Qu'est-ce qui fait courir les filles?

Mostly dreary vacation movie filmed on Hollywood back lots standing in for various South American locales, with lots of travel footage sandwiched in between the studio stuff. Why the studio didn't have the cast go on location is beyond me. The year was 1959 and the film is in color, and it is all too apparent when the actors are performing on sound stages. Clifton Webb and Jane Wyman take daughters Carol Lynley and Jill St. John on vacation only to have the girls fall in love with total strangers (Gary Crosby as a military man for Lynley and a Latin actor playing a playboy for St. John). Webb is funny as always while Wyman is strictly window dressing. Paul Henreid does a nice turn as the playboy's dad. Badly dated.

My husband and I have seen this twice. He is not usually an older movie fan, but watches it with me. He laughed often all the way through. Perhaps if you are a parent you see it as being a bit more realistic in how a parent would respond to their children growing up. I thought it was very good, but I knew it was good for us because of the father's, Clifton Webb's, reactions. Jane Wyman was the peacekeeping mother, which I think is still more common than we admit. And to the person who complained they did not recognize Jill St. John because she did not have red hair, please. She was on her third movie, I believe, and many actors and actress change looks, hair color included and sometimes a minor part of the change, for the screen. The story line was a fairly natural progression of a young woman's family meeting her intended's family, but in a foreign country and with some mix ups, and the differences both sides may have in a bit of a culture clash. The addition of the younger daughter, played by Carol Lynley, was done very well, and the awareness of the parents in confirming they had two adult daughters reminded me especially of my father as his daughters grew up. My father had three, along with three sons, and was protective also, but brought us up to think for ourselves, sometimes to his chagrin. The scenery was beautiful and I think the producers really tried to give you the feeling that you were seeing some of Brazil at that time period. The sandwiches at the bullfight, and the American reaction to what they thought they wanted to see, is a good example, along with more obvious landmark views. Enjoy!

In Holiday For Lovers Clifton Webb plays a psychiatrist who practices in Boston and is married to Jane Wyman and is trying to raise two daughters played by Jill St. John and Carol Lynley. Jill is studying architecture in Sao Paulo with renowned leader of the field Paul Henreid. A letter from her makes her parents rather suspicious that architecture is not all that Henreid has in mind. So all three decide to take an immediate vacation in South America. All without ever leaving the 20th Century back lot.

The problem isn't Henreid who just sees St. John as a talented student, but Henreid's son Nico Minardos who is a Brazilian beatnik and really does not want to work. Both Webb and Henreid have real concerns.

In addition Carol Lynley is swept off her feet by Air Force enlistee Gary Crosby. They have a whirlwind courtship of their own while Webb, Wyman, and Henreid are dealing the other children.

Webb and Wyman really don't have great chemistry as a married couple, their scenes seem forced. Doing better in that department are Wally Brown and Henny Backus playing a pair of crass American tourists who get Webb and his family in some interesting trouble with customs officials in Lima, Peru.

The South American holiday does feature some nice second unit cinematography which serve as rather obvious backgrounds that the studio bound cast steps in front of. Nobody got a trip to Sao Paulo, Rio De Janiero or Lima out of this except cameramen. This was because Clifton Webb's career as a star was winding down, his rather unique appeal was waning by 1959. He would do one more film and that one, Satan Never Sleeps would make this rather average family comedy look like Citizen Kane.

Clifton webb, jane wyman are the deans, who send their daughter meg (jill saint john) off to south america on holiday. When she decides to stay for a while, they drop everything and troop off to sao paolo. They meet senor barroso (paul henreid), who is so much older than meg, so mom and dad already don't approve. The strengths: there are some clever lines in here, in between all the misunderstandings. Sooo many double entendres! It's kind of fun and exotic to zip off to south america, although the actors may never have actually left the studio. There's a real fun version of chattanooga choo choo about halfway through. And flamenco dancers. The weaknesses: much of the sound quality is just terrible. Many loud echoes. And some of the lines are delivered with odd timing or a cardboard delivery. There's an odd chemistry between the actors for most of the film. We can tell the film code was long gone by this time... gary crosby plays a sex starved military guy chasing the younger sister. Who enjoys being grabbed and kissed by a soldier she just met. And the soldier isn't very polite to the parents, when he asks if he can marry the daughter. Military guys are typically very respectful to parents and superiors. Directed by henry levin. Based on the play by ronald alexander. It's just okay. Not my favorite film. So much fighting. A visit to sao paolo should be fun and happy! Webb only made one more film after this, and died a couple years later.

College lass from Boston takes a summer tour of Brazil to study art, decides to stay on in São Paulo where she has become the latest protégé of a debonair older man, a famous architect and sculptor known for his nudes; Dad, Mom, and Sis fly out, too, once they get the news. Extremely weak travelogue-cum-romantic comedy from Fox, featuring the requisite sight-seeing bits and landmark stops yet far too much back-projection and set-bound stints. At first, the parents (Jane Wyman and fussy Clifton Webb) appear to be excited about spending some time together down South America way--but after their happy, smiling daughter meets them at the airport, all Pop does is grouse (he seems jealous of the student-teacher relationship between Jill St. John and Paul Henreid, a sidebar which may have been worth exploring under different circumstances). The cinematography is mediocre, making everyone look short and stumpy (even leggy St. John), and the romantic shenanigans which ensue are not breezy or funny enough to pump much life into this narrative, which covers all-too familiar territory. ** from ****