Phffft (1954)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writer:

George Axelrod (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 November 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Don't Say It! See It!

Plot:

After eight years of marriage, Robert and Nina divorce. He takes up with his womanising Navy buddy Charlie...

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Marriage | Rambling | Radio Studio | Folding Bed

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Judy Holliday	...	Nina Tracey nee Chapman
Jack Lemmon	...	Robert Tracey
Jack Carson	...	Charlie Nelson
Kim Novak	...	Janis
Luella Gear	...	Mrs. Edith Chapman
Donald Randolph	...	Dr. Van Kessel
Donald Curtis	...	Actor Rick Vidal aka Dr. John Van Kessel
Arny Freeman	...	Language teacher
Eddie Searles	...	Tommy

Runtime:

88 min (TCM Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #17109, Adult Audience)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The title "Phffft" comes from Walter Winchell's column which was widely read during the 50s. When a celebrity couple's marriage broke up, Winchell would describe the break-up as "phffft".

Goofs:

Continuity: Nina's martini glass moves from one hand to the other several time when she and Charlie are drinking martini's at the bar and again on the sofa

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

Thin material but Holliday and Lemmon make an expert team...

If PHFFFT had been made in the '30s or '40s, it would have been done with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur as the couple (or Cary and Irene Dunne). But by 1954, JUDY HOLLIDAY and JACK LEMMON were paired once again (they starred previously in IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU), and proved to be a great comic team with perfect timing and good chemistry.

As it is, the story is a throwback to the '30s and the kind of screwball comedies Grant usually did. George Axelrod's script is about a couple who decide that their married life has become a bore and impulsively seek a divorce. They then settle down to the business of finding another mate and discover that the single life is not exactly a bed of roses.

Lemmon is matched with KIM NOVAK (a blind date arranged by JACK Carson), and Novak gets a chance to glow as an airhead with a Marilyn Monroe air of winsome charm but ditsy manners. She tries hard, but the character seems forced and her attempt to play the simple minded glamor girl comes across as strained and awkward.

But the show belongs to the shenanigans of Holliday and Lemon as they go through the paces of an amusing script with some laugh getting results. However, the material is thin and the ending is a rather predictable one with Judy successfully resisting the advances of JACK Carson and realizing who her own true love really is.

Fans of Holliday and Lemmon should enjoy it, but Kim Novak still had a lot to learn.