The Art of Love

I would have to totally agree with some of the other comments, that this is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommers, Ethel Merman and others make this movie so hilariously hysterical. Yes it is not an Oscar winning plot, but the story still is so funny that I am hard pressed not to include this in my list of top ten 'Funnist Movies to see' only problem is that unless you find it on the TV as an old movie you cannot see it at all. Which leads me into my question to you 'Imdb'and The Hollywood Moguls how can we solve this horrible oversight. Yes I can play it again in my mind but to watch and hear again especially the hysterical old lady who is cackling "Guillotine! Ha Ha! Guillotine!" would be so awesome, on DVD with lots of bloopers would be a dream come true. Please do not fail us. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, (an E for each year of this oversight, let's hope you don't want FFFFFFFFFFFFF's)

A struggling American painter in Paris (Dick Van Dyke) fakes his death so his paintings will sell. His buddy (James Garner) helps him along. However Van Dyke's girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) believes he's dead and falls for Garner. Then there's Elke Sommer (who's great) as an innocent down on her luck girl and Ethel Merman as a madam (in a wholesome PG sort of way).

Frantic and somewhat amusing comedy. It moves at a fast clip and has a great cast. The main problem is that it just isn't that funny. Dickinson fainting at everything gets old real quick and Garner is a real jerk. However I kept watching and the fast pace kept me interested. This was not a hit when it came out and is kind of difficult to see now. Look for it on TCM.

What a cute movie! I thought it was going to be enormously silly, but I ended up really liking The Art of Love and laughing all the way through. Dick Van Dyke and James Garner seem to really enjoy playing up their comic elements, and their energies balanced each other well. With the romantic setting of Paris as its backdrop, the movie can take off on any number of ridiculous situations and it doesn't even feel ridiculous.

Dick is a starving artist, renting a room from his pal James. When they get drunk and muse about how if Dick committed suicide, his paintings would sell like hotcakes. Dick falls in the river, James can't find him, and the hypothetical appears to have come true. All of a sudden, his paintings do sell like hotcakes! But Dick has to stay hidden, so he seeks refuge in a burlesque run by Ethel Merman. As he battles his attraction to new employee Elke Sommer, James falls for Dick's fiancé, Angie Dickinson.

Believe it or not, that's the simple version of the plot. This Carl Reiner screenplay is very funny, with jokes around every corner and surprises no matter how much you think you know what's going to happen. The humor is a perfect element of tongue-in-cheek, obvious set-ups, and classic situational comedy. There's even a throwback to A Tale of Two Cities with the crazy old lady crying "guillotine!" Try this one out if you like the two leads, even if you think it might be too silly. It won't be, and it'll keep you laughing from start to finish.

I saw this movie once a long time ago and never forgot it.It has several funny lines and wierd situations in it as well as Dick Van Dyke fakes his suicide, but survives to get even with the friend played by James Garner who is getting rich off his phony death. Not that I condone suicide, but it's unreal as the phony murder that Van Dyke sets up takes up a life of its own. Ethel Merman is the dance hall owner keeping them from killing each other as she is unaware of the extra duties of her female dancers.Beautiful Elke Sommar and lovely Angie Dickinson are Van Dyke's and Garner's love interests as "Star Trek's" Roger C. Carmel and Van Dyke's TV boss Carl Reiner provide some comic relief in this black comedy.

Pretty mid-1960s sex comedy set in Paris, filmed on Universal's back lot, but extremely well faked. It's a rather dark-hearted farce about two buddies, an artist (Dick Van Dyke) and writer who doesn't write much (James Garner) who fake Van Dyke's death to raise the price of his paintings. That in itself is pretty tired satire, and it gets more tired when we're introduced to the two men's ladies, a suicidal local girl (Elke Sommer) and Van Dyke's wealthy fiancee (Angie Dickinson), who faints a lot and gets passed between the two guys like a soda. There's also a cabaret-owner-and-probable-madam (Ethel Merman in a series of bizarre wigs), a Jewish deli owner (Irving Jacobson), a fervent private investigator (Pierre Olaf), and a fair amount of slapstick. Van Dyke's expert and does some cute pratfalls; Garner, playing a real rotter, is atypically shrill and charmless. Dickinson hasn't much to offer but a series of eye-popping fashions, and Sommer is unaffected and delightful. A few laughs, but Carl Reiner and Norman Jewison, having recently delivered "The Thrill of It All," were capable of far better.