That Wonderful Urge

... with Gene Tierney as a beautiful heiress who decides to get vengeance on scandalous reporter Tyrone Power, who's been writing gossipy stuff about her, by telling the world they are married. Power gets fired and laughed at and can't prove he didn't marry the lady so decides to turn things around on her.

There are no surprises here, with a supporting cast that includes Reginald Gardiner (wasted as Tierney's boyfriend who takes her out but can't get to first place with her, not that he looks like he really cares) and Lucille Watson (also wasted in a trivial role). I was a little surprised at how obviously fake are the Sun Valley, Idaho backdrops in a few scenes. This is a remake of Love Is News, a 1937 comedy Power had made with Loretta Young, making Power one of the few actors to appear in a remake of one of his own films. Why 20th Century Fox would choose to revive such weak material again over a decade later is beyond me.

Although Power is primarily remembered today for Nightmare Alley and as the hero of a few costume adventures, at the start of his career at Fox he appeared in a number of light weight romantic comedies of a forgettable, frothy nature. That Wonderful Urge, released almost a decade after the last of them, would also be his final venture into screen comedy for, unfortunately, less than memorable results. It was also around this time that he appeared in The Luck of The Irish, a somewhat more engaging affair inasmuch as it mixed the romantic comedy with fantasy by having a leprechaun play the role of matchmaker.

Just because a performer is attractive, talented and has star power and charm it does not mean they have comedic skills. This farce has few chuckles, let alone belly laughs. It would have been better with comedic actors but not great.

It is worth seeing. Power and Tierney are both attractive and charming. They even gave chemistry. They just aren't funny.

There's nothing so dangerous as a woman on a mission of revenge, and that's what journalist "Tom" (Tyrone Power) discovers when his serialisation of the profligate life of heiress "Sara" (Gene Tierney) in the newspaper earns her enmity. She's a clever woman, and so manages to come up with an unique way of visiting her vengeance on her new prey. She decides to tell the world that they are married! That's just one truth too many for his editor so now out of a job and without many friends, he has to get her to address the situation before he sinks without trace. How, though? She's still pretty livid and no shrinking violet. Of course, the underplay here is all pretty obvious, as is a denouement helped along amiably by Gene Lockhart, but it's really the enjoyable tit-for-tat banter between Power and Tierney that keeps this entertaining battle of the sexes moving along quickly and sometimes quite wittily. It's probably not a film you will recall for long afterwards, but it does it's job fine for eighty minutes.

Robert Sinclair does not feature in my gallery of preferred directors, and after watching the supposedly screwball comedy that THAT WONDERFUL URGE was publicized as, I doubt I will be looking for his works.

That said, cinematography rates more than just competent, especially on the snowy slopes where tabloid reporter Tyrone has an accident that somehow sees him (allegedly) married to lovely rich heiress Tierney, who donates him $1 million to boot.

Talk about fairy tales, hey? Of course, only US spectators emerging from the losses and hardships of WW II would pay to watch a film resting on such a skiddy and far-fetched script. In Italy, where day to day survival proved dire, neorealism reigned.

What saves it is the star power and chemistry between two beauty-endowed humans, Tyrone and Gene, who apparently did not just act, but privately took their attraction to more physical and emotional levels. In the process, equally lovely Arleen Whelan is just jettisoned after Tyrone tries to marry her so he can prove that Tierney has been lying about her marital status. That is one detail tough to explain: Tyrone is so high-minded that he does not want the $1 million and rejects marriage to Tierney, yet he just uses poor Whelan like garbage.

As for Gardiner, in the role of leaching European aristocrat, it is just impossible to believe that Tierney would take the slightest interest in him, let alone even jokingly take his ring.

As planktonrules points out, the original (LOVE IS NEWS, 1937) is a better film. Still, Tyrone and Gene deserve my 7/10.

I found this little gem on Hulu while in the mood for a movie in black and white. For some reason all of the movies showing on TCM were made in the 1970's (yuck).

So, not being a regular viewer of Tyrone Power, I didn't know what to expect. About mid way through the movie I thought it would really be great if this were Myna Loy and Cary Grant or William Powell.

The stars of this movie were missing that certain spark that lifts a thin storyline into something more. While the stars were very likable and attractive they had very little chemistry. Some of the dialogue was rather funny and the supporting cast was good. It definitely wasn't a waste of time.