A NEW KIND OF LOVE
US, 1963, 110 minutes, Colour.
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Thelma Ritter, Eva Gabor, George Tobias.
Directed by Melville Shavelson.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward worked together in a number of films in the 50s and 60s including The Long Hot Summer, Rally Round the Flag, Boys, Paris Blues, Winning, WUSA and Newman directed his wife in Rachel, Rachel, The Effect of the Gamma Rays as well as The Shadow Box. This is not one of their best collaborations.
The film is a 60s piece of fluff with Paul Newman playing a philandering journalist sent to Paris and Joanne Woodward playing a woman involved in the fashion industry (doing a bit of industrial espionage). Needless to say they encounter one another and fall in love. There is humorous support from Thelma Ritter.
The film was written and directed by Melville Shavelson. Shavelson had a strong record of writing and directing, especially comedies. During the 1950s he made Beau James with Bob Hope as well as The Seven Little Foys; The Five Pennies with Danny Kaye, Houseboat and It Started in Naples with Sophia Loren. After A New Kind of Love he spent several years writing and then directing the Israeli war film, Cast a Giant Shadow (and had such a difficult time that he wrote a book about it).
1. Entertainment of the early 60s? The light touch, romance? A '60s screwball comedy?
2. The work of the director - comic writing, American comedies over the decades? The strength of the cast ? their capacity for satire and comedy? The guest spot for Maurice Chevalier? The satiric touches - and affluent gloss?
3. The world of newspapers, fashions? Money, New York, Paris? The context for the 60s screwball battle of the sexes?
4. Colour photography, locations, Paris, New York? The fashion styles? The hero and heroine on the town? The sports background? The musical interludes? French high society and the atmosphere of callgirl rackets? Comparisons between the United States and France? innocence and experience?
5. The title song? The Maurice Chevalier interlude - reality and fantasy?
6. The initial setting: the papers, Steve and his anger, Harry and the going to Paris? His proving himself, holding on to his job? Comparisons with Sam. her seeming to be a man, her work in fashions, Lena and Bergner and their partnership, stealing the designs, going to Paris? Bringing the hero and heroine together in their clash on the plane?
7. Steve at work: Paul Newman's style, charm, self-assertion? His boss? Sports coverage? Local colour, stories, success? His infatuation with Samantha and her disguise? Moral discussions. decisions. saving her from herself? The discovery of the truth? The final jokes? Paul Newman's success at comedy?
8. Sam and the masculine name, appearance? Joanne Woodward's comic flair? Seeing her at work, stealing the designs. her work in New York? Paris, the clashes with Steve, the Maurice Chevalier interlude? Changing her appearance and the satiric presentation of the make-up, hairdos, clothes? Her listening to Felicienne's stories and adapting them? The humorous satire on society immoral stories? The visual jokes? Her leading Steve on, her getting herself into compromising situations, the final test? Her being caught up in her persona?
9. Felicienne and the Gabor affluent and semi-scandalous style? Her pursuit of Bergner? The contrast with Lena?
10. Lena and Thelma Ritter's genial tough style, loyalty to Bergner, going for a ride alone in the park. advice for Steve, for Sam? Her perennial picture of the tough, tender American middle-aged woman?
11. Bergner and the fashion industry, the garment industry? Reliance on Lena? On Sam? The infatuation with Felicienne? Encounter with Steve? His being set up with Sam? The problem and the revelation of the truth?
12. The atmosphere of France, the Maurice Chevalier touch? Comparison with the United States? Tongue-in-cheek style? Sex comedy, innocence/experience?
