A Brilliant Conflict

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I anxiously anticipated all those kids to fall off the picnic bench in the lovely sloped hillside scene. Who would go all that distance and considerable trouble to enjoy a few sandwiches? Well, artificial methods led to some genuinely gorgeous vistas of Rome and Venice.Sixty years hence and it shows how crowded each city was and nary plant even a single tree?? I was hoping to see more of Venice and other location shots versus the trite dialog within interior shots. The Villa Eden palace was affordable for these three lowly secretaries was so believable due to the favorable exchange rates, although I doubt they meant the lira!Louis and Rossano make up for the ditsy chicks and delighted to see one of their youngest versions to date. I have been all over Italy, the men really do pinch your derriere, despite your husband at your side. I was supposed to be a good sport about it but wanted to smack the creep nonetheless.The most amusing aspect of the film was the new girl waited an ENTIRE month to find a husband, after all that training to give up and go back to the States humiliated. That's true grit girlfriend. And so the rest of the film manages to surprise with major plot twists and inordinate moments of shocking behavior. I thought Europeans were more open minded about male friends and public mingling. Perhaps they will make FOUR COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN?? Hope to get my many suspenseful questions answered!High recommend for Italy in Technicolor and those two gorgeous men to save the day for us poor womenfolk.

American girls dream of finding romance in Rome, but there is none for secretaries, Anita tells her replacement at the USDA. But Maria soon meets Prince Dino de Cessi at a party at her boss's home who invites her to fly to Venice in his private plane.Bosley Crowther wrote, "A nice way to take the movie audience on a sightseeing tour of Rome, with a flying side trip to Venice, through the courtesy of CinemaScope, has been devised in "Three Coins in the Fountain," a handsomely colored romance that Twentieth Century-Fox delivered to the Roxy yesterday. The trick is to underpin the picture with flimsy and harmless accounts of the plainly romantic adventures of three American girls in Rome and then chase them with the camera around the Eternal City as they pursue their destinies." Crowther is right. The story is rather dated and somewhat silly, but the scenery is timeless. In fact, if anything, it is an important document of the city of Rome in a color we no longer use. Are all these sights still around? Some surely are, but not all. And that makes the film worth watching for those who love Italy.

I hadn't seen this film since 1962 when it was on NBC's "Saturday Night At The Movies"...51 years ago! What surprised me most in re-seeing it is that there really isn't one star of the film...it's very much an ensemble cast.And, it's a darned good cast. You've got Clifton Webb as an American author living in Rome, who has a relationship he doesn't even realize with his secretary -- Dorothy McGuire. Then you have Jean Peters as one of the coin tossers. That famous French actor Louis Jourdan plays an Italian prince (yes, I know...I guess they couldn't find a real Italian). And Rossano Brazzi -- an Italian -- as an Italian who works for the American government. And then there's Maggie McNamara -- who may remind you just a little bit of Audrey Hepburn -- as another American coin tosser.I always liked Clifton Webb, and he's very good here, although this is not his finest film. Dorothy McGuire almost steals the show. Jean Peters is very good, as is Louis Jourdan. Rossano Brazzi is good here, although he is somewhat shortchanged by his screen time. Maggie McNamara is very good, and I'm surprised she didn't become a bigger star. And as the song asks -- which one will the fountain bless? Lest you think this is one of those movies where it's all one big happy ending...well, one major character is unexpectedly dying. So, the fountain doesn't bless everyone in this film, although for most of the main players, it does lead them to happiness.The script isn't a somewhat typical romance, and it's pretty pleasant. The extensive photography of Rome and Italy is absolutely stunning, and its worth watching the film for that alone. And you get a sense of the happy-go-lucky nature of Italy back in the day. The story line will hold your attention, although it's nothing unique. And, there is the (oddly uncredited) Frank Sinatra singing the title song. This is definitely worth a watch...at least once.

Lighten up, boys and girls! You must allow the director to display irony and fun in a feel-good movie in Rome not long after the fall of fascism! And how exotic it must have appeared to most of the world's population who at that time had not travelled abroad.It does make you wonder how those secretaries could afford those glamorous clothes, and be so close to princes and movers and shakers of post-war Rome. Perhaps a gentle poke at role reversal?One of the best tunes ever written, wonderful locations, and I don't care a damn about the Trevi fountain behaving inconsistently - that is the nature of fountains, and in Rome they are all drenched in magic!