Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

American girls dream of finding romance in Rome, but there is none for secretaries, Anita tells her replacement at the USDA. But Maria soon meets Prince Dino de Cessi at a party at her ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

John Patrick (screenplay), John H. Secondari (from a novel by)

Stars:

Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Clifton Webb	...	John Frederick Shadwell
Dorothy McGuire	...	Miss Frances
Jean Peters	...	Anita Hutchins
Louis Jourdan	...	Prince Dino di Cessi
Maggie McNamara	...	Maria Williams
Rossano Brazzi	...	Georgio Bianchi
Howard St. John	...	Burgoyne
Kathryn Givney	...	Mrs. Burgoyne
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	Principessa

Storyline

American girls dream of finding romance in Rome, but there is none for secretaries, Anita tells her replacement at the USDA. But Maria soon meets Prince Dino de Cessi at a party at her boss's home who invites her to fly to Venice in his private plane. Frances, who has been in Rome for 15 years as the secretary of a successful American writer who talks a lot like George Bernard Shaw and is just as elusive as Professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady," tells her at first to say "no" and then decides that together they can handle the man nicknamed the predatory prince. Coins tossed in the Trevi Fountain can indeed work magic.

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Plot Keywords:

secretary | prince | fountain | coin | italian | 

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Taglines:

You've Never Lived Until You've Loved in Rome!

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Genres:

Romance | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

May 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drei Münzen im Brunnen

Filming Locations:

Dolomite Mountains, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) (magnetic prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

We only see two coins thrown in the fountain, but we told of a third thrown in by Georgio.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the final scene at the Trevi fountain, the fountain is dry and being cleaned. While the actors are there, the fountain begins flowing again. However, when the actors leave, the fountain is completely full, not a possibility given the size of the fountain and the period of time over which the scene occurs.

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Quotes

John Frederick Shadwell: Why can't women play the game properly? Everyone knows that in love affairs only the man has the right to lie!

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Connections

Featured in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Nanni"
(uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Franco Silvestri

User Reviews

CinemaScope vacations in Italia!

Not much to add to the other comments here, except to say that it may be understandable that this one got a Best Picture nomination in the 1954 Oscar derby if you were able to see a pristine print, with a stereo soundtrack, in a first-class theater as I had the opportunity of doing when it was first released. The opening sequence of numerous fountains in full flood as Frank Sinatra crooned the Oscar-winning title song was just dazzling to those of us Americans who hadn't yet made a Grand Tour of Europe. What followed contained no surprises, certainly, though some eyebrows were raised by the Jean Peters/Rossano Brazzi "illicit" romance. I never understood how Maggie McNamara ever passed muster with any studio's casting director, nor how the makers of this pastiche could have thought that the suavely handsome Louis Jourdan, playing an Italian of noble descent, would finally settle for a manipulative young American whose machinations had, prior to his capitulation, been nakedly revealed. The lovely Ms. McGuire setting her cap for the aging, fastidious old fop, so well incarnated by Mr. Webb, was another of the difficulties even those first audiences had in suspending their disbelief.

But, oh!, those glorious travelogue shots of Rome and Venice. Widescreens, back then, really were worth briefly deserting one's living room "boob tube" and letting one's mind drift into Nirvana as beautiful DeLuxe Color made one believe the world was an impossibly beautiful place. A new DVD version which approximates the original CinemaScope ratio is now available, a distinct improvement over the formatted VHS tape previously available.