Of Love and Desire

Merle Oberon became a legend for her beauty that never faded. She just went one remaining beautiful decade after decade, from the 30s and into the 60s, and somehow, in this film, which she made when she was 52, she is still more beautiful than ever, besides being a very good and perfectly convincing actress. This film is particularly romantic, set in a gorgeously lush Acapulco with some dominating scenes set in her own actual garden, drowning in gorgeous flowers. It's a film of people living in exaggerated opulence, they can do what they want and buy whatever they desire, so Merle Oberon bought this marvellous villa of unlimited space of rooms and floors, where one lover after another leave their bathing suits behind, unintentionally because of refuted love, because she never gets the one she wants, who is a ghost of the past lost in the war, apparently by suicide for having been refuted by her, the first of many. It's a great story of significant psychological interest, since her half brother (Curt Jürgens) is equally passionate but in a different direction, of jealousy for her. In all this the blank businessman and engineer Steve Cochran stumbles in and, like all the others, can't find his way out. The colours and the music add considerable lustre to the film, nothing is wrong, everything is beauty and love and passion, while, as usual, only the passion goes wrong, but things get sorted out.

Beautiful photography and wonderful atmospherics of early 60's Mexico as it was back then. It was a good era to visit Mexico as I remember, having been there for the first time in 1961 (yes I'm old). Merle Oberon looks beautiful and displays real star power. Steve Cochran strolls through the film portraying an engineer stuck in Mexico, loafing around waiting for equipment to arrive. Cochran is well cast since he was apparently a world-class loafer at times in his life. He would die amid mystery and sleaze a mere 2 years after the film's release, his rotting and putrid corpse found on a derelict boat in the Pacific Ocean, accompanied by two surviving female "attendants".

Oberon's acting is good, but the role makes you wonder why anyone would care about the affairs of silly, spoiled rich woman "Katherine", her character in this film. Katherine, you need to see a shrink.

Featuring good scenery and atmospherics vs. a shallow plot that drags especially toward the ending, this film will probably entertain Merle Oberon's fans. Other viewers must choose whether they have the time to invest watching this to experience Ms. Oberon's undeniable star power, or just skip it.

Back in the day, when a woman reached the age of forty, she cut her hair and started wearing sensible clothing with high-cut necklines. When she reached fifty, she focused on her grandchildren and wore orthopedic shoes. She certainly didn't prance around in revealing swimsuits, wear low-cut evening gowns, and enjoy numerous lovers! Well, when Merle Oberon was fifty-two, she did all those things in the risqué drama Of Love and Desire. What a knockout!

Steve Cochran meets Merle when he gets a new engineering job in Mexico. Her brother Curd Jurgens is his boss and owner of the company, and he's pretty protective over her. Steve tries to stay away from Merle because he thinks she's just an irresponsible flirt, but over time, he goes the way of all the other men who came before him. He becomes completely enamored by her, risking his job and the wrath of Curd.

If you're a Merle Oberon fan, you're going to want to watch this movie. If you're neutral about her, you can probably skip it. Yes, it's naughty and fun at times, but it also has a darker twist that will (hopefully) make audiences feel uncomfortable.

Although you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate it. It is an odd, strange, quirky film but I've seen it at least a dozen times if not more and don't tire of it. Ronald Stein's score is terrific, and there was a soundtrack album for this that was fairly faithful to the film's soundtrack. Of course there is more music in the film, but the soundtrack album is worth buying if you like this score (but it is hard to find). This was Merle Oberon's baby, she was behind the production of it and the homes seen in the film were hers.

I love these types of movies. Merle Oberon playing a middle aged nymphomaniac. Curt Jurguns is her half brother. I swear there is some underlying incest issues going on. In any case she falls in love with the Steve Cochern character. Brother doesn't like it and sets her up.

What I like about this movie other then the trashy plot is that the principles are all played by age appropriate people. We do not have a bunch of middle aged men chasing after young woman half their age. We have a middle aged John Agar and Steve Cochran playing middle aged Oberons other suitors. And the scenery is breathtaking. This is not Cukor but it is trashy enough to make it so bad it is good. And something good has to be said about a movie that actually has middle aged men lusting after a middle aged woman. How refreshing. Plus I am a big fan of Curt Jurguns.