40 Carats *** (1973, Liv Ullmann, Edward Albert, Gene Kelly, Binnie Barnes) – Classic Movie Review 9375

Director Milton Katselas’s 1973 romantic comedy drama 40 Carats [Forty Carats] stars Liv Ullmann as a glamorous 40-year-old divorced wife, Norwegian-American divorcée Ann Stanley, who has a fling with an American boy (Edward Albert) half her age while vacationing in Greece. Based on a Broadway play, this stagy though generally attractive romantic comedy is the follow-up to the same team’s 1972 Butterflies Are Free, and gets its main boost with some amusing lines.

Heavyweight Swedish tragedian Ullmann is struggling in light comedy, and Leonard Gershe’s screenplay is paper thin and often frankly unbelievable. But this movie is awfully nice, sleek and escapist entertaining anyway.

Gene Kelly is rather uncomfortable as Ullmann’s irresponsible ex-husband, character actor Billy Boylan, and Binnie Barnes equally so as her mother (squirmingly, they disco together!).

Gershe’s screenplay is based on Jay Presson Allen’s Broadway version (which starred Julie Harris) of the 1967 French play Quarante Carats, written by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy.

The star role was originally offered to Audrey Hepburn, and Ullmann again took a part originally offered to Hepburn in A Bridge Too Far.

Albert had just appeared in the same producer and director’s Butterflies Are Free.

Also in the cast are Billy Green Bush, Nancy Walker, Deborah Raffin, Rosemary Murphy, Don Porter, Natalie Schafer, Claudia Jennings and Brooke Palance.

40 Carats [Forty Carats] is directed by Milton Katselas, runs 110 minutes, is made by Frankovich Productions and Columbia Pictures, is released by Columbia Pictures (1973) (US) and Columbia-Warner Distributors (1973) (UK), is written by Leonard Gershe, based on Jay Presson Allen’s Broadway version (with Julie Harris) of the French play Quarante Carats by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy, is shot in Eastmancolor by Charles B Lang, is produced by M J Frankovich, is scored by Michel Legrand and is designed by Robert Clatworthy.

The original Broadway production, adapted by Jay Presson Allen from the 1967 French play Quarante Carats, written by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy, opened at the Morosco Theater in New York on 26 December 1968, and ran for 780 performances till 7 November 1970.

Edward Albert cared for his father, actor Eddie Albert, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and died at 99 on 26 May 2005. Tragically, Edward Albert was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2005 and died on 22 September 2006, aged 55.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9375

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