The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)

Directors:

Mickey Rooney, Albert Zugsmith

Writers:

Robert Hill, George Kennett (story),

Stars:

Mickey Rooney, Mamie Van Doren, Fay Spain

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mickey Rooney	...	Nick Lewis / The Devil
Mamie Van Doren	...	Evie Simms / Eve
Fay Spain	...	Lil Lewis / Lilith
Mel Tormé	...	Hal Sanders
Martin Milner	...	Ad Simms / Adam
Tuesday Weld	...	Vangie Harper
Cecil Kellaway	...	Doc Bayles
Paul Anka	...	Pinkie Parker
Ziva Rodann	...	Passiona
Theona Bryant	...	Sensuosa
June Wilkinson	...	Saturday
Phillipa Fallon	...	Desire
Barbara Walden	...	Dancer
Toni Covington	...	Devil's Familiar
Nancy Root	...	Monday

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

reference to marilyn monroe | devil | stranded | directed by star | garden of eden | 

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Taglines:

For the First Time See the Garden of Eden in Spectacolor!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Vida Íntima de Adão e Eva

Company Credits

Production Co:

Albert Zugsmith Productions, Fryman Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color (Spectacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Million Dollar Movie Week 5 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"The Private Lives of Adam and Eve"
Written by Paul Anka
Sung by Paul Anka

User Reviews

Ah, the good old days!

This is a VERY strange movie, co-directed by cult director Albert Zugsmith and actor Mickey Rooney, that was barely released back in the day and has never appeared on legitimate home video. The "frame" story involves a motley assortment of characters taking a bus trip to Reno, Nevada when they're cut off by a flash flood and have to take refuge in a church. The movie then slips (for no apparent reason) into a long "Wizard of Oz"-type dream sequence where two of the characters, conveniently named "Adam" () and "Eve" (Mamie Van Doren), re-live the Garden of Eden adventures of their namesakes, with two other passengers, a loud-mouth promoter (Mickey Rooney) and his sultry wife (Fay Spain), becoming, respectively, "Satan" and his consort "Lilith". (Va-va-voom actress/model June Wilkinson also appears as another female minion of Satan).

The Garden of Eden story is a lot more goofy than funny, the heights of the (mostly unintentional) hilarity reached when Rooney appears in a snake costume, which kind of looks like a bad papier-mache snake has unsuccessfully tried to swallow a chubby, washed-up child actor. What's particularly strange though is that the Garden of Eden sequence only utilizes four of the eight passengers on the bus. Paul Anka is apparently only there to warble a couple of lame songs. But "the Velvet Fog" himself, Mel Torme, is completely wasted both as an actor and a singer. You wouldn't think you'd really need a sixteen-year-old Tuesday Weld (playing a teen runaway) when you have Van Doren, Spain, and June Wilkinson in the cast, but even in an abortive role, the vixenish Weld manages to out-sexy--and definitely out-act--all of her older, more voluptuous co-stars (SHE should have played Eve). Then there's the elderly but lecherous bus driver who narrates everything (and says at one point of Weld's character, "They used to call her 'bobby socks', but now they call her 'baby sex'").

I didn't find this completely un-entertaining just because of the unusual cast and just because it's so damn weird. It's definitely a throw-back to a bye-gone era when the mostly male movie audience was an unapologetic mixture of chauvinists, big-breast fetishists, and dirty old men. Ah, the good old days!