American Movie Classics channel has just started showing this 1961 flick, and I can't speak too highly of it. A charming domestic comedy with some real dramatic tension, the film boasts a superb cast with the venerable Fred Astaire (yes, of course he dances...), the elegantly funny Lilli Palmer, and a befuddled Gary Merrill. Charley Ruggles as grampa positively steals the show as a sort of geriatrically comic Greek chorus; his brief rejoinders and observations always perfectly set off a scene. The production values, as well, are sumptuous; today's movies don't look as good as this 40-year-old number (the Technicolor process has it all over contemporary processes). Sparkling dialogue and wonderful acting make this story of a playboy father's disruptive effects on his daughter's impending wedding a delightful must-see. I just can't figure it out; how can a movie with no swear words, no violence, no nudity, and not a single sex scene be so captivating???
Review of The Pleasure of His Company
