THE LOVE MACHINE

US, 1971, 108 minutes, Colour.
John Philip Law, Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, David Hemmings.
Directed by Jack Haley Jr.

The Love Machine is one of those strange Hollywood phenomena, the film version of a trashy novel that does well at the box-office. The characters are generally stereotypes, the dialogue and situations almost always clichéd. Enough sex and swearing can be added acceptably because audiences can follow the intrigues of the story with curiosity and the ending is superficially moral. As an example of this, The Love Machine does very well. There is a lot of fascination with a behind the small-screen story of TV studios and personalities, colour, romances, in-fighting and clashes. They are all here with good actors going through predictable papers. one of the values of film discussion ought to be a realistic assessment of the worth and impact of popular box-office melodramas like this. (Jacqueline - Valley of the Dolls - Susann wrote the book.)

1. Why are films like this so popular?

2. Were there any real characters in the film or were they all contrived, "cardboard" personalities indulging in ambition, power and sex for the audience's vicarious enjoyment? Or is this too harsh a judgement?

3. "The Love Machine" was supposed to be the television set and then Robin Stone himself. How did this name apply to each?

4. What did the title song tell us about Robin Stone? Did it dignify him and arouse our interest in him as a hero?

5. Do you think the film gave you an accurate look into the TV executive world or was it an exaggerated and sensationalised world? What truth and accuracy do you think there was in it?

6. Did you like Robin Stone? Why? What kind of personality did he have? Was he just a self-centred, ambitious sex-machine or was there anything more to him?

7. Why did Amanda love him? was she too possessive e.g. the ring, jealousy? Were you surprised when she committed suicide?

8. What kind of men were Greg Austin and Denton Miller? Were they likeable? Did they do their job well? How did they react to Robin Stone? Did they have many personal feelings besides ambition and power?

9. What kind of a woman was Judith Austin? Did she have anything to recommend her? Why did Stone make the mistake of not seeing how powerful she was?

10. Why was Jerry Nelson brought into the film - just for a fashion of having a homosexual character? Did David Hemmings make him credible at all?

11. What was the purpose of having Christy and Ethel Evans in the story? What did their episodes reveal about programming, audiences, publicity, good taste, manipulation?

12. Did the film have anything of value to say about the television world?

13. Was the whole film in good taste?

14. Why was Robin Stone defeated? Who won? By what means? Did Stone deserve this? Would he succeed another day? Why?

15. Do audiences really enjoy films like this? Why?