• Rating:
• Genre: Comedy Drama
• Movie Type: Showbiz Comedy
• Themes: Writer's Life, Foibles of Marriage
• Director: Don Weis
• Main Cast: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Maxwell, Rip Torn, Jesse Royce Landis
• Release Year: 1962
• Country: US
• Run Time: 100 minutes

Plot

Ira Levin wrote the stage comedy Critic's Choice as a good-natured retort to a comment made by critic Walter Kerr. In his essay How Not to Write a Play, Kerr noted that the worst possible scenario would involve a drama critic forced to review a play written by his wife (we should mention that Kerr's own wife was noted playwright Jean Kerr). Levin utilized this very scenario, and the result was a Broadway hit. Less successful artistically was the 1962 film version, though with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as stars, the film couldn't help but clean up at the box office. Hope portrays theatrical critic Parker Ballantine, while Lucille Ball plays his wife Angela. Feeling "useless," Angela writes a play as a lark, then is amazed when it is optioned by a major producer. Parker does his best to get out of the responsibility of reviewing the play (which very well may be as bad as he thinks it is), but cannot escape the responsibility. Much of the verbal wit of the Levin original is sacrificed in favor of one-line quips; there is also an overabundance of gratuitous slapstick during a little-league game and the climactic "opening night" sequence. Still, Hope and Ball work together well as always. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Bob Hope - Parker Ballantine
• Lucille Ball - Angela Ballantine
• Marilyn Maxwell - Ivy London
• Rip Torn - Dion Kapakos
• Jesse Royce Landis - Charlotte Orr

John Dehner - S.P. Champlain; Jim Backus - Dr. von Hagedom; Ricky Kelman - John Ballantine; Dorothy Green - Mrs. Champlain; Marie Windsor - Sally Orr; Evan McCord - Phil Yardley; Richard Deacon - Harvey Rittenhouse; Joan Shawlee - Marge Orr; Jerome Cowan - Joe Rosenfield; Donald Losby - Godfrey; Lurene Tuttle - Mother; Emestine Wade - Thelma; Stanley Adams - Bartender

Credit

Edward Carrere - Art Director; George Duning - Composer (Music Score); Edith Head - Costume Designer; Charles B. Lang - Cinematographer; Jack Sher - Screenwriter; Don Weis - Director; William H. Ziegler - Editor; William L. Kuehl - Set Designer; Arthur Morton - Musical Direction/Supervision; Frank P. Rosenberg - Producer; Ira Levin - Play Author