Amour toujours

After a great opening credits sequence, our story begins. Attractive telephone operator Connie Francis (as Libby Caruso) wants to make it big in show business, get married and have babies. With her figure and singing voice, this shouldn't take too long. To prevent clothing from wrinkling overnight, Ms. Francis invents the "Lady Valet" which garners her an appearance on "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson. He thinks her invention looks like a "blind date for a Martian," and invites Francis to sing. She's another Caruso, but goes unnoticed by tall Jim Hutton (as Paul Davis)...

"Looking for Love" finds Francis in good voice, and improved as a comedy star. She's not paired well with Mr. Hutton, which was the story's point, but still… Best friend Susan Oliver (as Jan McNair) and bass player Joby Baker (as Cuz Rickover) round out a romantic quartet. The title track reached #34 on the "Cash Box" pop chart and the soundtrack LP sold moderately during The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" onslaught. MGM and Francis continued the formula for one more film, with decreasing returns. They really should have been producing a TV variety series, with singing and skits.

**** Looking for Love (8/5/64) Don Weis ~ Connie Francis, Jim Hutton, Susan Oliver, Joby Baker

O.K. I'll be honest. I wasn't expecting much when I decided to watch "Looking for Love" on Turner Classic Movies' "not on video" festival last July. After all, Maltin gave the film a BOMB rating and "Rose Marie" was a grand disappointment. But TCM was on a solid streak with three great films in a row; "Penelope", "The Money Trap" and "Your Cheatin Heart". So I decided to give it a chance.

I'm sure glad I did! "Looking for Love" is not a great film, but it has energy and charm and a wonderful lead performance by Connie Francis. You just can't help smiling as I did lot during the regretably brief running time (81 minutes). Surely, they could have added another 10 minutes of songs!

The plot is unimportant; it's merely an excuse to hang some truly inventive musical numbers and sight gags (which needs to be seen in Panavision to truly appreciate; TCM letterboxed the print). I hope that MGM will release the film on video and DVD as a "Vintage Classic" or "MGM Musical" so that an audience can appreciate this. This won't appeal to those looking for acting. But if you're looking for a good time, you could do a lot worse than this. It's no masterpiece, but it's infectious and charming. and you will be smiling a lot.

*** out of 4 stars

Another movie that seems like play like an Elvis movie, sans Elvis, this time featuring the effervescent Connie Francis. Oddly enough, despite the dumb script and sort of weird presentation of the star as a second banana, one gets a vague hint than in an alternate universe Connie Francis could've been a dramatic actress. She manages to project desperation in a few scenes in a sort of scary way.

This movie is also a curiosity for the fake late show TV appearances -- Johnny Carson and Danny Thomas -- in the era when Jay Leno appears in every third movie that comes out, hard to remember the beginnings of crossover promotion.

The plot is a typical romantic cross, and it didn't shock me too much to find the screenwriter, Ruth Brooks Flippen, was a writer on both the Gidget movies and the TV show, (as well as a few other notables, e.g. Bewitched) sequeing later to the Odd Couple. It made me want to learn a bit more about her.

If you already like Connie Francis, this will be a delight, and if you're interested in the mating habits of your parents (at least superficially), there are worse ways of spending an hour and a half.

I think this is a Great movie! Most of this cast was also in the movie Where The Boys ARe & their chemisty together is nothing less than great! I LOVE Jim Hutton & think (as always) that he is wonderful! A fun movie......

There were two popular "Connie's" in the 1960's: Warner Bros. had Connie Stevens and would showcase the lovely star in a series of films and across town MGM had Connie Francis and Leo the Lion showcased the songstress in a series of light, fluffy comedies that do no harm but are not so great either: Follow The Boys, When The Boys Meet The Girls and a true classic Where The Boys Are that featured Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton, Yvette Mimieux and Dolores Hart ( who would leave showbiz to be a cloistered Catholic Nun). Looking For Love reprises the cast of Where The Boys Are- Prentiss , Mimieux, Hamilton who by the time this film was made had become major stars and co starred Connie Francis with Jim Hutton who had been on a lengthy suspension at MGM and did this film as his release valve from a ironclad MGM contract. Funny to see tall Jim Hutton in romantic clinches with the petite Ms. Francis.

Note MGM had two other stars under contract George Peppard and Richard Chamberlain, both immensely famous and likely escaped being cast in this film due to their respective standings at MGM

David Barra