Anna et les Maoris

Shirley MacLaine is Anna, a spinster schoolteacher, American born but teaching Maori children in New Zealand. She is devoted to her work and loves the children.

Two men come into her life. One is a drunkard (Laurence Harvey) who comes on strong, though Anna resists him, wanting to wait until marriage to have sex. The other (Jack Hawkins) is an administrator at the school, married but separated from his wife. Both men are in love with her.

Part of the story concerns her assistant, Whareparita, who becomes pregnant with twins, and will not reveal the identity of the father. The Maori tribe is happy about it and will all help to raise the children. This is very different from Anna's own ideas and culture.

The film is based on a novel, Spinster, which I haven't read. Virginity is treated here as if it's an incurable disease. Also, for a movie supposedly set in New Zealand, I didn't see much (including people) that indicated the location. No accents. I guess Hollywood thought it was interchangeable with England.

Anna does come to grips with what and who she wants finally. But it's a strange film and it's hard to warm up to the characters. It's also extremely talky. Talky is fine - I don't need action every second - but the dialogue needs to be scintillating. This wasn't.

MacLaine comes off like a scatterbrain; Harvey acts like a demented nut; and Hawkins is very serious. I would have perhaps cast someone else in Hawkins' role. It needed someone a tad younger and more charm or personality.

Disappointing though not awful, just kind of blah.

Okay...I'll admit it right up front. I did not finish "Two Loves". While I have a very high tolerance for bad films, the dialog and characters in this one were so bad I simply couldn't take it after a while. And, overall, I can't think of much I liked about "Two Loves".

The story is set in New Zealand and that could have been very interesting, as I've been there a few times and love the country and cultures. But here's a serious problem...the film obviously was NOT filmed in the country. Sure, you see a lot of neat Maori style carvings and decorations, but the extras area bout as Maori as Mantan Moreland or Keye Luke! Most appear Filipino and some are black Americans....and just don't look a bit like the Maori people. And, in many ways, these 'Maori' are portrayed almost as children...and the good teacher, a white savior of sorts. Now I am NOT the most politically correct person...but this even bothered me. And, don't even get me started about the horrid dialog and the character way overplayed by Laurence Harvey...uggh!!

The bottom line is that you'll learn nothing productive about the Maori and the romance is just stilted, weird and, well, horribly written. The film is probably Laurence Harvey's worst...and it's not exactly one of Shirley MacLaine's best, either. It's a tedious film...and woefully inadequate in showing the Maori as anything other than cartoon characters.

Apologies to the other two 'Kiwi' reviewers but "Two Loves" ("Spinster"in N.Z.) is not all that bad. To start with,just how many of the most successful movies in history are historically accurate and who cares anyway ? More importantly,the three leads were all accomplished actors with box-office appeal. Shirley MacLaine gave something unique and interesting to most of her roles. Jack Hawkins,always good value,gave off an appropriate air of integrity in this role. Laurence Harvey was not out of his depth either.Here,he played a rather avant-garde character;a free thinker,frustrated at having landed himself in a parochial environment. His singing was deliberately off-key (listen to his sublime King Arthur in "Camelot"). Being a Laurence Harvey fan,I'm tempted to rate this one a ten but realistically,I'll bring it down to a seven.

Why do people feel the need to post a plot synopsis as their review? I don't get it. I don't need anyone to walk me through the trajectory of the film. I just want to know if it's worth seeing. And this one is most assuredly not!

The story line is tepid, at best. Cinematography acceptable, though nothing special. But it's the acting that really kills this one. In particular, Laurence Harvey is a hack.

MacLaine and Hawkins are fine; or they would be on their own. But Harvey's performance is so bad it absolutely drowns any chance of taking the other actors seriously. He is the skunk that invaded your neighbor's backyard barbecue. It would be okay that they're only serving hamburgers instead of steak - can't have everything every time. Even so, it's still impossible to enjoy a single bite with such a stench in the air!

Anna Vorontosov (Shirley MacLaine) is an American teacher in a rural New Zealand community with mostly Maoris students. The new senior inspector William Abercrombie (Jack Hawkins) threatens her work. She has a relationship with self-destructive fellow teacher Paul Lathrope (Laurence Harvey).

This is supposedly Maoris culture. I wonder if this could have been a small New Zealand indie. I imagine getting into some real culture and some epic New Zealand landscape. The studio insisted on a star and got MacLaine. I don't like her character. I don't see her teaching technique as that great. I want to like the kids but I don't really know them. Shirley MacLaine has done better. She does some overwrought acting in an overly overwrought scene. It's bad writing. I certainly don't see any chemistry between her and Laurence Harvey who is playing a horrible drunk. It's dreary. The story meanders around without much tension.