''Love Is a Ball'' (released in the UK as ''All This And Money Too'') is a 1963

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film starring

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

Hope Lange Hope Elise Ross Lange (November 28, 1933 – December 19, 2003) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

, and

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

. It is based on the novel ''The Grand Duke and Mr. Pimm'' by Lindsay Hardy.

Plot

Etienne Pimm has an unusual way of making a living: he arranges for impoverished European aristocrats to marry unsuspecting rich people. He is then discreetly compensated for his

matchmaking Matchmaking is the process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage, in which case the matchmaker is also known as a marriage broker. The word is also used in the context of sporting events such as boxing, in ...

. His latest target is Millicent "Milly" Mehaffey, newly arrived on the

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

. Pimm and his assistant Janine begin grooming the penniless Grand Duke Gaspard Ducluzeau for Milly by hiring three men. Julian Soames is to teach him manners and English. As their target fancies herself a race car driver, Pimm recruits John Lathrop Davis, a (retired) champion many times over, to instruct Gaspard in the finer points of competitive driving. The third man is world-renowned chef Maurice Zoltan. Pimm "accidentally" meets Milly's uncle and guardian, Dr. Christian Gump (

Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...

, cast against type as a cultured gourmet) and invites him to a dinner prepared by Zoltan. Gump cannot resist the bait of a meal prepared by a famous chef. After dinner, he is introduced to the handsome young duke, well prepared after weeks of intensive training. As Pimm had hoped, Gump begs him to bring the duke to a party he has arranged for Milly, confiding that he hopes they fall in love and that his troublesome ward will settle down. Meanwhile, Priory, another of Pimm's minions, has gotten himself hired as the chauffeur to spy on the family. When an errant polo ball struck by Gaspard breaks Priory's arm, a reluctant Davis takes his place. Davis is openly contemptuous of Milly's unrealistic plan to compete in the International Grand Prix, clashing repeatedly with his spoiled employer. As they spend more time together though, her initial dislike turns into love. With the romance between Milly and Gaspard not proceeding very well, Pimm suggests to Milly that the young couple spend a romantic night together at his private villa. She takes him up on his offer, only with Davis, not Gaspard. The next morning, Milly learns the truth and is at first outraged, even though Pimm confesses that Davis was not the intended groom. For revenge, she decides to marry an oafish suitor named Freddie. However, on her wedding day, her grandmother Mathilda convinces her to reconcile with Davis. This is just fine with Gaspard, as he has fallen for Janine.

Cast

as John Lathrop Davis *

as Millicent "Millie" Mehaffey *

as Etienne Pimm *

Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG (; ; November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican and American film and television actor. Montalbán's career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for performances in a var ...

as Duke Gaspard Ducluzeau *

as Dr. Christian Gump * Ruth McDevitt as Mathilda *

Ulla Jacobsson Ulla Jacobsson (23 May 1929 – 20 August 1982) was a Swedish actress. She had the lead role in One Summer of Happiness (1951) and played the only female speaking role in the film '' Zulu'' (1964). Early life Jacobsson was born in Mölndal, ...

as Janine *

Georgette Anys Georgette Anys (15 July 1909 – 4 March 1993) was a French film and television actress. A character actress, she appeared mainly in French productions, but also some American films which were shot in Europe including Alfred Hitchcock's '' To Ca ...

as Mme. Gallou *Robert Bettoni as Milkman *Mony Dalmès as Mme. Fernier *Laurence Hardy as Priory *Jean Le Maitre as Carlo * André Luguet as Maurice Zoltan *

Jean Parédès Jean Parédès (1914–1998) was a French film actor.Hayward p.145 Selected filmography * ''Three from St Cyr'' (1939) - Bréval * ''The Fatted Calf'' (1939) - Albert - le garçon de café * ''La Charrette fantôme'' (1939) - Un salutiste (uncre ...

as Freddie *

Redmond Phillips Redmond Bernard Phillips (5 June 1912 – 3 November 1993) was a New Zealand actor and writer, particularly of theatre and television, who worked in his native country, as well also worked in England and Australia. Biography Phillips was born i ...

as Starcy *Erika Soucy as Gretl *Aram Stephan as Gallou *Olga Valéry as Mme. Giardin * John Wood as Julian Soames *Jean-Pierre Zola as Mueller

Production

The novel was published in 1959. Rights were bought by Martin H. Poll of Gold Medal Enterprises; Poll owned Gold Medal Studios in the Bronx, facilities which were hired out to movie makers. He had decided to move into film production. The screenplay was originally written by the author of the novel.

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

was originally attached to direct.

and

were signed to star early on. Eventually David Swift came in to write and direct.

signed to make her American debut with the film. The film was shot on the French Riviera. Glenn Ford and Hope Lange were a real-life couple at the time. The film had its world premiere at Las Vegas.

Reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

, critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', panned it, writing that "If 'Love Is a Ball,' somebody fumbled." He found it "predictable nearly every step of the way" and "laboriously arch in tone, broadly played in general and directed with slapdash aimlessness by Mr. Swift." He noted that the "sun-kissed scenery, though, should set anyone drooling". He mentioned the "determined, good-natured attitude of a game cast headed by Glenn Ford, Hope Lange and Charles Boyer", and in particular found Montalban and Jacobsson "entirely disarming." Lindsay Hardy, author of the novel and of the earlier radio serial ''The Knave of Hearts'' upon which the novel was based, disliked the film. Hardy stated that the film "bore no relation to the book whatever—plot gone, people gone. You would never know there had ever been a book. What makes the movie men tick I cannot understand. They buy a story, get A, B, C, and D to write various screenplays from it, and then shoot a movie about something else entirely. So what are you to make of them? It was in colour and looked very pretty...but apart from that it had nothing and was not too well received. Not that it made a scrap of difference to me. I had been paid and the money handed over to doctors and hospitals long before it ever appeared on the screen. In my last letter to Marty Poll

he producer He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

I asked him why, oh why Marty-boy, do you bother to buy books at all? He hummed and hawed."

References

External links