A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970)

Libby Meredith (Ingrid Bergman) is the dutiful wife of college professor Roger Meredith. They are traditional and do not approve of their daughter's personal pursuit away from her family obligations. Roger is on sabbatical writing a book. The couple leaves New York City for the country where Libby finds flirtatious neighbor Will Cade (Anthony Quinn).There is a promise of an epic romance. It has the great pairing of Bergman and Quinn. It should be incredible. Libby as a conservative matriarch is set up to join the sexual revolution. I like the conflict between mother and daughter. I don't buy Anthony Quinn as an American, let alone a southerner. This should be a battle for Libby's heart and mind by the two men. There is a sudden twist that short-circuits the confrontation. In short, I don't like the twist which comes out of nowhere. Otherwise, the two leads and the premise provide interesting viewing.

A Walk In The Spring Rain has Fritz Weaver and Ingrid Bergman as a college professor of political science going on sabbatical in the Great Smokey Mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Him for peace and quiet for a year so he can publish rather than perish, she for a little time away from being a mom, grandmother, and babysitter not necessarily in that order.They take a cottage and the local handyman is Anthony Quinn doing a Smokey Mountain version of Zorba the Greek. He's married to psalm singing Virginia Gregg and she's no fun. Quinn has a son in Tom Holland who like his dad takes his action where he finds it.The educated Bergman intrigues Quinn and he gives all kinds of hints as to his availability. But this one is doomed for all kinds of reasons.I'm all for romantic stories with older protagonists and Quinn and Bergman fit the bill. The stars get good support from the rest of the cast. This is Bergman and Quinn's second film together and they acquit themselves well.Still it won't be listed among the best for either.

Admirers of classic films will no doubt enjoy seeing Anthony Quinn reunited with Ingrid Bergman, his co-star from 1964's "The Visit"; they're an interesting screen match, but here, in 1970, with handyman Quinn talking in a southern drawl and matronly Bergman playing a professor's wife living on a farm in Tennessee, one cannot help but feel a sense of central dislocation. Bergman's husband (American actor Fritz Weaver) takes a year off from teaching to write a textbook, but instead stares at his typewriter, pipe firmly stuck between his teeth (his wife isn't frigid, but he is). It's no wonder then that Bergman enjoys Quinn's advances, but since they're both married--and have problems with their selfish children besides--it's hardly a December-age romance. Dreary melodrama, adapted from the book by Rachel Maddux, with clumsy exposition and even clumsier attempts to modernize an old formula. Charles Lang's cinematography is a visually jarring mix of location shots, back projection and ugly sets, while miscast Quinn is overly-friendly and solicitous (he makes the audience as uncomfortable as Ingrid's chilly spouse). While it's good to see the two stars together again, this Smoky Mountains scenario is a drag: colorlessly staged, poorly-conceived, predictable and depressing. ** from ****

The only "suspense" is whether Ingrid & Anthony will really hook up or not and be found out. The violence is the encounters between Anthony and his rebellious son, in the "I see .... you want to fight the old man eh" vein. It's more like a combo of The Bridges of Madison County and Li'l Abner, but infinitely worse ! Madison was more romantic and had better dialog and at least Li'l Abner had good tunes. Ingrid Bergman remains dignified throughout; Anthony Quinn is once again channeling Zorba, but with less gusto and a slow Appalachian drawl; Virginia Gregg as his wife, doing a bitter old Mammy Yokum impression, is the (unintended) comic relief, as is the"repartee" between the father and the rebellious son every time they meet. The only actor more or less perfect for the part is Fritz Weaver, a rather stodgy actor, in the type of part he often played in movies.Not a film that anyone involved can be proud of.