Love in the Afternoon

Even minor Billy Wilder films are a lot of fun. In fact, this movie could have been better than it was - I just didn't buy Gary Cooper in this - he just seemed so old and a bit dowdy. Maybe Gregory Peck would have been a better call?

Either way - Cooper didn't kill this by any stretch. Audrey Hepburn is as adorable as ever. And Maurice Chevalier as her PI dad is perfect. Basically, the story goes like this: Hepburn overhears what a client of her dad is planning on doing to the man having an affair with his wife - shoot the bastard while caught in the act. Hepburn rushes to the hotel to warn the man. Turns out that the man is Cooper. She helps him get out of the situation by pretending to be his girlfriend and then eventually falls in love with the guy herself.

But this is no An Education. This time - the younger woman is the one in the driver's seat. She makes up a story about her background to Cooper and keeps everything away from her dad. Of course, everything comes out eventually and it's great watching it develop.

Wilder thought of this film as a tribute to Ernst Lubitsch and it definitely feels like one. A minor effort - but a good one.

Directed by Billy Wilder
1957
DVD