In the Cool of the Day

Saw this one on Turner today- with a great cast: Peter Finch, Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury- all Oscar people (I think)- it was TERRIBLE ! First off, the title seems to mean nothing whatsoever... Angela carps, Jane flirts... they are off to Greece on the flimsiest of pretenses (how dumb can Angela be ?)-- then the same cat/mouse game continues-- lots of good shots of Grecian ruins, but a travelogue would have been a lot more honest use of celluloid !

I give it a one, just for Jane Fonda's 'hair' (a lot of us are obsessing about it...), which - seems to be what's most interesting in a very dreary, creaky RomDram from '63.

I don't know the story of where the title a actually came from, but, the fact that it's 'opposite' (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) titled film was such a well-received film came out AFTER this (as well as the book that film's based on) is probably one of the more interesting aspects going on in it's making.

In her interview with Robert Osborne (PRIVATE SCREENINGS), Angela Lansbury said that it was a 'difficult' project for her, and, while she did her best, she didn't think it was 'that good.'

Thus was an early vehicle for the young, gorgeous Fonda. She was still not fully comfortable on camera, and it shows. The film tries to showcase her as the typical 'sexy, young girl,' this time playing married (to the older Arthur Hill), who shares 'common interests' with the also married - to Angela Lansbury - Peter Finch.

ICD tries to be too many things, but fails in them all.

This was put out at a time in Hollywood before the 'revolutions' of sex, politics would play out in the real world. MGM - desperately trying to find a direction to navigate this tidal change - ends up with a film that might've been 'ahead of it's time' had it come out a few years earlier, but, as the grounds were already trembling, MGM ends up behind-the- times, with a product that - besides the natural beauty of Greece (where this was shot on location) feels very forced and dated.

The premise of In the Cool of the Day was intriguing: a married man falls for his friend's wife while on vacation in Greece. Since I'd just come back from a vacation in Greece myself, I was looking forward to watching it. Plus, any movie with the insanely beautiful Jane Fonda will be good, right? Not so much. And the hairdresser and makeup artist must have hated their leading lady. Poor Miss Fonda was given a hideous wig and strange eye makeup to distort her features - you can still tell she's a beautiful woman underneath all that, but it's painful to watch such attempts to make her look otherwise. She does get to wear some gorgeous outfits, though.

Peter Finch is the lead, and he's unhappily married to Angela Lansbury. Angela refuses to be seen in public because she doesn't want the "disfiguring" scars on her face to attract attention. But there's nothing wrong with her face at all! Perhaps the makeup artist was too busy with Jane Fonda to remember Angela's scar tissue. Anyway, Peter goes from one sick woman to another: Jane has bad lungs and could die from pneumonia at any time. Then why is she practically chain-smoking throughout the entire movie?

Thankfully, there are other movies you can watch if you want to see the sights of Greece. And even more thankfully, there are other movies you can watch if you're a Jane Fonda fan (and who isn't?). So why watch this one? It's weird, uneven, and disappointing.

It "wasn't very good."

Jane Fonda, Peter Finch, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Hill, and Constance Cummings star in "In the Cool of the Day" (1963.

I have no idea what the title means. It's one of those titles like "Fever in the Blood." Actually, "Fever in the Blood" would have been better.

Murray Logan (Finch) plays a publisher who falls in love with his friend Sam's (Arthur Hill) young wife Christine (Jane Fonda). She is a fragile woman both physically and emotionally, suffering from a lung disorder.

Part of her problem is her mother (Constance Cummings); she is afraid of her and hates to be around her. Christine's husband worships the ground she walks on, but at this point, they are separated and she is living with her father (Alexander Bonner), and they meet at his house.

Murray's wife, Sibyl (Angela Lansbury) is a recluse, due to a horrid automobile accident she and Murray were in which killed their little boy. Murray feels responsible so he puts up with her, though she's a nasty woman.

Sam makes certain promises to Christine about the way she can live her life -- he's very suffocating -- and she desperately wants to see Greece. She invites Murray and Sibyl to accompany her and Sam. Surprisingly, Sibyl accepts.

The Grecian scenery is stunning.

The movie overall moves like molasses, and it was difficult to invest in any of the characters.

As far as Fonda's hair - it was distracting. It's also the way women wore their hair in the '60s. I didn't mind her clothes, which some have mentioned. She was still quite beautiful.

The performances were okay - for me, only Lansbury and Cummings provided any spark. Fonda's performance was a little mannered for me. I can never get over the fact that Arthur Hill was the original George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf because he's the same in every single thing I've seen him in. Peter Finch didn't register a ton of emotion.

The ending was very clichéd.

I just found it a waste of good talent and beautiful locations.

Christine Bonner (Jane Fonda) is getting away from her overly-protective husband Sam (Arthur Hill) and dreams of going to Greece. She is counselled by family friend Murray Logan (Peter Finch). He has his own marital issues with wife Sybil (Angela Lansbury).

Everybody is troubled and I like that aspect. I don't buy the romance in any shape or form. I'm more interested in the two characters working out their problems with their individual marriage partners. A better movie would be Murray dealing with his wife and Christine dealing with Sam. They could separate if that's for the best but at least they would be adults about it. They're just running away from their problems. It doesn't seem to matter that it's with each other. She's going to Greece either way. This has some exotic locations but the movie makes them look dour. I don't mind a sad movie but this is a movie about two people running away from their marriages without dealing with the underlying problems. It's not romantic.