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Love in the Afternoon

Love in the Afternoon

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A flawless tribute to Lubitsch
Review: This is Billy Wilder's tribute to Ernest Lubitsch. And it is flawless. No other leading man than Gary Cooper could have pulled off the last third of the film, when his aging ladies man character is turned into a basket case by Audrey Hepburn. Had Cary Grant played the role, never would an audience have believed for a moment that the unruffable Grant would have become such an emotional wreck. This also has the most romantic ending in the history of film. A great film!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cooper and Hepburn Are Delightful
Review: This is delightful romantic romp between Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn. Cooper is an internationally known wealthy womanizer. Hepburn is a young and inexperienced innocent whose greatest delights in life had been her father (Maurice Chavalier), a private investigator, her chello, and reading her father's accounts of the infamous Mr. Cooper.

Hepburn finds out that Cooper's life is in danger when an irrate husband shows up at her father's Paris flat demanding Cooper's whereabouts.

Hepburn comes to Cooper's rescue, not only from the irrate husband, but eventually she manages to save him from himself as well.

It is a delightful movie and Hepburn as always is gorgeous and Cooper ruggedly handsome. It's a movie that will rest gently on both the heart and mind. It truly is a must see for any Cooper and/or Hepburn fan.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Pleasant Romantic Comedy
Review: This is not classic Billy Wilder. The film is too long, and suffers from some lulls. Maurice Chevalier doesn't have enough to do. Gary Cooper looks tired, and is mismatched next to the vibrant Audrey Hepburn. The scenario is interesting, and there are some lovely moments. Overall, the film is good, but not extraordinary. For a better Wilder romantic comedy, try "A Foreign Affair."

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A tragedy disguised as a love story
Review: This movie helps us to understand why the divorce rate is so high amongst this generation. The story line is written to depict a great love founded on lies and deceit. Cooper plays a skirt chasing, immoral, philanderer, who has absolutely no depth of character and nothing positive to offer, other than financial security. Hepburn portrays an idiot child who can't see what a loser she pursues. The differences in their ages could suggest that Cooper is a child molester. I found this movie disturbing and annoying.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A tragedy disguised as a love story
Review: This movie helps us to understand why the divorce rate is so high amongst this generation. The story line is written to depict a great love founded on lies and deceit. Cooper plays a skirt chasing, immoral, philanderer, who has absolutely no depth of character and nothing positive to offer, other than financial security. Hepburn portrays an idiot child who can't see what a loser she pursues. The differences in their ages could suggest that Cooper is a child molester. I found this movie disturbing and annoying.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It was facination, you see...
Review: What an innocent film... an older man... a younger girl... sounds more like obsession than facination. However, Billy Wilder tells his little tale with complete tongue in cheek. The aging Gary Cooper was perfect for this role. His star was fading from Hollywood. He only had a few more decent roles after this one before he passed away, much too young. Here he is in a rare comedic performance that is far from being fraternal. Leacherous is more like it.

Enter I. A. Diamond, Wilder's best collaborator. Along with BW, they crafted a rather coy and innocent script that satisfies many middle aged men's fantasies about loving a girl less than half their age. Hepburn is her usual beautiful alluring self, decked out in Givency, and looking "maw-velous!" Funny and sad at the same time with a twist at the end, this film is a must to collect for fans of Wilder and his special comedic talent.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: DISAPPOINTED CLIMAX FOR LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON
Review: When teenage Arienne (Audrey Hepburn)decides to follow one of her father's clients, a middle-age bachelor with a penchant for seducing married ladies (Gary Cooper), she accidentally discovers herself succumbing to "Love In The Afternoon". Arienne's father (Maurice Chevalier) is dead set against the match until he realizes it is true love. This is an elegant little nothing from director, Billy Wilder and, sandwiched somewhere between Sunset Blvd. and the ultra chic, Sabrina, it generally tends to get overlooked. A real shame, because this is a great romantic comedy/drama with an unusually sober ending.
Warner Home Video has given us a rather dull looking transfer. The gray scale starts out good but then deteriorates to a rather blurry mess mid-way through. The picture is incredibly soft focused at times with the entire image presented as one big blurry mess. When the picture is sharp, background detail is fairly accurately rendered with only a hint of edge enhancement, pixelization or aliasing problems. However, at least 30% of the image is very weak in its visual clarity. Black levels are weak. Contrast levels are often worse. The audio is mono and unusually strident, with a considerable amount of background hiss that is not usually the norm for Warner Brother DVD's. NO EXTRAS. A genuine shame.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a great film badly in need of another transfer. I recommend the movie. Not the DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wilder's Parisian souffle
Review: With two of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, and (despite the silly plot) a sharp and witty script, this film is an evergreen, and one I never tire of watching.
Audrey Hepburn is enchanting as the spunky "Thin Girl", a cello student who falls in love with a millionaire playboy bachelor, played with grace and charm (and quite a bit of humor) by Gary Cooper. Hepburn was 28 at the time, and looked younger, Cooper was 56, and looked perhaps older, but despite the age difference, their chemistry together sparkles and sizzles.

The romantic cat and mouse game played by Hepburn to intrigue and win Cooper's heart is all very innocent and sweet, and I always shed a few tears at the magical ending.
Maurice Chevalier as Hepburn's father, a private detective specializing in matters of love and deception is fabulous, and gets most of the funny lines, and John McGiver, as one of Chevalier's jealous husband clients, is also very amusing.

The b & w cinematography by William Mellor is exceptional, and how the camera loves Audrey, looking exquisite in an array of beautiful gowns. There is also a quartet called "The Gypsies", who serenade the lovers throughout the film with some terrific czardas, and the melodic song "Fascination".
Light, frothy, and thoroughly enjoyable, this is one of Billy Wilder's most delightful films, and it's a treasure for Hepburn and Cooper fans.
Total running time is 130 minutes.


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