La fontaine des amours

Not much to add to the other comments here, except to say that it may be understandable that this one got a Best Picture nomination in the 1954 Oscar derby if you were able to see a pristine print, with a stereo soundtrack, in a first-class theater as I had the opportunity of doing when it was first released. The opening sequence of numerous fountains in full flood as Frank Sinatra crooned the Oscar-winning title song was just dazzling to those of us Americans who hadn't yet made a Grand Tour of Europe. What followed contained no surprises, certainly, though some eyebrows were raised by the Jean Peters/Rossano Brazzi "illicit" romance. I never understood how Maggie McNamara ever passed muster with any studio's casting director, nor how the makers of this pastiche could have thought that the suavely handsome Louis Jourdan, playing an Italian of noble descent, would finally settle for a manipulative young American whose machinations had, prior to his capitulation, been nakedly revealed. The lovely Ms. McGuire setting her cap for the aging, fastidious old fop, so well incarnated by Mr. Webb, was another of the difficulties even those first audiences had in suspending their disbelief.

But, oh!, those glorious travelogue shots of Rome and Venice. Widescreens, back then, really were worth briefly deserting one's living room "boob tube" and letting one's mind drift into Nirvana as beautiful DeLuxe Color made one believe the world was an impossibly beautiful place. A new DVD version which approximates the original CinemaScope ratio is now available, a distinct improvement over the formatted VHS tape previously available.

By the Fifties, the movie-going public was no longer satisfied with studio versions of far away places. They wanted to see the real thing and Hollywood had to give it to them. The year before Three Coins In a Fountain came out, Paramount had done another Rome based film in Roman Holiday. Though it had that winning romantic team of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, Paramount played it on the cheap and wouldn't splurge for color.

Not to be outdone by rivals, Darryl F. Zanuck went whole hog on terrific color cinematography and three romances. Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, and Maggie McNamara are three Americans sharing an apartment in Rome. Peters and McNamara work for a U.S. government agency and McGuire is secretary to expatriate novelist Clifton Webb.

The fountain of course is Rome's famous Fountain of Trevi where tourists are lured into throwing their pennies with the promise of good fortune and a return to the eternal city. Frank Sinatra sings the title song over the opening credits and the Four Aces also had a mega-hit out of that tune. I remember as a lad in the Fifties, hearing that constantly on the radio. It was a BIG factor in the success of this film and won an Oscar for composer Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn.

McNamara and Peters fall for Prince Louis Jourdan and aspiring lawyer and co-worker Rossano Brazzi respectively. They play the continental lovers effortlessly.

20th Century Fox during the 50s toned down Clifton Webb's acerbity in order to make him leading man material. They never quite succeeded, but Dorothy McGuire conveys that she has a deep and abiding affection for Webb.

The usual romantic complications occur, but it all works out in the end as it always does in these films.

But the star is Rome and even seeing it 50 years ago, you'll still want to a pack a bag and see the place after watching this film.

It's been plagiarised and remade so many times that it seems very ho-hum these days, but even when I first saw it, aged about 14, I wondered why the gorgeous Dorothy McGuire was considered to be old, and why she felt so strongly for the Clifton Webb character, who clearly (to me) was not romantically interested in women. It's a shame that so little is seen of Anita (Jean Peters, one of those tragically under-used actresses), who is a much more interesting character than the breathtakingly dull Maria (Maggie MacNamara). Maria comes to Rome from the mid West and leaves after a month because she's unsuccessful in hooking a prince. Sad! In fact none of the romantic story lines are credible. It's interesting how little cutting there is in the dramatic scenes - due to the anamorphic lenses, and the heftiness of the cameras, I suppose. It's interesting to contrast with 'North West Passage', released 5 years later. In that exciting movie Geoffrey Unsworth makes great use of the CinemaScope camera.

Lighten up, boys and girls! You must allow the director to display irony and fun in a feel-good movie in Rome not long after the fall of fascism! And how exotic it must have appeared to most of the world's population who at that time had not travelled abroad.

It does make you wonder how those secretaries could afford those glamorous clothes, and be so close to princes and movers and shakers of post-war Rome. Perhaps a gentle poke at role reversal?

One of the best tunes ever written, wonderful locations, and I don't care a damn about the Trevi fountain behaving inconsistently - that is the nature of fountains, and in Rome they are all drenched in magic!

This is the kind of movie that's most suitable for occasions when you just want something nice to look at, without having to pay much attention and without needing to worry about anything that might jar the senses. It's very picturesque, with many sequences set in interesting and attractive Italian settings. The characters, cast, and story are all innocuous, but they are never especially interesting.

The title sequence is very enjoyable, with the Sinatra song accompanied by many excellent views of Rome. But it sets the expectations a little too high, since the rest of the movie is rather commonplace in all respects other than the settings. The cast is solid, but none of them really get the kind of character that allows them to stand out. The story is pleasant and sometimes enjoyable, but is too often bland, predictable, and/or implausible.

It's still a decent way to pass the time if your expectations aren't too high. It would probably have been a little better if it were a bit shorter, since there is just not enough story material to fill the whole running time without it becoming too noticeable.