The Moon Is Blue (1953)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Overrated

Expected more

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The good news is about the most clever dialog I've seen in a film in a very long time. The bad news is that that dialog came from the play of the same name, and the film looks very much like a play with very limited sets...cheap looking sets at that. Add in that the print seen broadcast today has not survived well and...well, it isn't the easiest film to watch.The story is a bit interesting, although it may not sound so -- odd girl meets city architect at the Empire State Building. They fall in love. Then out of love...all in one 24 hour period. And then back in love. What's interesting about it is the very unusual girl played by Maggie McNamara. Very interesting character.To me, McNamara is the real star here. Unfortunately, though her early career began with great promise (as sort of a down-to-earth Audrey Hepburn), she dropped out of acting, ended up as a temp typist, and committed suicide at age 49.William Holden's role here as the love interest is good, though not remarkable. David Niven is interesting here...sort of competition in the love department, but not really. It's a bit of a subdued Niven, although Niven could give real bite to his acting...and does here. Also of interest to me is Tom Tully in a small role as the father of McNamara's competition; his next role was as the wizened skipper of the ship in "The Caine Mutiny".Do I recommend this film? If you like clever repartee, then yes. If you like a story with a plot that moves along with different scenery, then no.

Watching The Moon Is Blue today is watching a rather ordinary comedy that had a respectable run on Broadway (924 performances in the 1951- 1953 season) that got blown totally out of proportion because of the attendant publicity.More tickets were sold for this film, more publicity was generated for this film than the hype of a dozen press agents by the actions of the censors, in this case the Catholic Legion Of Decency who objected to the words 'pregnant' and 'virgin' being in the script. But isn't that always the case, tell people something is banned and they flock to see it out of curiosity if nothing else.Otto Preminger directed the play on Broadway and brought it here to the cinema and expanded it a bit for the screen. The roles of the cab driver Gregory Ratoff, the TV singer Fortunio Bonanova, interestingly enough the daughter of David Niven, Dawn Addams did not exist in the original play. It was a four person comedy with a cast that included Barbara Bel Geddes, Barry Nelson, Donald Cook, and Ralph Dunn playing the parts that went to Maggie McNamara, William Holden, David Niven and Tom Tully.However Maggie McNamara did play the lead in the national touring company and Preminger did bring her to Hollywood. She even received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but lost that year to a very similar actress in a similar role, Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday.The wolfish William Holden spots McNamara leaving his building and follows her up to the top of the Empire State Building observation deck. You know the old saying, he pursued her enough until she decided to let him catch her. They go back to his apartment where she also arouses the interest in an old roué in the person of neighbor David Niven. Holden was going out for a bit with his daughter Dawn Addams. The two pursue her for the rest of the film and you figure out who she winds up with.This is the plot of a gazillion comedies and the mere use of a couple of forbidden words elevated The Moon Is Blue to something way beyond what it actually merited. The Moon Is Blue also got Oscar nominations for the title song and for film editing.This film did not lead to a brilliant film career for Maggie McNamara. That tragic woman did a couple of better films Prince Of Players and Three Coins In The Fountain and then Otto Preminger also cast her in The Cardinal. All of those were better than The Moon Is Blue for which she was nominated.Looking at that film almost 60 years later, you scratch your head and wonder what the big deal was with his movie.

I was a kid when I first saw it, and despite difficulty in following the plot, I knew this was a very likable movie. When I saw it decades later, all my early perceptions were amply confirmed. Of course, the writer deserves most of the plaudit. It's my favorite Maggie McNamara movie. Her death has not even registered on Hollywood's tragedy-recycling radars. Nor have many others. (Kevin Coughlin, Brandon de Wilde, Bobby Driscoll, Scotty Beckett). With disbelief I read that in her last years Maggie had to type for a living. She was a true, dedicated thespian without any vanity, a lady.

Maybe it's just me, but I am a "sucker' for these goofy films predicated on a chance meeting between the opposite sexes and what happens next! A sophisticated architect meets a gal, chases up the Empire State Building to catch her, does so and then......well, you'll just have to watch to find out what quirky things happen next. Suffice to say that Holden and Niven are great, and who would have expected the Catholic Legion of Decency to issue a "C" condemned rating for this film when Holden had actually said "no" to his girlfriend? A must-see on the history of motion picture ratings, if nothing else.