The High Cost of Loving (1958) User Reviews

Misread signals in merger

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 9 April 2014]

Jose Ferrer and Gena Rowlands star in The High Cost Of Loving as a pair of typical 50s American suburbanites who are about to become parents. But at a time when there should be joyous celebration there's a lot of anxiety around the household because the new arrival may become part of The High Cost Of Loving.

It seems as though Ferrer's company is being taken over in a merger and that usually means a staff shakeup. Ferrer starts to wonder if he has a future with his company's purchasing department after misreading a lot of signals. His position is a universal one both in government and in private industry when these things happen. In my working days I was through situations that Ferrer is experiencing and you try to read signals when you think trouble might be coming your way.

Jose Ferrer also directed this film and assembled a slew of familiar faces from the small screen as well as the big, so much so you might think this was a made for television film. Edward Platt the chief from Get Smart is the new company president, Richard Deacon of the Dick Van Dyke Show is Rowlands's obstetrician, and a favorite of mine the one and only Colonel Klink, Werner Klemperer plays a most officious new personnel director who in one beautiful scene only increases Ferrer's anxiety.

For some reason this film is not often broadcast. Glad I was up early and caught it on TCM today. A great tribute to the multi-talents of Jose Ferrer.

Downsized!

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 29 August 2009]

We are invited to witness the morning routine of an American couple as they prepare for their work day. It is a drill that has been perfected to the minimum detail. Each partner knows exactly what the other one expects. It is almost like watching a ballet performance where the soloists perform a perfect "pas de deux".

The couple at the center of the story, Jim and Jenny Fry, have been married for nine years. They haven't been able to produce a baby as much as they have tried. Jim, a purchasing agent for a big corporation, is about to get two surprises, the first news is bad: he has not been invited to a management luncheon the new corporation that is buying his old company is giving for the people that have been already selected to stay.

The other news couldn't be better: he is about to become a father at last! Jim worst fears come into play when he realizes the new owners of his outfit probably don't think he is capable of doing a good job, otherwise he would have been invited to the executive lunch. Jim goes into a state of panic after an executive friend from another company tells him about the way corporations look to hire younger people and he might be too old to be considered for any decent paying position.

Jose Ferrer, one of the best actors of his generation, directed this comedy that was way ahead of its time. It dealt with a real problem that one sees more and more recently. Takeovers and mergers are lethal for the working man because it never generates positive goodwill and can cause frustration when a job is lost. The film took a sobering look at a time where America was growing after WWII.

This is the film in which Gena Rowlands, an amazing actress, made her screen debut. Her contribution worked well with the story. Jose Ferrer did a wonderful job as Jim Fry. He showed he had a knack for directing as well being generous with the actors under him. Others in the excellent supporting players are Jim Backus, Bobby Troup, Edward Platt and Werner Kemplerer.

The film takes a good look at how things were done within a corporation in the fifties.

flat 50's comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 4 July 2021]

Jim (José Ferrer) and Ginny Fry (Gena Rowlands) are a happily married couple. She may be pregnant. He goes to work in purchasing in a large company which is merging with another and possibly facing layoffs. He grows concerned when he doesn't get invited to an important executive luncheon meeting. Each perceived slight only adds to his concern for his job.

I wonder if this is humor during the 50's. It's not, at least not in today's term. Humor does change over time. The funniest bit may be backing out of the garage. The movie feels flat. It does have a young Gena Rowlands in her first theatrical film. She's only support. When they're together, they are a 50's couple. This could be satire if it hits harder at the corporate culture. The problem with showing the situation from his bosses' point of view is that it takes away any of the dangers. In essence, the drama is diminished. It's self-inflicted and all a misunderstanding with no real danger. So the movie is not that funny nor is it that dramatic. It has some minor fun towards the end but it's not enough.

Surprisingly good.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 February 2018]

In the 1950s, José Ferrer's career seemed to be charmed. He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1951, was nominated two years later and with this film, "The High Cost of Living", they not only had him star in the picture but direct it as well. And, in the process proved he was exceptional at both jobs.

Jim Fry (Ferrer) is a simple man...a guy who works hard in a predictable job with a wife who loves him and enjoys this predictability. However, when there is talk of a merger with his company and another, everyone seems to have received an invitation to a big luncheon except for Jim. He soon starts to wonder if they are going to fire him...that WOULD explain why he wasn't invited. The problem is that his wife (Gena Rowlands) just informed him that she's pregnant!

I loved so much about this film. The script seemed honest and realistic, the acting just the same. Overall, they take a movie that SHOULD have perhaps earned a 5 or 6 and made it nearly earn a 9...something I rarely give any film. Well worth your time.

Could Have Been Finished in Thirty Seconds

[bbrebozo · 4/10 · 3 July 2021]

This 90 minute movie could have been over in 30 seconds, if Jim Fry had just gone up to his boss and asked why he wasn't invited to the luncheon.

As it stands, it feels like they really had to struggle to stretch this story out to an hour and a half. The first ten minutes is nothing but opening credits and a long pointless scene of Fry and his wife silently getting out of bed, having breakfast, and getting ready for the day. I was hoping their cars would crash when they pulled out of their garage in that weird way, so there would be some action.

There is no romantic spark between Jose Ferrer and Gena Rowlands, and the ending of the movie is blatantly spelled out for the audience about thirty minutes before the movie actually ends. For a "comedy," there are almost literally no laughs.

But on the plus side, I grew up in the 1950's, and I enjoyed seeing all the old appliances and cars and their dashboards and work desks without computers and even smoking in the office. So there's that.

