While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If ever there was an underrated film, In the Cool of the Day is it. I am not one to dismiss it as a soaper, nor do I share in the silly fixation on Jane Fonda's period hairstyle, which becomes her to my mind. As I see it, the film not only bears reasonable scrutiny, I would not change a thing about it.The age-old theme of loyalty clashed with forbidden love never stales so long as it is done right, as is the case here. More than an intelligent study of sexual propriety, the film is an ode to traveling, something I might just do indefinitely if only I could. The four principal characters are well-established. Jane Fonda's Christine Bonner and Peter Finch's Murray Logan share an affinity for Greece that is evinced most compellingly. Greece itself is very well shot by Peter Newbrook, who did second unit photography on David Lean's visually amazing Lawrence of Arabia.So, it's a match made in Graecophilic heaven. Unfortunately, he is married to the contemptibly cantankerous Sibyl (Angela Lansbury), and she to the doting, tiresomely prudent Sam (Arthur Hill). Christine's overbearing self-indulgent mother is another fly in the ointment. What's more, Christine has a serious lung condition.All in all, a most satisfying little known film with an average rating of 5.0 on 215 votes. Frightful luck as to the few who have seen it, perhaps. It's a very small sampling, so give it a go.Oh, and IMDb, a cover picture would be nice. Please and thank you.

I thought the movie was unique if not wonderful, being only ever so slightly cliché in its ending. I could not, however, tell if the style in which the film was shot was meant to be unusual and fresh or if this achieved addition to the film was simply an accident brought on by clumsiness. As for questions concerning the title, I would recommend the book of Genesis (to be found in the Bible for all of those who don't know) where Adam walked with God in The Cool of the Day. I don't have a Bible handy at the moment so I will not quote you can read this for yourself. Fonda reminds me of a young Katharine Hepburn in this film. She seems unsure of herself, probably because this was one of her first major roles, and like the Great Kate, in her very early films, she uses a higher voice than is generally attributed to her in this early film. It is not until a few years later in each career that we hear those majestic deeper voices that command so much respect from audiences.

I found Jane Fonda's hair rather interesting in this film. It provided a nice distraction from the narrative which plodded along at a rather languid pace. The actors smoked a lot in the film too. I mean in older Hollywood films actors smoked a lot, but they really lit up in this one. In almost every scene Peter Finch was lighting up and puffing away. It's almost like he knew there wasn't much going on dramatically so he might as well smoke a cigarette until the scene was over. I thought for sure Peter Finch was going to die of lung cancer, but then Jane ends up getting really sick, which was okay because that meant the movie was almost over. On the positive side I did enjoy the shots of Greece.

Poor Jane Fonda must have been under the taut thumb of the studio system when she signed on to do this movie--how else to explain a talented and attractive up-&-coming starlet getting trapped in the middle of this island? Sappy plot involves infidelity on the Mediterranean, as sleepy-eyed Peter Finch falls for his best friend's flirtatious wife while touring Athens. British production does look good, but the handsome travelogue footage from Greece fails to bolster the wayward story. Performances are mostly dull, with Fonda looking highly ridiculous in an Oriental-style "fall" causing her to resemble the night hostess at Madame Chow's. *1/2 from ****