The Moon Is Blue

This is just everything I love in a comedy: Fast talking, snarky wit, a hint of the absurd grounded in the reality of human relationships. It's a fun screwball style comedy with three great performances.

Viewed July 28, 2017.

Forgettable comedy famous for uttering the taboo word "virgin." (Ah, how times have changed!) i find Maggie McNamara so screwball-cute that is is actually annoying.

This was considered really racy in 1953. I think it's cutesy-cute and dull

Paper-thin comedy partly set on top of the Empire State Building (and thereafter in a dowdy set); mildly amusing in spots, it gained notoriety, and a Production Code ban, by its use of such naughty words as 'virgin' and 'mistress'.

Surprisingly peppy screwball comedy that was risque for the time, but nowadays (and for anyone who's watched plenty of pre-Code films) seems pretty tame. Regardless, the interplay between McNamara, Holden and Niven is flighty and fun, and the battle over when a girl should or shouldn't say yes remains relevant.

Cute.

Inevitably informed by Preminger's theatrical roots but invigorated by his sense of cinematic movement, simple here but so in tune with the musicality of three note-perfect performances (McNamara especially—the way the camera follows her down to Niven lying at the bottom of the frame, faces like puzzle pieces inches apart). And the dialogue still rips. "Would you think me a dope if I said no?" / "Yes, I would. But dopes who said no have contributed quite a bit to human dignity. Such as it is."