Affaire ultra-secrète

Solid performances by both Hayward and Douglas and a nice turn by Jim Backus in this battle-of-the-wills comedy. Hayward is head of a Time/Life-style empire that attempts to smear the record of war hero general Douglas. As worthy opponents the sparks are subtle and adult, especially for the time. It avoids politics in an obvious way while showcasing why Kirk Douglas had legions of female fans, and why Susan Hayward was the thinking man's movie fave. Not a knee-slapper, but fairly realistic as a smart comedy. Worth a watch and better than Leonard Maltin thinks it is.

This was inspired by John P. Marquand's 1951 novel "Melville Goodwin: USA." The book was about an Army general's affair with a prominent woman, and it was one of Marquand's most entertaining. Unfortunately, the movie retains almost nothing of the original story except for the names of the two romantic leads. In the book, the general is already married, and making him a bachelor in the movie simply changes everything. The movie even eliminates the narrator of the book, who supplied much of its humor. Readers of the book can watch the movie with no sense of what will happen next. The two are that different, and the movie is undeniably inferior.

This movie starts out like the kind of romantic comedy that Hollywood often does well. Susan Hayward is a powerful publisher who wants to discredit an army general (Kirk Douglas) in her magazine. For the first part of the movie, while their relationship is more adversarial, the film moves along fine and is both amusing and enjoyable. However, as the relationship changes and the story gets more complicated, the movie starts to run out of steam. This is a strange phenomenon, as one can almost pinpoint the exact moment when the air starts to go out of the balloon.

On the plus side, the film has two top-notch stars and a fine supporting cast including Paul Stewart and Jim Backus. But since, in my opinion, the film gets weaker instead of stronger as it goes along I can only give it a marginal recommendation.

With the powerful energy and sex appeal present in both Kirk Douglas and Susan Hayward, isn't it strange that when they finally made a movie together, it was a comedy? It's an oddball comedy, a supposed battle of the sexes that doesn't really hit the mark of any target, but if you want to see both their energies up on the silver screen together, you've got to rent it.

Kirk is a war hero, a general up for a big promotion. Suzy is a journalist, in charge of a great deal of publicity (good or bad) in the country. She doesn't know him and doesn't like him, and she plans to turn a seemingly harmless interview into a damning reputation crusher. Kirk arrives at her house with his faithful sidekicks, Paul Stewart and Jim Backus, and his precise regime of eating, exercise, bedtime, and moral etiquette immediately irritate Suzy. What does she do when she realizes there's no legitimate dirt to find? She forgets she's a journalist and remembers she's a woman; in other words, she fights dirty.

Even though this is far from a romantic comedy, some naughty bits made it through the censors and amused audiences. In order to be alone with him, Suzy says she gets "inhibited with more than one man in the bedroom," effectively sending Jim and Paul away. When she's particularly mad, Kirk reminds her she can't yet make good on her threat to kill him, because "generals die in bed," and in that scene they're nowhere near a bedroom. There were some funny moments, and some more dramatic moments, but all in all it felt like a waste of their talents. Since we all know they're capable of making better movies, have one of your favorites on hand for next weekend.

Dottie Peale (Susan Hayward) is the formidable anti-military head of a media empire. Maj. Gen. Melville A. Goodwin (Kirk Douglas) is a fast-rising popular figure who has been appointed to a political position. Dottie wants that position for a family friend and is looking to take down Goodwin to get it.

I want a better meet-cute at an earlier point. She shouldn't be in a mind set before their first meeting. If he could get her goat sooner, she would be that much more driven to take him down. This has to accept the required precepts of the great meet-cute. The aim should be a love-hate relationship, but this starts with hate-hate. It's not quite right, but they do move in the right direction. Drunken Hayward is fun. It is an interesting pairing with the age-appropriate Hayward. I don't know if they do other movies together. Bogie and Bacall is probably the more standard pairing.