GO NAKED IN THE WORLD (1961) was born out of time and out of place. This property was developed into a film that has been universally panned by critics and only intermittently enjoyed by connoisseurs and admirers of melodramas. Ranald MacDougall was a talented screenwriter (MILDRED PIERCE, JUNE BRIDE, THE NAKED JUNGLE, among other titles) but had little experience as a director (QUEEN BEE being his most successful effort). GO NAKED IN THE WORLD could have been saved by a director of genius such as Frank Borzage, George Cukor or Douglas Sirk, all three capable of handling this kind of material and transforming it into exciting drama in cinematic terms. MacDougall could not handle his own material. The fact that Charles Walters worked on the film uncredited shows that the production was in trouble. Melodrama as a genre was still quite alive in the late 1950's and early 1960's (LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING, PEYTON PLACE, IMITATION OF LIFE, BUTTERFIELD 8 and BACK STREET are proof of that), but it needed to be handled properly in order to be successful. MGM was more interested in promoting BUTTERFIELD 8 (another tragic story about an expensive call-girl being victimized by a hypocritical society), so it let GO NAKED IN THE WORLD sink in its own troubled waters. The production shows several positive qualities: cinematography, production and costume design, for instance. And not all of the acting should be deemed bad. Ernest Borgnine is very effective in his role. Anthony Franciosa was physically right for the part, but his character was poorly conceived, to start with. We cannot understand how such a mature man could let himself be controlled by his father. Perhaps George Chakiris would have given the character the kind of vulnerability it required. Gina Lollobrigida looks absolutely gorgeous, and walks through the picture without getting very involved. No doubt she felt that the film was doomed. Possibly she was given little direction. She does the best she can with her most difficult scenes (the set-up to which she falls victim at the hotel, the desperate dance sequence at the night club in Acapulco), but we sense her emotional distance from the material. Only in her suicide scene she is truly moving. According to her own account, the film was very poorly edited. No matter, I believe that GO NAKED IN THE WORLD can still be enjoyed today. The chance to see Lollobrigida in her prime is already worth my time.
Review of Go Naked in the World
