Mike Conrad (conono) All this star power--what a waste. Doubtless in 1960 this seemed a passable comedy, even clever, and it didn't raise an eyebrow that a man's highest goal was to fool his wife into abject devotion so he could have "good home cooking" with "romance on the side" whenever he wanted.Dean Martin grates on contemporary taste in everything he ever did. Tony Curtis fares better and Janet Leigh suffers through a thankless role here. By all accounts Norman Krasna was an objectionable little man, out to wreak his revenge on women and on all the world for his own shortcomings. He earned his reputation as someone who could turn out scripts quickly and cheaply for notoriously rapacious producers. His style of 'humor' though simply hasn't aged well. Spare yourself this particular bit of painful and extremely unfunny misogyny.

mishaa7 Right to be surprised when you find out that this screwball comedy with extravagant plot ridiculous and childish humor in 1960 was twofold nominated for film award "Golden Globe", namely in the categories of Best Actor and Best Film. If the first tape of George Sidney (Kiss Me Kate) is quite tolerant of his romantic escapades, foolish pretense heroes Dean Martin and Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh heroine's reaction to all this, the next story tape makes a roll in the direction of incongruity is happening that is not only not to laugh want to even see it's not worth it.It all starts with the fact that Columbia University chemistry professor David Wilson catches kissing a young student in the eyes of his wife, Ann. Wife confronts him and immediately wanted to divorce. His friend Mike comes up with his legend: "FBI agent and he kissed the girl, in order to fulfill its top-secret mission!" For the more convincing it also provides him a fake identity and a pistol. All work is done! Few fool about before her and took off with the blame, our heroes can go on a spree with other women. But here's the rub - Blessed David all took so seriously that starts everywhere to poke their nose in their "cause." She asked with great curiosity, how is service and what it's like to be always on the "knife edge".The culmination of the first half of the film (which still was a little funny compared to those that started later) will be involved in their game is not clear from emerging Soviet agents and quite shameless and totally ridiculous encompassing theme of the Cold War.Of course, the movie captivates enjoyable actors. Dean Martin and Tony Curtis lovely man, though not shine here with his skill, and Janet Leigh is incredibly charming, although it is in principle a very beautiful woman, it would be foolish to write this series dignity movie.

bkoganbing I remember seeing this film around the time it first came out and looking at it again today, I had forgotten how wildly funny it was. In fact listening to my record collection, the thing I had remembered most about Who Was That Lady? was the very good title song that Dean Martin sung and had a record of which sold a few platters back in the day.But the film itself is a hilarious Cold War spy farce. It's based on a Norman Krasna play that ran for 208 performances on Broadway in 1958 with the slightly elongated title of Who Was That Lady I Saw You With. On Broadway the roles played by Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Dean Martin were done by Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, and Ray Walston.It all begins when chemistry professor at Columbia University Tony Curtis is caught by wife Janet Leigh in fast embrace with a foreign exchange student. She's back to their apartment and packing her bags for Reno. Curtis who really loves his wife is in a terrible state, what to do?Depending on how you look at it, long time pal Dean Martin is eager to help. He's a television writer for CBS and he's good with figuring out plot explanations. Mainly because Curtis is convinced Leigh just won't believe that the foreign exchange student was kissing him in gratitude. So what do these two knuckleheads conceive? That Curtis was kissing the girl in the line of duty because he's an undercover agent for the FBI. In fact they get an FBI card printed up and a gun from the prop department at CBS. And to further 'aid' the story, Martin gets Curtis to get four dots tattooed on his heel as he did back in his fraternity days. Isn't that what all FBI agents have.But when Leigh buys the story all too well and the printer goes to the real FBI when the card doesn't show up on the CBS program as Martin said it would, the fun really starts. Even a pair of chuckleheaded Russian agents played by Simon Oakland and Larry Storch actually believe Curtis is an FBI man working on a super secret project at Columbia.The biggest change from stage to screen had to be Dean Martin for Ray Walston. Certainly Dean is far more believable as the wolfish television writer, but there are some outrageous comedy bits that Martin has that I could definitely see Ray Walston doing on stage.This was the last screen pairing of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, within three years a Hollywood storybook marriage would be at an end. Janet has her innings in this film also especially in the restaurant tailing her husband and Martin who has set him up on a double date with the Coogle Sisters, a pair of foreign agents from Brooklyn. All I can say there is that there is no doubt that these two had to contain four weapons of mass destruction in the persons of Joi Lansing and Barbara Nichols.A lot of the problem is caused by FBI agent James Whitmore who after interviewing Leigh first, realized what was going on, but decided to hold off until he could get Curtis alone. Whitmore plays the part as a good foil for Leigh's ingenuousness. Of course Whitmore has to answer to his field office boss John McIntire who in turn has to answer to you know who in Washington.It all ends quite uproariously in the basement of the Empire State Building when Curtis and Martin think they're on a submarine and proceed to try and 'sink' it. Got to be seen to be believed.

Poseidon-3 A trio of major stars, close to their peak of fame at the time, help to enliven this overdrawn farce based on a moderately successful Broadway play. Curtis is a university scientist who is canoodling with a female student when his wife Leigh walks in and catches him. In no time flat, she is packing for Reno to get a divorce and orders him out of the house by 7:00pm. Curtis's pal Martin, a writer for CBS television, helps to concoct a scheme designed to fool Leigh into calling off the split. He aids Curtis in convincing Leigh that they are FBI agents and that the girl being smooched was just a small part of a much bigger plan. After some deliberation, Leigh falls for the story, but thanks to a loose end from the props department at CBS, the real FBI gets involved and things become more and more convoluted and complicated from there. Curtis is appropriately manic and desperate as he tries to inject a sense of imperativeness to the silly and unrealistic plot. Playing a cheating husband couldn't have been too great a stretch for him as he admitted to fooling around on Leigh many times during their real life marriage and, in fact, would leave her for a younger girl only two years after this. Martin appears to be investing his role with a little more conviction than he would later in his Matt Helm series and tries to add texture to his performance (or is he just trying to steal focus?) by fiddling often with props. He's mostly second fiddle to Curtis, but does get to toss out a few zesty lines now and then. Leigh (saddled with an unflatteringly tousled hairdo) overacts with abandon in order to keep up with the guys' zaniness. She cuts a nice figure in her black cocktail dress, but has a pretty dense role to play. Fortunately for her, "Psycho" would come out the same year as this and immortalize her forever in a more flattering way. Some strong supporting players, notably Whitmore as a beleaguered FBI agent and Nichols and Lansing as a couple of bottle-blonde pickups, give their all in an effort to liven up the film. Whitmore very wisely underplays his role in contrast to the more broadly acted ones. Unfortunately, the play was dated before too long after its run and the film is badly dated now. The stage origins show through frequently despite attempts to move the action around. Curtis's apartment is interestingly laid out, though very artificial in nature. This was made at a time when the big trend was to involve the Russians (see also Leigh's version of "Bye, Bye Birdie") or to throw in a big, sloppy spectacle such as a pie fight or an overflowing washing machine. Here, the Russians make their obligatory appearance and the unlikely flooding of a New York City landmark accents the climax. It wouldn't be so bad if the script didn't take so long to set things up and dwell on so many unnecessary details along the way, but it would hardly matter because the whole enterprise is both inane and distasteful in any case. There's an odd layer of (unintentional?) homoeroticism dispersed throughout as well, with Curtis and Martin contorting their way through the machinations of the plot and Curtis nearly kissing a male Soviet agent. What it's got are three charismatic stars trying their best and some clean black and white photography, but what it's lacking is a compelling premise that is carried out proficiently.