Speaking In Code

I recently watched Sunday In New York, one of those forgettable sex comedies they made so many of in the 60s. It's somewhat memorable in that we can see a young Jane Fonda, in 1963, starting to develop her acting chops.  The play, presented on Broadway a couple years earlier, is mostly remembered for helping make Robert Redford a star. (He wasn't in the movie version, but when it opened he was starring in the Broadway blockbuster Barefoot In The Park, the movie of which he and Fonda would star in.)

Norman Krasna adapted his play for the screen and is only partially successful opening it up.  Too much of the action is stuck in one apartment (though there is some NYC location shooting which is fun). On stage, the farcical action can gather momentum, but in a movie it just feels claustrophobic.  The real problem, however, is what Hollywood would allow then.  There's an awful lot of talk from Fonda, along with costars Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson, about how far a girl should go and what she should expect. It's all supposed to be very salacious but it's disappointing because you know, with the Production Code still in place, the only thing anyone will do is the right thing.  There'll be lots of misunderstanding and no sex. It's depressing.

Fonda and the gang are game, but the movie isn't.