Love Is a Ball (1963)

Etienne makes a good living out of marrying off poor but titled young men to rich but untitled young ladies. Millicent is now in his sights on the Riviera, and Grand Duke Gaspar is the bait... See full summary »

Director:

David Swift

Writers:

Lindsay Hardy (book), David Swift (screenplay),

Stars:

Glenn Ford, Hope Lange, Charles Boyer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Glenn Ford	...	John Lathrop Davis
Hope Lange	...	Millicent 'Millie' Mehaffey
Charles Boyer	...	M. Etienne Pimm
Ricardo Montalban	...	Duke Gaspard Ducluzeau
Telly Savalas	...	Dr. Christian Gump (Millie's uncle)
Ruth McDevitt	...	Mathilda
Ulla Jacobsson	...	Janine
Georgette Anys	...	Mme. Gallou
Robert Bettoni	...	Milkman
Mony Dalmès	...	Mme. Fernier
Laurence Hardy	...	Priory
Jean Le Maitre	...	Carlo
André Luguet	...	Maurice Zoltan
Jean Parédès	...	Freddie
Redmond Phillips	...	Starcy

Storyline

Etienne makes a good living out of marrying off poor but titled young men to rich but untitled young ladies. Millicent is now in his sights on the Riviera, and Grand Duke Gaspar is the bait. But what if Millicent starts to fancy planted chauffeur John instead, and Gaspar takes a shine to Etienne's secretary Janine?

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | based on book

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Taglines:

The hilariously mad story of all the best things in life that are not free... and the one thing that definitely is!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian French

Release Date:

14 May 1963 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

40 Millionen suchen einen Mann

Filming Locations:

Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gold Medal, Oxford Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the estate agent shows the villa to M.Pimm she quotes the monthly rental at 7,500,000 francs. In 1963 at the exchange rate of 4.901 francs to the US dollar that would be the equivalent of 1.53 million US dollars per month. In 1963 that villa may have been valued at 1.53 million but would hardly have rented for that much. Up to the introduction of the Euro EUR, many French people still counted in and spoke in "anciens francs." So 494 anciens francs were worth 4,94 nouveaux, or the number of anciens francs divided by 100. The "nouveau franc" was introduced on 1 January 1960. In this case 7.5M anciens francs would equal 75,000 nouveaux francs or $15,303, a much more reasonable amount.

User Reviews

There's a surprise under this hood

What surprise(s)? Plenty. How about Telly Savalas playing an effeminate guardian? How about Ricardo Montalban playing a klutz! This movie has all that and then some. Hope Lange is perfect as the rebellious young girl who doesn't want to be stereotyped (this was pretty racy for the 50s mind you), and Glenn Ford totally disarmed by his circumstance and his company.

Great chemistry between the players especially between Charles Boyer and Montalban, who just doesn't seem like he's ever going to play up to his title...this is really funny.

A movie I can watch again and again.