The guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures. An unabashedly sentimental story about East meets West, a bland performance by leading man William Holden (Sunset Blvd., Network), an awful (and awfully long) title. That’s 20th Century Fox’s Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.
Yet the film does offer gorgeous locations (Hong Kong and surrounding areas), superb color cinematography (Leon Shamroy), a rousing, romantic score (Alfred Newman), several good directorial touches (Henry King), and a beautifully modulated performance by leading lady Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette, Carrie).
A major hit at the time of its release, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is the type of movie that will either make you sick or touch you profoundly. Come to think of it, chances are it’ll work both ways.
FILM
All That Heaven Allows
Bad Day at Black Rock
Lady and the Tramp
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
The Rose Tattoo
The Seven Year Itch
Summertime
CHECK THESE OUT
L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along
Interrupted Melody
Henry King (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Curtis Bernhardt (Interrupted Melody)
Carl Dreyer (Ordet / The Word)
David Lean (Summertime)
Daniel Mann (The Rose Tattoo)
Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows)
John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock)
Billy Wilder (The Seven Year Itch)
Luigi Zampa (L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along)
SCREENPLAY
Billy Wilder & George Axelrod (The Seven Year Itch)
Vitagliano Brancati & Luigi Zampa (L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along)
Suso Cecchi D’Amico & Alba de Cespedes (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Peg Fenwick (All That Heaven Allows)
Millard Kaufman (Bad Day at Black Rock)
David Lean & H. E. Bates (Summertime)
John Patrick (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali / Song of the Road)
Daniel Taradash (Picnic)
Tennessee Williams (The Rose Tattoo)
ACTOR
Ernest Borgnine (Marty)
James Cagney (Love Me or Leave Me)
Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch)
Glenn Ford (The Blackboard Jungle)
Glenn Ford (Trial)
Cary Grant (To Catch a Thief)
Preben Lerdorff Rye (Ordet)
Frank Sinatra (The Man with the Golden Arm)
Alberto Sordi (L’Arte di arrangiarsi)
Spencer Tracy (Bad Day at Black Rock)
ACTRESS
Julie Adams (The Private War of Major Benson)
Eleonora Rossi Drago (Le Amiche)
Susan Hayward (I’ll Cry Tomorrow)
Katharine Hepburn (Summertime)
Jennifer Jones (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo)
Marilyn Monroe (The Seven Year Itch)
Eleanor Parker (Interrupted Melody)
Barbara Stanwyck (The Violent Men)
Jane Wyman (All That Heaven Allows)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Louis Calhern (The Blackboard Jungle)
Tim Hovey (The Private War of Major Benson)
Arthur Kennedy (Trial)
James Robertson Justice (Land of the Pharaohs)
Henrik Malberg (Ordet)
Raymond Massey (East of Eden)
Arthur O’Connell (Picnic)
Robert Ryan (Bad Day at Black Rock)
Rod Steiger (The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell)
Peter Ustinov (Lola Montès)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vivian Blaine (Guys and Dolls)
Nana Bryant (The Private War of Major Benson)
Valentina Cortese (Le Amiche)
Chumbala Devi (Pather Panchali)
Virginia Grey (The Rose Tattoo)
Katie Johnson (The Ladykillers)
Jessie Royce Landis (To Catch a Thief)
Rosalind Russell (Picnic)
Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden)
Jo Van Fleet (I’ll Cry Tomorrow)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Henning Bendtsen (Ordet)
Robert Burks (The Trouble with Harry)
Gunnar Fischer (Sommarnattens leende / Smiles of a Summer Night)
Jack Hildyard (Summertime)
James Wong Howe (Picnic)
Milton Krasner (The Rains of Ranchipur)
Bruno Mondi (Sissi)
Leon Shamroy (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Harry Stradling (Guys and Dolls)
Robert Surtees (Trial)
MUSIC
Georges Auric (Lola Montès)
Alessandro Cicognini (Summertime)
Giovanni Fusco (Le Amiche)
Alfred Newman (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Anton Profes (Sissi)
Ravi Shankar (Pather Panchali)
Frank Skinner (All That Heaven Allows)
SHORT FILM
Nuit et brouillard / Night and Fog
d: Alain Resnais