40 million are looking for a man
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | 40 million are looking for a man |
| Original title | Love is a ball |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 111 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Swift |
| script | David Swift Frank Waldman Tom Waldman |
| production | Martin Poll |
| music | Michel Legrand |
| camera | Edmond Séchan |
| cut |
Cathy Kelber Tom McAdoo |
| occupation | |
| |
40 million looking for a man (original title: Love Is a Ball ) is an American comedy film from 1962, set in the south of France. Directed by David Swift , Hope Lange gave "an amusing performance as an extremely capricious and spoiled multi-millionaire heiress". The male lead took over Hope Lange's then partner Glenn Ford , who played a worn-out, former racing driver who is increasingly annoyed by the heiress' quirks. The story was based on the novel "The Grand Duke and Mr. Pimm" by Lindsay Hard .
action
Somewhere on the sun-drenched shores of the Côte d'Azur . Here, among all the rich and beautiful of the international aristocracy and money nobility, the not very fresh but always elegant and charming rascal Étienne Pimm has set up and developed an extremely lucrative business idea: He wants to combine titles with dollars with a sure instinct and a decent one himself Make a cut. There are plenty of gentlemen with big names and, above all, very old names, and the nouveaux riches, especially from North America, are very eager to ennoble their millions with a venerable title of count or duke. And so Monsieur Pimm, assisted by the charming Janine, becomes a discreet matchmaker of the haute volée.
As a particularly nerve-wracking client, the charming but highly capricious and in her behavior rather volatile American Millicent, called Milly, Mehaffey appears. The attractive blonde is - an absolute basic requirement - currently unmanned and has forty good reasons to be viewed by an impoverished, European aristocrat as a "big fish": She has as many millions in her inherited account and is currently in the south of France. Monsieur Pimm thinks that the Grand Duke Gaspard Ducluzeau, as attractive as he is beggarly, would be an excellent match for the over-the-top American, only he lacks the finishing touches. And so the Briton Julian Soames is hired, who is supposed to teach him not only manners but also the English language. Pimm also hires a former racing driver named John Lathrop Davis into his service, who is supposed to instruct the Grand Duke in the fine art of very fast driving, because Milly, as Etienne has discovered in the meantime, is not only into racing drivers, but also takes care of one himself extremely brisk driving style.
In order to conquer Milly, there is one more hurdle to overcome. Her name is Dr. Christian Gump, is a proven gourmet, and primarily occupied with taking care of Milly and keeping her millions together nicely, so that not some snooty, European greyhound smuggled the fickle grand heiress into the harbor of marriage and evacuated. Pimm then organizes a delicious dinner put together by the renowned star chef Maurice Zoltan. In the hope that a full stomach is more gracious than an empty one, Monsieur Pimm Gump then introduces Duke Gaspard, who has been preparing for this first meeting for weeks. Indeed, Etienne's method is successful. Dr. Gump is visibly impressed by the European with the polished manners and is soon very excited to invite him as a guest of honor to a party to be given in honor of Milly. Gump would not be so bad at finally getting rid of the ungrateful job as Milly's watchdog.
Another Pimms employee, Priory, is now hired as a chauffeur in order to be able to drive the two future lovebirds back and forth. When Priory fails due to an injury, Monsieur Pimm has his hands full trying to persuade the extremely unwilling John Davis to take his place. John thinks Milly is a spoiled brat and makes fun of her racing ambitions. Milly, in turn, who is not used to being contradicted, thinks the new driver is quite a bully. Soon, however, the two get together more and more in the course of history and, even if neither of the two may really admit this, develop real likes for each other. As Postillon d'Amour, Pimm now wants to help a little so that his Duke and the multimillionaire can finally steer into the port of marriage and for this purpose organizes a cozy rendezvous for the two of them in Gaspard's villa. Milly believes that John Davis will be waiting for her there, so she gladly accepts the invitation.
When the mistake is cleared up the next morning and Milly learns that she should be paired with Gaspard, she is beside herself and storms away angrily. In her hot-headed state, she now wants to marry the next best person, a somewhat idiot competitor named Freddie, if only to annoy Pimm and John. Milly's grandmother Mathilda can only save her from the mistakes of her life with a lot of persuasion. Now it is up to John to run after Milly and finally to lead her to the haven of marriage - but with him. This is not at all wrong for the booted Gaspard, since he has long since found a lot more liking in Pimm's pretty assistant Janine.
Production notes
40 Million Looking for a Man was created in the summer of 1962 on the Côte d'Azur and was premiered in Las Vegas in March 1963. The film opened in Germany on May 14, 1963. The first German television broadcast took place on ZDF on May 27, 1972 at 8:15 p.m.
The film structures were designed by Jean d'Eaubonne , Frank L. Thompson designed the costumes.
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide located the film as an “obsessive whipping, trying to come across as chic”.
"Undemanding, cheerful, somewhat talkative and not very original comedy."
Halliwell's Film Guide found the film to be a "comedy to forget" as they put more effort into presenting the glamorous backdrop than into developing the script.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of films , Volume 4, p. 583. Berlin 2001
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 787
- ↑ 40 million are looking for a man in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on October 10, 2018
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 620
Web links
- 40 million are looking for a man in the Internet Movie Database (English)