A remarkable piece of fluff

[Eva Ionesco · 9/10 · 26 August 2001]

Although this film is a little light-hearted comedy, it is well worth seeing, for many remarkable features. One is the sheer talent of everyone involved!

Mel Ferrer, who directed and acted as its main star, has far more legendary talent in both areas than this film shows. Gena Rowlands is a fabulous actress and although this is her first film, you can already see the fine acting talent she was about to become.

Rather fascinating to see is Richard Deacon, who has played in so many films and sitcoms I've lost count, in the role of the obstetrician, and Nancy Kulp, who was deeply loved as the gawky bank secretary in "The Beverley Hillbillies", and Ed Platt, who was legendary as "the Chief" in "Get Smart".

The story itself revolves around a misunderstanding. Jim Fry, played by Ferrer, believes that he is about to get the sack, when in fact he is actually about to be promoted. A series of events worsens his fears with each passing day, and he very nearly causes a catastrophe. Although this film is obviously limited in its scope and storyline, seeing all these wonderful and deeply loved actors all together in this one film transforms this little piece of fluff into a genuinely remarkable experience, which no lover of films and TV sitcoms should miss!

The best parts of the film, in my opinion, occur in the parts of the film when Ferrer and Rowlands are together. They play a very sweet couple who, after nine years of marriage, have their morning routine worked out so well it's a symphony of timing and choreography. Several other subsequent films have tried to mirror this routine but no-one has yet achieved the perfection of this original one.

This film gets a thoroughly deserved 9 out of 10 from me. It doesn't get a higher score only because of the limitations in its scope.

This film fails as either a drama or a comedy

[FlushingCaps · 2/10 · 22 February 2021]

Jose Ferrer directed and stars in this "comedy" about a man who on the day his wife tells him that after 9 years of marriage, she thinks she's expecting, goes to work and begins to believe he is about to be squeezed out of his job of 15 years as part of a large company taking over his firm.

Fans of 1960s TV series will see brief scenes with Mayberry's Otis the town drunk, Get Smart's Chief, Hogan's Heroes' Colonel Klink, Gilligan's Island's Mr. Howell, Dick Van Dyke's Mel Cooley, and the Beverly Hillbillies' Jane Hathaway.

Jose's character is Jim Fry and he spends almost the entire film believing he is about to lose his job. Just when he delivers a hand-written letter to the new company president, he learns that he was totally wrong, that instead they are promoting him. This isn't a spoiler because in scenes where Jim wasn't there, we viewers heard the company big wigs stating their promotion plans for him.

His wife Ginny's question of "Is she or isn't she?" was answered about halfway through the show. She was.

What I cannot figure is how this was billed as a comedy. I sort-of chuckled one time, when Ginny fooled her husband near the end by pretending that the important letter of resignation he wanted her to read was a totally different letter-suggesting that he picked up the wrong letter in the boss's office. She only fooled him for a couple of seconds.

We opened with an extra long silent scene where the couple arise to an alarm clock-separate beds of course-and go about totally routine tasks of bathing and cooking breakfast, each doing some things for the other and not until halfway through eating breakfast together do they say one word to each other.

Jim was disturbed as soon as he got to work because he did not receive an invitation to this big luncheon in a few days. This started him on the spiral to believing his days there were numbered, and a few attempts at lining up another job were not successful. For a good part of the first half of the movie, he was rather grumpy and quiet toward his wife, not wanting to tell her he wasn't invited to the luncheon. Finally he told her and they confronted the situation in a rather realistic manner.

Other things happened at work that caused Jim even more worry, and so we mostly dealt with a man who right at a time when he needed more money than before, appeared to be headed for the unemployment office. I suppose I could have found some humor in this predicament-somehow-but the writers of this film did not give me a single thing to laugh at.

As a comedy it was a dismal failure. As a drama, it was also a total failure because we mostly saw a man fearful of losing his job when we knew full well he had nothing to worry about. Frankly, the only way I made it through this whole mess was to see what other old TV regulars were going to appear. I believe the most fitting score is a 2. I have seen other reviewers here giving it much higher scores. If you get some laughs out of this-more power to you.

TV Goes Hollywood

[rodneymontz · 8/10 · 14 September 2023]

Any movie with...

Mr. Howell Mel The Chief Klink Ms. Hathaway Dr. Joe Early Otis Campbell can't be all bad.

The 1950's corporate ethos is on full display in this time capsule of mid-20th century America. The normally affecting Jose Ferrer is serviceable but comes across in this film like a recent graduate of the Jack Webb school of acting. Stiff. Jack Lemmon, or an actor with a greater ability to work in a lighter touch, would have been a better choice. In spite of the less than ideal casting of Ferrer, the movie is generally well acted and nicely shot in black and white. Sit back and watch your favorite TV character actors perform on the big screen before making their bones on the tube.

high cost of loving

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 25 December 2020]

A 50s domestic/office comedy that Stan Shapiro, Blake Edwards, James Garner, Doris Day Rock Hudson and Suzanne Pleshette could do in their PJs (and did), in the heavy, lumbering, non funny hands of Jose Ferrer and some writer called Rip Van Ronkle (that I was outraged to learn was not a pseudonym) is like a 747 trying to take off from a too short runway (i.e. it's aborted which, considering the pregnancy sub plot, is appropriate imagery). Give it a generous C since it's interesting to see the debut of Gena Rowlands who, I'm happy to say, would ditch comedy for drama as her director co star should have done.