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The Marriage-Go-Round



The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)

Director: Walter Lang
Writers: Leslie Stevens (play), Leslie Stevens
Cast: Susan Hayward, James Mason, Julie Newmar
Genre: Comedy


"A Swedish woman wants her American host to father her baby."

This rather luke warm film about free love is based on the mildly successful 1958 play of the same name, by Leslie Stevens. Not having the luxury of seeing the play I can only guess it was much steamier than this rather tepid (even for 1961) film.

In the late 1950s so called adult themed sex movies became popular. Of course nothing was shown and nothing usually happened but just the idea that something forbidden could happen was enough to drive people to the theaters. Some of these films were very successful like Some Like It Hot (1959), but the Marriage-Go-Round suffers from what is literally a one act play.



I found myself getting bored quite quickly with the cat and mouse game between Julie Newmar a Swedish student who wishes to have a baby by an intelligent older professor, James Mason. The problem is, James Mason is already married and his wife played by Susan Hayworth isn't amused by the idea. BUT the catch is, she doesn't want to turn the young Swedish woman out of her house as she's the daughter of a friend....So for the next 98 minutes I watch as the professor tried to avoid the catty advances of the tall beauty. And that would have been interesting for one act, but it just couldn't sustain my interest for that long.

Not a bad movie and it's the only film I've seen of Julie Newmar who does an excellent job here. All the actors are up to par, but the script reworked from the stage play doesn't translate well to the big screen.