Roma, Convite ao Amor

The movie itself was ok, good scenery and all, but the acting wasn't exactly the best. Cindy Carol wasa terrible choice for gidget because of a lack of acting skills. If you look past the fact that her acting was lousy the movie is pretty good, the plot is slighlty more mature than the other gidget's. The scenery was great and so was the fashion show sequence. All in all, it wasn't that bad...

The casting director for Elvis movies in the sixties must have been impressed by this movie!

The next year, 1964 Cesare Danova was featured in Viva Las Vegas as Count Elmo Mancini. The race car driver/ playboy competing in the race and off the track for Ann Margret.

Peter Brooks and Joby Baker appeared in Girl Happy the next year. 1965. Brooks as a nerd around the motel (who morphs into Nita Talbot's date in the finale). And Baker is a buddy who played in Elvis's band. And shares in the hijinx.

The Gidget movie was intended to show the character as more mature and growing into a young adult. Beach scenes and family interaction were quickly disposed of in the first ten minutes. And the teenage romance/courtship dynamics of the earlier films was pretty much suspended as each lead pursued other potentially romantic partners for the bulk of the story.

The reunited ending was totally predictable. What else could it have been given the light comedic theme of the plot.

James Darren was in his prime then. On the charts in the early sixties he had a number of hit singles. Including Goodbye Cruel World and Her Royal Majesty amongst many others. He was in a handful of teen oriented films. And in a couple of years would star in the Time Tunnel sci Fi TV show.

All in all it was a nice enough bright, vivid time capsule of an early sixties milieu. And a view of a fun stereotypical tourist first visit to Rome. Hardly a memorable or captivating movie, but it did what it was intended to. Move Gidget off the beach and appeal to a familiar demographic.

Simple, innocent fluff that does build on the earlier Gidget mythos. The TV series actually is the best representation but has more time to expand on character and stories.

And as a footnote. Noreen Corcoran had just finished playing the teen daughter in the sitcom Bachelor Father.

This film essentially begins with a teenager named "Frances 'Gidget' Lawrence" (Cindy Carol) begging her father, "Russell Lawrence" (Don Porter) to allow her to fly to Rome with her friends. After some consideration, her father finally relents but only after ensuring that a suitable chaperone is provided. Yet even after learning that one of the other teenager's aunts named "Albertina Blythe" (Jessie Royce Landis) has agreed to chaperone them, Russell remains somewhat concerned and subsequently calls an old friend living in Rome named "Paola Cellini" (Cesare Danova) to secretly check up on them from time to time. For her part, Gidget is only too happy to spend more time with her boyfriend "Jeff 'Moondoggie' Matthews" (James Darren) who is also going on the trip. Problems develop, however, when the group's tour guide turns out to be a beautiful Italian woman named "Daniela" (Danielle De Metz) who all of the teenage boys immediately become enamored with--especially Moondoggie. Needless to say, this takes a serious toll on Gidget's emotions. Her sadness quickly vanishes, however, when she meets an older gentleman who suddenly takes a great interest in her--Paola Cellini. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part, which started off slow, but picked up rather nicely toward the end. And while I thought James Darren seemed a bit too old for his character, I thought that Cindy Carol performed extremely well in the lead role. I also liked the performances of Cesare Danova and Danielle De Metz--who was absolutely gorgeous. In any case, while this wasn't a great comedy by any means, it seemed to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Gidget, played by Cindy Carol was at our local drive in theater in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pa, during the fall/summer of 1963. I was 13-years old. And during intermission, there, sitting at a round, rod-iron outdoor table, sat Gidget, in the same pink dress you see her in, on the "Gidget Goes To Rome", IMDb page! She wrote on the autographed picture, "To Rick with love, Cindy Carol" How cool was that! Frankly, I don't remember much about the movie except that it was curious for a "movie star" to find herself, 'here and now' at the Ardmore Drive in theater, which was in itself, a very special drive in. It was a modern, state of the art facility. Big wide screen, great concession stand and on both sides of which, there were mini, "theater rooms" where drive in movie goers, could venture out from their car and sit inside, with theater seats and sound, and watch the movie. During those early/mid teenaged years in the 60's, us kids would "sleep out" and at night go sneak over the hill through the thick trees in the back, to get into the drive in. Since they had the indoor seats, we would naturally go to "lover's cars" in the back of the drive in, knock on their windows, and ask for their stubs, so that when Chucky Pollack would make his rounds in the theater, he would ask to see our tickets. There may be 4 or 5 of us in there and we'd all pull our tickets out of our pockets. Chucky would say, "Why are all the ticket numbers out of sequence?" We would respond, "Because we all came in different cars!" Those were truly, the good old days! The drive in's been gone for many, many years as most have gone that way, which now is a strip mall with one of the most used, "Giant Eagle" super markets in Pittsburgh. I hope Cindy reads this one day she might look for her acting accomplishments on IMDb, and just maybe, she will remember that one particular night in Pittsburgh (Braddock Hills) when she sat outside at the drive in and signed autographs at the Ardmore Drive In -- making lasting memories in the heart and mind of a young, movie going enthusiast and still "Cindy Carol-fan"! Cindy turns 65-years old this year (2009). At last check, she was teaching in California. Dare you leave me a message Cindy. I'd love to catch up! Perhaps leave me a message at ladymoon here on IMDb!

"Gidget Goes to Rome" in 1963 was the third installment in the Gidget series of films. The first had Sandra Dee and the second Deborah Whalley as the Gidget leads. Including a couple of TV series and some TV movies, there were nine in all, and many of them pretty lame.

This Gidget film, in 1963, is one of the better ones. Cindy Carol as Gidget Lawrence plays her as a bright, perky, mature teenager, and the slight over-acting style she uses fits the character just right. Remember, the Gidget films are not to be taken very seriously. They depict 1960s teenager life and in particular, the mythical beach life. Here Gidget and some of her friends are in Rome, she meets a mysterious and handsome older Italian man who seems to be intent on helping her have a good stay. In the end he has been retained by Gidget's father to make sure she has both a good time, and remains safe.

I was a teenager in 1963, specifically it was the year I graduated from high school. A "Gidget" represents more than anything else that cute girl we admired from afar but never could get close to. Watching any of these Gidget films, especially the first three (1959, 1961, and 1963) brings back fond memories that doesn't quite seem to be 40+ years ago.