Doesn't pull any weight - despite 3 strong actors as leads - till the last third of the movie.
At this point, we are treated to some humour at last . . . And connectivity between the characters. Eva Marie Saint does a surprising scene of a comic drunk song dance, with Bob Hope. As if she finally felt at home in the role, Saint suddenly springs to life and is at last believable in the film. And the viewer finally gets to see the chemistry between the characters of the ex-wife & ex-husband.
Up till that point Saint had looked like she was doing the old trope of an aloof ash-blonde clothes horse. Maybe she was told to by the production team, so no shame on her as an actress, but you just couldn't see within the film plot how two such opposing character types as she & Hope had ever had enough connecting them to get married. Now, finaly, we could.
I must say, I have only ever seen Saint in two other roles that I remember ('Waterfront' & 'Northwest'), where she also does the Grace Kelly/Tippi Hedren thing of largely just posing on set as an ice princess. Seeing this 'TSW' film now makes me realise that Saint had hidden talents that were probably never really tested on screen. The great costumier Edith Head's outfits are, as ever, gorgeous. But they basically hide the character in Saint that we should have been shown. Being beautiful could be a huge burden to an actress & entertainer back in the '50s . . . !
Poor George Sanders is somewhat typecast as a pompous Britisher {as the Americans DO seem to love naming us! ,-) }. Sadly he is plagued by a ridiculously over-convoluted way of speaking. This is clearly deliberate: his character's annoyingly verbose and self-centred style. But when you put it in at the start of the film, with the mix of Hope & Saint failing to set the screen alight for an hour, it just produces a dirge of scenes for most of the film.
Bob Hope has some superb lines, right from the start and throughout the film. He delivers them with typical aplomb, and with the usual brilliant comic effect. This at least makes HIS input create a watchable movie. So there is no falting that character or the scriptwriters' skilled involvement - thus far - in the final movie. But he seems to be sailing alone in this vessel. I was honestly thinking this was the worst film I had ever seen Hope in, till all changed . . .
As fortunately, one hour in, the chemistry between the 3 players changes. At last, we see a comedy movie worth its salt. So in the end the film was rated a 7/10 rather than a 5 or 6. Shame it didn't show any of the 'zing' Pearl Bailey references in the movie, earlier on. Now that WOULD have been a complete winner of a film.
