PROMISES, PROMISES (1963)

 Written by Tommy Noonan and William Welsh Directed by King Donovan 

Jeff Brooks (Tommy Noonan) appears to be impotent, though his wife Sandi (Jayne Mansfield) finds him quite desirable. When they go on a romantic cruise, ship’s doctor (Fritz Feld) gives nervous husband Tommy a placebo and tells him its a virility pill. Mickey Hargitay and Marie “The Body” MacDonald play the couple next door, whose romantic lives become intertwined with Jeff and Sandi’s. Complications and misunderstandings ensue.  Based on a play (by Edna Sheklow) and thus possessing better dialog than any other nudie movie I am aware of, this little farce is harmless entertainment, and would be completely forgotten today if not for its major marketing point: three brief sequences in which Jayne Mansfield appears nude. These scenes are so important to the film that they are each repeated several times during its 75 minute running time. Though done on a low budget, it was made by Hollywood professionals - Joseph Biroc is the cinematographer - and two scenes in which two cabins are seen simultaneously via split screen with overlapping dialog are well done. Not bad, overall; a nd Jayne has always looked better, more relaxed and natural, somehow, with no clothes on than she does clothed. (Seen on VCI’s nice DVD.)

PRIVATE CONFESSIONS (1997)

Written by Ingmar Bergman Directed by Liv Ullmann

Anna (Pernilla August) and Henrik (Samuel Froler) have been married twelve years. We see a series of five pivotal moments in Anna’s life. The first is with her Uncle Jacob (Max von Sydow), a priest, where we learn of her unfaithfulness to her cold and demanding husband. Liv Ullmann had already directed two features when the semi-retired Bergman asked her to direct this script, based on an incident in the lives of his parents. The result feels very much like a Bergman film, in the best sense: intense close-ups, superb, emotionally raw performances, moral dilemmas causing much pain, excellent cinematography by Sven Nykvist. The difference, though - and its a major one - is that Ullmann is, by nature, much more optimistic than the Swedish Master, and this informs the entire film, making it fully Ullmann’s own. Her compassion for her characters is evident in every frame; while she never lets her off the hook, she does offer some measure of closure for her lead character, the adulterous Anna, superbly played by Pernilla August. August gives the kind of rich, deep performance that her director always delivered herself as an actress, never shying away from the less pleasant aspects of her character, and never judging her. The other amazing performance in this is given by Max Von Sydow, who plays Anna’s elderly uncle with stern, compassionate authority; he is never the ogre he might have been had Bergman himself directed this. The film is structured as a series of five conversations, shown out of sequence, between Anna and her confessor Uncle, her lover, her husband, and her uncle again. All these scenes have the kind of emotional depth one expects from Bergman, and that Ullmann delivers here with an extra layer of compassion, making this a demanding and rewarding experience. (Viewed on Home Vision’s VHS released a few years ago.)

— Robert Deveau, The Doomed Farmer