Pretty Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Marrying the wrong sister has become a basic theme in Hollywood films. No, this isn't "Green Dolphin Street," where the actual wrong marriage took place. Rather, this is a silly, pretentious film of a wealthy executive becoming enamored with the youngest daughter of Walter Slezak in Italy. Slezak steals every scene he is in along with Paul Henried, of all people, who turns in a gem of a performance as a Polish count-sculptor who loves the oldest daughter.Slezak is perplexed because he strongly believes in the old European custom that his children marry by who is the oldest, and so on and so forth.Dean immediately concocts a plan to marry his executives to the remaining three. He finally realizes at film's end that he is meant for the eldest daughter.The ending where all four girls march out of church married leaves a confused Slezak as he incorrectly pairs them with their beaus.

This was, of course, the first Dean Martin film in which heappeared without his entertainment partner Jerry Lewis.Thirty years ago, someone had told me that this was anexcellent movie, and that Dean Martin's films had declined fromthis start.I finally got a chance to see the film, and I do think that it was anexcellent qualified debut! I rate it 10 out of a possible 10.The songs and the singing were exquisite. The plot was alittle confusing with set of the Italian sisters, but typical M-G-Moriginal screenplay quality. I cannot understand, though, why none of this was put into anyof the M-G-M compilation That's Entertainment films! I think thatDean Martin's presence would have been an enhancement to theother great stars. Even the hilarious interpretation (not by Mr.Martin) of Bill Haley's Rock around the Clock would have been agood source of material.See this film whenever you get the chance!

This was Dean Martin's first solo movie after his split with Jerry Lewis and a pretty dire one it is too. He plays "Hunter" a millionaire hotelier who flies to Rome to oversee the latest addition to his empire-a traditional old Roman hotel acquired from its aristocratic patron.While there he becomes engaged to the youngest of the four daughters of a musician (played winningly by Walter Slezak in the best performance in the movie).He refuses permission for the marriage until the other (elder)daughters are wed .So ,Martin sets out to locate husbands for them .Further complicating matters is the growing affection between his bride to be and his pilot ,as played by Dewey Martin. It helps if you are writing a comedy to include some funny lines or scenes but -some 48 hours after watching the picture not one line or scene stays in my mind as even mildly amusing .Nor are the regular musical interludes in which Martin breaks into song memorable in any way . Martin is woeful -in a role calling for charm he merely appears smug and self satisfied .Thankfully he was to get better at light comedy but this performance is a total misfire . Some nice travelogue shots of Rome compensate but for the most part this is trite and derisory.

This is Dean Martin's first film following his split with partner Jerry Lewis. MGM signed him for this romantic comedy. However, there is nothing funny here. Dean Martin was one of the funniest comedians of the 20th Century. His persona was that of a drunk, sex crazed ne'er-do-well who could not get through a song without either slipping up or telling a joke. Even when he was the low-keyed partner of manic Jerry Lewis, there was something silly about him. He can tell the oldest and cheapest jokes and charm the audience into laughing with him. None of this is seen in this film. This is just another example of how MGM had no idea what to do with comedians. Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and Donald O'Connor were also poorly handled by MGM. Martin is in good company there! Dino plays the straight role of an airline pilot who romances Anna Maria Alberghetti and sings some very poor songs by Nicholas Brodzsky. If Dean's role would have been played by someone like Howard Keel or Vic Damone, maybe I would not be complaining so much about the lack of comedy. But even reliable character actors like Walter Slezak and Jules Munshin are wasted in this bore. Thank goodness Martin was given the chance to play a showy role in "The Young Lions". Another film like this and Dino's movie career would have been over.