The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)

Let's be realistic.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Beautiful, moving film.

As Good As It Gets

For years this was panned as a turkey (including Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide which awarded this trip to Eden the infamous BOMB!) I have a great fondness for this completely whacked, fantasy-adult comedy. First, the film opens with what appears to be the trailer for the film but is actually a funky introductory segment. Then we launch right into Paul Anka's opening title track - which is a swinging little number. The film makes no bones that this is intended to be an "adult comedy" with loads of double entendres and Mickey's leering, over-the-top portrayal of Nick Lewis a.k.a. "the Devil." But the true fruits are to be savored in producer Albert Zugsmith's Eden where the fabulous Mamie Van Doren strolls the garden in the tiniest fig leaf bikini yet seen in an American studio release. (And this was two years before Ursula Andress' famous bikini intro. from "Dr. NO.") I just wish Universal would re-strike a new print for DVD release because the current copies yield a Spectracolor that has turned, much like Eve's apple, bloody red. "Adam and Eve" is a pleasure - albeit a guilty one.

i saw this movie on late-night t.v. back in 1962. i had no idea what it was about, as i had never watched it anytime before. i was a teenager and really am a fan of teen oriented movies, and like Paul Anka and his singing, i decided to see the movie and observe where it was headed. i noticed it was in b&w and an obscure film. after seeing it, i looked for it to play maybe at a later time but years passed and it was never shown. this makes me realize the rarity and vintage appreciation of the film as i myself am a vintage-teen movie buff and i try to collect as many 40's-50's-and 60's movie that i can find .some are shown on pay-cable t.v., others on e-bay to purchase, most reproduced on to d.v.d. the private lives of Adam and eve, i feel, even though the story is weak, due to it's obscurity and the vintage of its production era, it's a collectors prize.

Very peculiar comedy is alternately clever and lame... but ultimately it succeeds in providing some mild amusement. It's hard to fathom why it was so soundly condemned in its day, perhaps making a surreal comic travesty out of part of the Bible was just too far ahead of its time. It is certainly far less irreverent than "The Life of Brian." Some sequences (such as the devil's playing piano and having a barbecue) may have provided the inspiration for such scenes as the Herod scene in "Jesus Christ, Superstar." Another thing that might have irritated the bluestockings is the fact that Adam, Eve, and Lillith are definitely hot, Milner looking better out of his clothes than he ever looked in them. It's kind of like a sexy, live action Flinstones, altogether harmless and amusing. Catch the cave scene where A&E quarrel over moving the boulders (furniture)and the one in which the devil convinces Eve to cut her long hair (strategically pasted to her breasts) only to reveal a leaf -pattern bra underneath! It's full of little comic gems and some funny dialog regarding the pair's living conditions and social standing. Eve: "If I had a mother, I'd go home to her!" Adam: "Don't be silly...I AM your mother!"

I don't care what everyone else said but I liked this film.Sure it's silly with the dream sequence in the middle andalternates between black and white and color, but it's god a sense of fun about it. It's also got some really nice looking ladies and Eve manages to walk in a skirt that looks almost too tight to fit into. LOL..... Sure the film didn't win or for that matter deserve to win awards for production or such but it's fun.... I had fun watching it and it just felt like there was a sense of fun in the story. 6/10