The Marriage-Go-Round

Take three competent actors, James Mason, lovely Susan Hayward and Julie Newmar, and an idiot script with a lame premise and what do you get? Right. A mediocre movie. But, it's OK. Mason plays a cultural anthropologist who Newmar wants to share genes with. However, Mason's wife, Hayward, is having none of it. It goes down from there. Lamewitted writing, silly situations but always good acting and hey, Newmar was ALWAYS worth the price of a ticket. Hayward too is great but you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, the saying goes and a poor script does not a great movie make.

A pretty rarely seen 1960s sex comedy, if the view count on Letterboxd does any indication. I didn't love it, but I liked it a lot, just for being a rom-com of its time. There's something relaxing and carefree about movies of this sort from the 1960s - especially the early 1960s. That being said, this one didn't full me over like The Facts of Life (1960), but they do make a great double feature.

Julie Newmar was gorgeous in a very Anita Ekberg kind of way, and I was very pleased with her performance. But I kept thinking about To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar - the 1990s comedy that had little to do with her, but the title does stay in one's mind.

Julie Newmar played a Swede in this movie. I don't know if she's actually a Swede though. Either she is, or she studied her accent from Greta Garbo movies. All Swedes sound like Greta Garbo to me. At least, when they are at their most Swedish.

The real standout star of the film though, was the house. Wow, they don't make them like that anymore! The layout and everything, so distinctly 1950s / 1960s. In other words, just beautiful!

I am a long-time James Mason fan, and he showed his comedic side in several films, this being one of them. The premise is sweet and this film is perfect for a rainy afternoon or for when you just want to watch an enjoyable movie that does not contain violence, objectionable language or loud special effects. If you are a James Mason fan, this is a must-see. He is handsome, suave and dashing in this film and his touch for light comedy is fun to watch and a nice change from his more typical serious roles. He is in "A Touch of Larceny" and "Tiara Tahiti" form here, and carries the light comedy very well. I recommend this film to everyone who enjoys a nice romantic comedy, and especially to those who appreciate Mr. Mason's considerable charm, talent and touch for comedy.

The outside scenes of this movie were partially filmed in Lakeland, Florida (my hometown) on the Florida Southern College campus. The buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and are situated adjacent to Lake Hollingsworth. It made a beautiful setting for this romantic comedy. Co-star Susan Hayward was one of my favorite actresses and of course, Julie Newmar was almost as smashing as Bo Derek in "10". I thought the plot was a bit sophisticated for the time (1961). More to my liking were the Doris Day - Rock Hudson comedies of the same period. A little less sophistication and more "slapstick" type fun films. Tony Randall's masterful comedic genius added greatly to most of them.

James Mason and Susan Hayward two big film names replaced Broadway stars Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert for the film version of the play The Marriage Go Round. Mason and Hayward were both at or near the top of their careers, Hayward being just three years away from her career Oscar winning role in I Want To Live and Mason was off a big box office hit in Journey To The Center Of The Earth.

The two play a pair of married professors and the film is done in the format of both of them giving a lecture on some recent trial their marriage went through. The trial came in the person of blond statuesque Swede Julie Newmar who is the daughter of a colleague that Mason knows. He knew Julie as a child, but she's all grown up now and fully developed in all the right places.

Mason's considered a genius and Newmar who has an IQ to match her measurements is brutally frank in what she wants. She wants Mason, but she's not clear in why she wants him at first. Simply for breeding purposes. She wants him to father a super genius child. Today I'm sure Mason might just donate his sperm.

Well whether for romance or breeding Hayward ain't having any. Such is the basis of this comedy which on Broadway had a 431 performance run for 1958-1960. It's slight and amusing and probably played better on stage on the one scene in the living room of the Mason/Hayward home. Still fans of the stars will like it.