Who Was That Lady?

1960 "A light-hearted leer at love among the adults!"
Who Was That Lady?
6.6| 1h55m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 15 April 1960 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In order to get back into the good graces with his wife with whom he has had a misunderstanding, a young chemistry professor concocts a wild story that he is an undercover FBI agent. To help him with his story he enlists the aid of a friend who is a TV writer. The wife swallows the story and the film's climax takes place in the sub-basements of the Empire State Building. The professor and his friend, believing themselves prisoners on an enemy submarine, patriotically try to scuttle the vessel and succeed only in rocking the building.

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masercot This was not a great movie...There is only one likable character in the entire film and he doesn't show up until the middle of the movie. Until then, we have to content ourselves with a lecherous Dean Martin, an ANNOYING Tony Curtis and a sexy but tense Janet Leigh.The plot is simple: Man gets caught kissing student by wife; man makes up implausible story about being FBI agent; lie comes back to bite him later. The situations in this situation comedy are never that funny or interesting.The film almost gets funny near the end when the pair trash the basement of the Empire State building; but, not quite.But, the movie is worth watching just to see Larry Storch play a Russian torturer.
christopher-underwood Light-hearted and amusing tale where Martin gets Curtis to pretend he is a member of the FBI to cover up Leigh catching him kissing another girl. Yes, that's about it but its OK, Tony Curtis doesn't put himself out too much, Dean Martin is his usual cool self and coasts easily enough through the proceedings but it is the energetic and likable performance from Janet Leigh that surprises. Same year as Psycho!Worth seeing if you are a fan of any of the three stars. Nothing brilliant but never a dull moment.
mishaa7 Right to be surprised when you find out that this screwball comedy with extravagant plot ridiculous and childish humor in 1960 was twofold nominated for film award "Golden Globe", namely in the categories of Best Actor and Best Film. If the first tape of George Sidney (Kiss Me Kate) is quite tolerant of his romantic escapades, foolish pretense heroes Dean Martin and Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh heroine's reaction to all this, the next story tape makes a roll in the direction of incongruity is happening that is not only not to laugh want to even see it's not worth it.It all starts with the fact that Columbia University chemistry professor David Wilson catches kissing a young student in the eyes of his wife, Ann. Wife confronts him and immediately wanted to divorce. His friend Mike comes up with his legend: "FBI agent and he kissed the girl, in order to fulfill its top-secret mission!" For the more convincing it also provides him a fake identity and a pistol. All work is done! Few fool about before her and took off with the blame, our heroes can go on a spree with other women. But here's the rub - Blessed David all took so seriously that starts everywhere to poke their nose in their "cause." She asked with great curiosity, how is service and what it's like to be always on the "knife edge".The culmination of the first half of the film (which still was a little funny compared to those that started later) will be involved in their game is not clear from emerging Soviet agents and quite shameless and totally ridiculous encompassing theme of the Cold War.Of course, the movie captivates enjoyable actors. Dean Martin and Tony Curtis lovely man, though not shine here with his skill, and Janet Leigh is incredibly charming, although it is in principle a very beautiful woman, it would be foolish to write this series dignity movie.
Poseidon-3 A trio of major stars, close to their peak of fame at the time, help to enliven this overdrawn farce based on a moderately successful Broadway play. Curtis is a university scientist who is canoodling with a female student when his wife Leigh walks in and catches him. In no time flat, she is packing for Reno to get a divorce and orders him out of the house by 7:00pm. Curtis's pal Martin, a writer for CBS television, helps to concoct a scheme designed to fool Leigh into calling off the split. He aids Curtis in convincing Leigh that they are FBI agents and that the girl being smooched was just a small part of a much bigger plan. After some deliberation, Leigh falls for the story, but thanks to a loose end from the props department at CBS, the real FBI gets involved and things become more and more convoluted and complicated from there. Curtis is appropriately manic and desperate as he tries to inject a sense of imperativeness to the silly and unrealistic plot. Playing a cheating husband couldn't have been too great a stretch for him as he admitted to fooling around on Leigh many times during their real life marriage and, in fact, would leave her for a younger girl only two years after this. Martin appears to be investing his role with a little more conviction than he would later in his Matt Helm series and tries to add texture to his performance (or is he just trying to steal focus?) by fiddling often with props. He's mostly second fiddle to Curtis, but does get to toss out a few zesty lines now and then. Leigh (saddled with an unflatteringly tousled hairdo) overacts with abandon in order to keep up with the guys' zaniness. She cuts a nice figure in her black cocktail dress, but has a pretty dense role to play. Fortunately for her, "Psycho" would come out the same year as this and immortalize her forever in a more flattering way. Some strong supporting players, notably Whitmore as a beleaguered FBI agent and Nichols and Lansing as a couple of bottle-blonde pickups, give their all in an effort to liven up the film. Whitmore very wisely underplays his role in contrast to the more broadly acted ones. Unfortunately, the play was dated before too long after its run and the film is badly dated now. The stage origins show through frequently despite attempts to move the action around. Curtis's apartment is interestingly laid out, though very artificial in nature. This was made at a time when the big trend was to involve the Russians (see also Leigh's version of "Bye, Bye Birdie") or to throw in a big, sloppy spectacle such as a pie fight or an overflowing washing machine. Here, the Russians make their obligatory appearance and the unlikely flooding of a New York City landmark accents the climax. It wouldn't be so bad if the script didn't take so long to set things up and dwell on so many unnecessary details along the way, but it would hardly matter because the whole enterprise is both inane and distasteful in any case. There's an odd layer of (unintentional?) homoeroticism dispersed throughout as well, with Curtis and Martin contorting their way through the machinations of the plot and Curtis nearly kissing a male Soviet agent. What it's got are three charismatic stars trying their best and some clean black and white photography, but what it's lacking is a compelling premise that is carried out proficiently.