Here’s the latest from The Magnificent 60s
One of the few romantic comedies of the 1960s to resonate today. Neglected wife Moira (Maureen O’Hara) abandons her two children to fly to the eponymous villa on Lake Garda in Italy to take up with composer Lorenzo (Rossano Brazzi). While husband Darrell (Richard Todd) accepts the fait accompli, kids Michael (Martin Stephens) and Debby (Elizabeth Dear) set out to bring her back. Although Disney had created a hit on the similar theme with The Parent Trap (1961) – also starring O’Hara – this failed to find an audience primarily because it sailed too close to comfort regarding the reality of the effect of separation and impending divorce on children.
Nor are these kids Disney cute. While Debby occasionally calls upon her internal winsomeness to tug at heartstrings, both she and Michael are made of sterner stuff…