The Art of Love

A struggling American painter in Paris (Dick Van Dyke) fakes his death so his paintings will sell. His buddy (James Garner) helps him along. However Van Dyke's girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) believes he's dead and falls for Garner. Then there's Elke Sommer (who's great) as an innocent down on her luck girl and Ethel Merman as a madam (in a wholesome PG sort of way).

Frantic and somewhat amusing comedy. It moves at a fast clip and has a great cast. The main problem is that it just isn't that funny. Dickinson fainting at everything gets old real quick and Garner is a real jerk. However I kept watching and the fast pace kept me interested. This was not a hit when it came out and is kind of difficult to see now. Look for it on TCM.

This is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and I can not, for the life of me, understand why it STILL isn't out on Tape or DVD. Its premise is hysterical and the acting is pure Academy Awards! Especially the old lady who sits by the Guillotine and cackles nothing but "Guillotine! Ha Ha Ha! Guillotine!" I swear; everyone in this film is GREAT! James Garner; Dick Van Dyke; Elke Sommer: Angie Dickinson; They're all hysterical, and the last 15 or 20 minutes of the film is is a total riot! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, Hollyweird Moguls, Get this one out to us!!!! With all the celluloid effluvia out nowadays, let's get this CLASSIC out as soon as possible!!!

This one needs to be out on DVD, with all the violent stuff Hollywood is putting out nowadays, this needs to come out so that we can laugh again. As one other poster commented, PLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE! get this one out. Dick Van Dyke is just hilarious and the way he gets back at his long time friend James Garner is terrific. They don't come up with plots like this in Hollywood anymore. I hope more people can get their votes out on this fabulous movie. Its one of the classics that has been forgotten again, just like some of Danny Kayes classics like "KNOCK ON WOOD" or "MERRY ANDREW" or Bob Hope's "OFF LIMITS".

I would have to totally agree with some of the other comments, that this is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommers, Ethel Merman and others make this movie so hilariously hysterical. Yes it is not an Oscar winning plot, but the story still is so funny that I am hard pressed not to include this in my list of top ten 'Funnist Movies to see' only problem is that unless you find it on the TV as an old movie you cannot see it at all. Which leads me into my question to you 'Imdb'and The Hollywood Moguls how can we solve this horrible oversight. Yes I can play it again in my mind but to watch and hear again especially the hysterical old lady who is cackling "Guillotine! Ha Ha! Guillotine!" would be so awesome, on DVD with lots of bloopers would be a dream come true. Please do not fail us. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, (an E for each year of this oversight, let's hope you don't want FFFFFFFFFFFFF's)

Theowinthrop: "There is also a short story by Mark Twain entitled "IS HE DEAD?" about a plot to make a reputation for a prominent 19th Century artist, Gustave Courbet, by him pretending to be dead, and his paintings being sold for larger and larger amounts of cash so that the still living Courbet and his friends make a huge profit." It was Millet, the artist responsible for THE GLEANERS and other works, who faked his death in order to raise the value of his art. Twain later turned the scam into a play, IS HE DEAD?, which finally got discovered in 2002 and produced on stage in 2007.

That said, THE ART OF LOVE has long been one of my "Favorite Films I Haven't Seen in a Long Long Time." The lack of video release is depressing. Hopefully Universal will start a cable movie channel dedicated to its own films, much like Fox Movie Channel (a great place to see long-forgotten flicks like PRUDENCE AND THE PILL).