While Some Like It Hot is credited for the demise of the Hays Code, because it was so financially successful despite not receiving a "decency" seal of approval, The Moon Is Blue is actually the first movie to enjoy that achievement. Some Like It Hot was merely the icing on the cake!
Deemed morally indecent and obscene, banned by movie theaters and entire states, The Moon Is Blue was first a shocking play, then picked up by director Otto Preminger, who specialized in shocking movies. Although I love Otto's movies normally, his choice of leading lady in this one ruined it.
Maggie McNamara made her feature debut in this witty comedy, after performing it on the stage, and her delivery of the lines-combined with the pretentiousness of the lines themselves-drove me absolutely nuts. I actually turned it off twice, but my heart won out and forced me to finish it all the way through. David Niven is my favorite celebrity boyfriend, so I had to watch the film that won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor. Maggie's idiotic haircut, awkwardly petite and gangly movements, irritating speech impediment, and unjustifiable conceit is enough to drive every man in the planet away from her. Instead, William Holden and David Niven end up fighting over her!
The dialogue in the film deliberately tries-and succeeds-to shock the audiences by talking about sex and affairs in an honest way. The only problem is, no one talks like that in real life! If anyone actually talked like Maggie talked, people would be looking over her shoulder for the men in white who will return her to the insane asylum she must have escaped from. Sure, the actors were able to get away with saying "sex", "virgin", "pregnant", "seduce", "aphrodisiac", and "mistress", which were taboo at that time period, but the conversations were stilted, like the playwright was patting himself on the back after every shocking line.
Now, I love David Niven-everyone knows this. He's wonderful in this movie, playing a drunken, charming playboy. It feels like he's getting caught on Candid Camera! The ease in which he says his lines is such a refreshing contrast to Maggie's rehearsed delivery, and since I know a bit about his personal life, it's not very difficult for him to convince audiences he's a drunken playboy. If you love The Niv, you can try watching this movie, but don't beat yourself up if you can't take it-and definitely fast-forward through the first thirty minutes until his entrance!
Maggie McNamara made her feature debut in this witty comedy, after performing it on the stage, and her delivery of the lines-combined with the pretentiousness of the lines themselves-drove me absolutely nuts. I actually turned it off twice, but my heart won out and forced me to finish it all the way through. David Niven is my favorite celebrity boyfriend, so I had to watch the film that won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor. Maggie's idiotic haircut, awkwardly petite and gangly movements, irritating speech impediment, and unjustifiable conceit is enough to drive every man in the planet away from her. Instead, William Holden and David Niven end up fighting over her!
The dialogue in the film deliberately tries-and succeeds-to shock the audiences by talking about sex and affairs in an honest way. The only problem is, no one talks like that in real life! If anyone actually talked like Maggie talked, people would be looking over her shoulder for the men in white who will return her to the insane asylum she must have escaped from. Sure, the actors were able to get away with saying "sex", "virgin", "pregnant", "seduce", "aphrodisiac", and "mistress", which were taboo at that time period, but the conversations were stilted, like the playwright was patting himself on the back after every shocking line.
Now, I love David Niven-everyone knows this. He's wonderful in this movie, playing a drunken, charming playboy. It feels like he's getting caught on Candid Camera! The ease in which he says his lines is such a refreshing contrast to Maggie's rehearsed delivery, and since I know a bit about his personal life, it's not very difficult for him to convince audiences he's a drunken playboy. If you love The Niv, you can try watching this movie, but don't beat yourself up if you can't take it-and definitely fast-forward through the first thirty minutes until his entrance!