zardoz-13 Review of The Chapman Report

The Chapman Report (1962)

A Repressed Hollywood Opus About Sexuality That Lacks Sizzle

[5/10 · 24 December 2022]

Warner Brothers assembled an awesome cast of forthcoming stars who were largely contract actors for this superficial adaptation of Irving Wallace's bestseller "The Chapman" report that pales by comparison with Arch Oboler's "One Plus One." Surely, Wallace's bestseller had more clout than this assemblage of cliches. Despite its first-rate cast and George Cukor's solid direction, "The Chapman Report" is as frigid as Jane Fonda's ice princess character. Although this WB soaper must have raised the hackles of those duty-bound conservatives who cower in fear at the prospect of their sex lives being exposed like bed sheets being peeled back on reality, "The Chapman Report" was probably taken far more seriously during its 1962 release when the notion of sex statistics made public was a harrowing thought to arouse audiences weaned on fair weather romances, this expose is tame and fairly hilarious now. Jane Fonda is front and center as an ice princess who was saran-wrapped by her loving parents so that he marriage to a military type was doomed to disaster from the get-go. Sexpot Shelly Winters evokes only desperation as a woman trapped in a marriage that has lost its sizzle and pursues a theater director who is a small-minded little boy that his wife refuses to divorce because she realizes the futility of hit and miss romances. Meanwhile, Claire Bloom is far more serious as a desperate a nymphomaniac-alcoholic and Glynis Johns as flighty intellectual who discovers a young stud (Ty Hardin) and worships the Greek proportions of ripped physique on the beach where she records her speeches. Eventually, Johns returns to her scrawny hubby (the incomparable John Dehner) and lives happily ever after. Of course, WB was treading a tightrope when they made this steamy but sexless escapade that begs more laughs than sympathy for the guys and gals who have been mismatched due to any number of factors. Jane's father (Roy Roberts) worships his late son-in-law and his memoir that Jane is supposed to be proof-reading than her dalliance with one of Dr. Chapman's associates, Paul Radford (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), who tries to return Jane's wallet after she leaves it at his office during one of their interviews. Did she leave it there deliberately or by mistake (we're never told), but these two are the flagship couple so everything ends happily ever after for them. When it isn't depressing as hell, "The Chapman Report" is just a hoot. Let's not forget veritable old Henry Daniell as the frumpy Dr. Jonas who despites Dr. Chapman. He contends that you cannot reduce people to columns of statistics without factoring in the affairs of their hearts. Ultimately, Cukor's ability to deliver a coherent, sometimes solemn, but often maudlin melodrama graced by the glory of WB's contract players, including brawny Ray Danton and a number of other faces, gets "The Chapman Report" over its rougher spots. The squeamish can sit back and titter, while the conservatives can yawn along with anybody else expecting anything radically fresh and enlightening. Mind you, the stereotypes come out of the baseboards like cockroaches.