The Moon Is Blue (1953)

A sex comedy in which the laughs allegedly derive from the fact that nobody gets any. Four-character, two-set play about an unmarried New York City architect who becomes inexplicably smitten with a brightly-dotty would-be actress whom he meets at the top of the Empire State Building; he takes her back to his place for a drink (not a seduction!), where they run into the playboy-father of the architect's ex-fiancée. Producer-director Otto Preminger, working from F. Hugh Herbert's adaptation of his Broadway success (which Preminger presented on the stage), obviously had faith in this material, but it's far too flimsy to work up a head of comedic steam. William Holden gives the scenario more charm and panache than it deserves, while David Niven (as Holden's potential father-in-law?) is miscast. Oscar-nominated Maggie McNamara portrays the insipidly-named Patty O'Neill--an inquisitive Irish gal from Brooklyn who knows the facts of life--as if she were auditioning for the 'kooky neighbor' spot on "Guiding Light". *1/2 from ****

You'll never know who these people really are in this movie. They have no background. They just appear in the Empire State Building in order to get the story rolling. And roll it does. It's a very superficial, pretty inconsequential, and funny comedy. Who cares who the characters are or were, anyway? The thing most important is physical and sexual and all the jockeying that goes on before the relationship reaches that point. It turns out to be a comedy-writer's paradise. Of course in the end they will get married to at least throw a bone to social mores. Holden is near top form and Niven, as his older upstairs neighbor whose daughter was Holden's girlfriend, is classic.

Yes, it does seem silly today, the controversy. It almost seems as though they are saying, "Look what we're not afraid to say"; but I don't know, so I won't say they are. But beyond these evil words, is there anything? Yes, but nothing special.It's based on play and thus play-like. Problem? Slight. There is many a flaw in the script. The film drags in places and, in others, borders on the tedious. The character of Cynthia works on no level whatsoever.But there is much good as well. Some nice - and funny - dialogue. Solid performances from the main trio. Holden is good here between much superior Wilders, and McNamara's debut is of quality. The most amusement, however, comes from Niven's schtick - and it is, indeed, amusement. Nothing more, nothing less.Of the title song, then, I won't say a thing.

"The Moon is Blue" was denied a Production Code seal and the refusal was upheld upon appeal to the board of the Motion Picture Association, primarily because the character played by Maggie McNamara announced that she was a Virgin and intended to remain one until she was married. The words virgin and seduction were used frequently in this film that was mainly a comedy about being occupied or pre-occupied with sex and,for those reasons it was denied approval, and it was released and shown minus approval. It wasn't the first film to be denied a Production Code seal, but it was the one that led to the ultimate demise of the power of the Hays Office, the Legion of Decency and various local blue-nose censor boards to determine what could not be said or done on screen.