40 Carats (1973)

Forty year old Norwegian-American divorcée Ann Stanley owns her own Manhattan based real estate agency specializing in upscale Manhattan apartments. She lives with her seventeen year old ... See full summary »

Director:

Milton Katselas

Writers:

Jay Presson Allen (stage play adaptation) (as Jay Allen), Pierre Barillet (play) (as Barillet)

Stars:

Liv Ullmann, Edward Albert, Gene Kelly

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Liv Ullmann	...	Ann Stanley
Edward Albert	...	Peter Latham
Gene Kelly	...	Billy Boylan
Binnie Barnes	...	Maud Ericson
Deborah Raffin	...	Trina Stanley
Billy Green Bush	...	J.D. Rogers
Nancy Walker	...	Mrs. Margie Margolin
Don Porter	...	Mr. Latham
Rosemary Murphy	...	Mrs. Latham
Natalie Schafer	...	Mrs. Adams
Sam Chew Jr.	...	Arthur Forbes
Claudia Jennings	...	Gabriella
Brooke Palance	...	Polly

Storyline

Forty year old Norwegian-American divorcée Ann Stanley owns her own Manhattan based real estate agency specializing in upscale Manhattan apartments. She lives with her seventeen year old daughter Trina Stanley, and her mother, Maud Ericson, who acts more the teenager than Trina. Largely because of her uptight and regimented attitude, Ann has had no love in her life since divorcing her ex-husband, character actor Billy Boylan, an irresponsible man who she still loves as a friend and who she sees whenever he is in town between acting jobs and whenever he needs money from her. Ann's uptight attitude seems to have softened slightly ever since returning from a trip to Greece with Maud. What she has not told anyone is that her softened attitude is from a romantic one night only liaison with a young American man she met by happenstance by an out of the way Greek beach, he who tried to get her to be more carefree, if only for that one night. Purely by coincidence, she meets that man again in ...

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Plot Keywords:

love | greece | beach | apartment | real estate | 

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Taglines:

She's a divorcee. She's forty. She's engaged...to a younger man.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Greek French

Release Date:

6 December 1973 (Finland)

Also Known As:

40 karat

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Frankovich Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Julie Harris won her third of five Tony Awards for her portrayal of Ann on stage. During the original run on Broadway, Harris was succeeded in the role by June Allyson, Joan Fontaine, Iva Withers and Zsa Zsa Gabor. The play would become a staple on tour and in summer stock and regional theaters as the ideal vehicle for actresses of a certain age, giving former glamour queens like Lana Turner and Barbara Rush their entre to theatrical work.

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Goofs

That red cover was supposedly Peter's campsite but you can clearly see a man adjusting it in the background as Peter talks about them being seen "only by the gods and goddesses".

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Quotes

[Mrs. Adams is looking at the apartment listings]
Mrs. Adams: This one here that's not too bad. 1080 Park Avenue. What's the cross street?
Margie Margolin: 88th Street.
Mrs. Adams: Oh no, that's too far uptown. Couldn't you give me the same apartment in the 60's?
Margie Margolin: No. It's attached to the building.

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Connections

References The Hustler (1961)

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Soundtracks

In Every Corner of the World
Music by Michel Legrand
Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Played over opening and end credits

User Reviews

And There Is Love... In Every Corner Of The World...

This a breezy comedy based on a hit Broadway play and one of the few worthwhile comic tales depicting the relationship between a younger man and an older woman. While on holidays, visiting Greece, a divorced real estate agent encounters by chance a vital young man, and they have a brief romantic interlude.

She leaves him while he is sleeping and escapes back to New York. Regaining the cherrished stability she has conquered as a lady executive, she settles down on her lovely apartment where she lives with her daughter and her mother. Until - very much in the fashion of every Broadway farce there is - they receive an unexpected visitor. Peter Latham, the man our main character had an affair with while in Greece. But now, he is introduced as a friend of her daughter's.

After constant bickering, they decide to get married, but will their relationship last?

'40 Carats' is a light, entertaining and cheerful movie, filled with beautiful, rich people whose vain problems serve as the basis for an plot. The characters have social status written all over their foreheads and their reaction to the plot's major complications are clever one-liners encouraged by greek drinks and the prospect of a happy, happy ending. The film does not attempt to be deep, for it's subject is a rather delicate one - the producers were aiming for time-filling entertainment and they really did it.

But this film suffers mostly from the miscasting of Liv Ullmann, Ingmar Bergman's norwegian muse. No matter how versatile the wonderful Ms. Ullmann can be, she is a rather indelible case of typecasting - used to play such profound characters whose heartaches and emotional flaws we can relate to, she seems uncomfortable portraying a futile woman whose psyche isn't that complex, after all. The one scene in which her character really makes the transition between a woman caught in a whirlwind of happenings and a woman whose pain is overwhelmingly intense, nevertheless, is a cinematic gem. In this scene she confronts her future in laws.

Another highlight of the film is Michel Legrand's beautiful soundtrack that includes the love theme 'In Every Corner Of The World', and Gene Kelly's performance as Liv Ullmann's annoying first husband.

All in all, this is a movie whose delicate subject provokes a barrier that keeps it from being a great film, but is, nevertheless, sheer cinematic delight.