That said, THE ART OF LOVE has long been one of my "Favorite Films I Haven't Seen in a Long Long Time." The lack of video release is depressing. Hopefully Universal will start a cable movie channel dedicated to its own films, much like Fox Movie Channel (a great place to see long-forgotten flicks like PRUDENCE AND THE PILL).

I wasn't aware of this movie when it was initially released and probably didn't see it for several years after it came out when I saw it on TV. This is a bright, witty charming movie loaded with a talented cast in James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Angie Dickenson, Elke Sommer, Ethel Merman, Carl Reiner and a lot of great character actors. I've only seen this a few times as it doesn't seem to get much air time on TV and I don't know why because this is a funny movie. Norma Jewison directs this forgotten gem. It's a good escapist romantic comedy and gives Van Dyke a lot of room to display his comedic skills. James Garner hold the whole thing together. If it shows up on TV again sometime try to check it out, some good comedy situations here. I would give this an 8 on a scale of 10 and recommend it.