Admirable film.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A fictional movie based VERY loosely on the Kinsey studies of the 1950s. Dr. Chapman (Andrew Duggan) goes to a suburban California town to study women's sex behavior through interviews helped by handsome Paul Radford (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). They meet young widow Kathleen (Jane Fonda) who is frigid and has a VERY protective father; Naomi (Claire Bloom) who is pill-popping alcoholic nymphomaniac; Sarah (Shelley Winters) a pathetic married woman who is cheating on her husband and Teresa (Glynis Johns) a happily married woman who decides to have a fling with young hunky Ed (Ty Hardin).This is what passed for as adult entertainment in 1962. What was considered pretty risqué in 1962 is laughably tame today. The sexual talk is frank and kind of silly. This comes off as little more than a big-budget soap opera...but it IS entertaining enough. The acting is pretty good all around but Fonda comes off as a little shrill. Bloom is excellent her role but really--its beneath her. The same year she played a lesbian in "The Haunting" proving she was willing to take on risky roles. All in all a silly soap opera but entertaining.

The eminent director George Cukor did The Chapman Report for Warner Brother. It's based on the book by Irving Wallace, which was inspired by the Kinsey report about sexual activity.The Warner Brothers actors cast include Efrem Zimbalist as one of the interviewers who works for Mr. Chapman (Andrew Duggan), Ray Danton as a libidinous film director, and Ty Hardin as someone Glynis Johns meets on the beach. According to film lore, George Cukor was impressed enough with Hardin's good looks and physique that he ended up with a showy role in the film. Look for Chad Everett as a water delivery man in the beginning of the film.But the women are the real stars: Jane Fonda, Glynis Johns, Clare Bloom, and Shelley Winters, all of whom are terrific.Chapman and Paul Radford (Zimbalist) come to a town to do interviews with women for their statistics on sexual activity. That's all pretty dated. The film focuses on four women: Fonda as a widow of a bad marriage who thinks she's frigid and becomes involved with Radford; Bloom as a nymphomaniac; Winters as a cheating wife; and Johns as a woman who wonders if she's getting enough from her marriage, which seems happy enough. She's the comic relief, and she's a blast.The best scene in the film occurs when Johns goes to Hardin's place to pose nude for her, with the idea of seducing him. Fonda, Bloom, and Johns are all gorgeous. Winters by this time was doing the more housefrau type of role. She's excellent as a desperately unhappy woman involved in an illicit affair with Danton.This is the '60s idea of an adult film so everything is talked around, in half sentences, or shown as a fadeout. The only one who takes his clothes off is Hardin.It's trash, but it's high-class trash and one does become involved with the characters.

The Chapman Report is about sex and how it plays into the life of an average suburban housewife. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is a pollster for the survey, and he meets Jane Fonda, by way of interviewing her and then taking a liking to her. While they look like they make a good couple, they became boring with all their talk. Claire Bloom is interviewed, but she is anything but normal. While I knew that Claire Bloom is an exceptional actress, her plot ultimately disinterested and depressed me, despite the fact she has some Oscar-worthy scenes. Shelley Winters, another good actress, is another housewife. Her plot held some interest for me, as she becomes disloyal to her husband. But I ultimately felt unmoved by her plot and grew tired of it. The only person who really shines in this movie and gives it its only charm and bright spot is Glynis Johns as an artist. She sees Ty Hardin on the beach and is enamored by his body. She befriends him and convinces him to pose for her, but then, when she tells him what she really wants, something happens she didn't expect. At least, not in the way she wanted. If you're a Glynis Johns fan, then you must see this film. If not, don't bother. If you want to learn about sex, buy a book, ask a parent or better yet find a partner. Don't watch this.

Vapid, profoundly trashy film, somewhat redeemed by fair performances and glossy production values. Jane Fonda's acting, however, is indeed surprisingly weak; it's hard to believe that the same actress gave such a powerful and moving performance in "The Chase", only four years later. The film is both sleazy and tame; it deals exclusively with the subject of sex, but it is very un-sexy, and never says anything meaningful, either. At least it's painless to watch.