Gidget Goes to Rome | |
---|---|
Directed by | Paul Wendkos |
Written by | Ruth Brooks Flippen Katherine Albert Dale Eunson |
Produced by | Jerry Bresler |
Starring | Cindy Carol James Darren |
Cinematography | Enzo Barboni Robert Bronner |
Edited by | William A. Lyon |
Music by | John Williams |
Production company | Columbia Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,000,000 (US/ Canada rentals) [2] |
Gidget Goes to Rome is a 1963 Columbia Pictures Eastmancolor feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally portrayed by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film Gidget . The film is the third of three Gidget films directed by Paul Wendkos and expands upon Gidget's romance with boyfriend Moondoggie. The screenplay was written by Ruth Brooks Flippen based on characters created by Frederick Kohner. Veterans of previous Gidget films making appearances include James Darren as "Moondoggie", Joby Baker, and Jean "Jeff" Donnell as Gidget's mom, Mrs. Lawrence.
College-bound Gidget (Cindy Carol) is vacationing in Rome for the summer with faithful boyfriend Jeff, aka Moondoggie (James Darren) and their friends. Chaperoning the pair is Aunt Albertina (Jessie Royce Landis). However, Gidget's father Russell, worried about his daughter being abroad, asks an old friend of his, named Paolo Cellini, to keep an eye on Gidget to see that she stays out of trouble. Complications set in when Gidget begins to fall for the much older Paolo. [3]
The film was shot on location in Rome, Italy, with some scenes filmed on Italian beaches. In a parody of La Dolce Vita , Gidget attends a high society party and goes into the Trevi Fountain.
With Deborah Walley pregnant at the time of filming, Cindy Carol, who had previously acted under the name Carol Sydes took over the Gidget role [4] and was signed to a Columbia Pictures contract.
Bosley Crowther noted in the New York Times of 12 September 1963:
When Gidget, played with the proper pout and correct ingenuousness by Cindy Caroll [sic], arrives in Rome with her group of happy friends, she is bound to fall in love with a married and handsome Italian magazine writer, enjoy such exotic delicacies as fettucini and chicken cacciatore, and experience the thrill of attending a 'Dolce Vita' cocktail party. As one of Gidget's friends explains, it's part of her 'growing up.' Gidget falls out of love in time...and all ends happily. Jeff sums up the entire experience in two immortal sentences: 'I guess everybody falls in love in Rome in the summer time. It's that old devil Italian moon.'" [5]
To Catch a Thief is a 1955 American romantic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge. The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an impostor preying on wealthy tourists on the French Riviera.
La dolce vita is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, a tabloid journalist who, over seven days and nights, journeys through the "sweet life" of Rome in a fruitless search for love and happiness. The screenplay can be divided into a prologue, seven major episodes interrupted by an intermezzo, and an epilogue, according to the most common interpretation.
James William Ercolani, known by his stage name James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had notable starring and supporting roles in films including Gidget (1959) and its sequels, The Gene Krupa Story (1959), All the Young Men (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Diamond Head (1962). As a teen pop singer, he achieved hit singles including "Goodbye Cruel World" in 1961. He later became more active in television, starring as Dr. Anthony Newman in the science fiction series The Time Tunnel (1966–1967). He appeared in the regular role of Officer III James Corrigan in the police drama T. J. Hooker (1983–1986) and in the recurring role of Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998–1999).
Gidget is a 1959 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Arthur O'Connell, and the Four Preps.
Gidget is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friends on the beach in Malibu. The name Gidget is a portmanteau of "girl" and "midget". Following the novel's publication, the character appeared in several films, television series, and television movies.
Cindy Carol is an American actress. She was credited as Carol Sydes before her starring role as Gidget in Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).
Gidget is an American sitcom television series by Screen Gems about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called "Gidget" and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as father Russell Lawrence. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15, 1965, to April 21, 1966. Reruns were aired until September 1, 1966.
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Gidget Goes Hawaiian is a 1961 American romantic comedy musical film starring James Darren, Michael Callan and Deborah Walley. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film is a sequel to the 1959 Sandra Dee beach film vehicle Gidget. Dee was under contract to Universal for the rival series film Tammy Tell Me True (1961) and would not be released to Columbia to reprise her hit role.
It Happens Every Spring is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Ray Milland, Jean Peters and Paul Douglas.
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Bon Voyage! is a 1962 American comedy film directed by James Neilson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It stars Fred MacMurray, Jane Wyman, Deborah Walley, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran as the Willard family on a European holiday.
Moondoggie is a fictional character created by Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel Gidget, The Little Girl with Big Ideas. He appears as a principal character in five of the eight Gidget novels, but is a minor character or is only mentioned in passing in Cher Papa, The Affairs of Gidget and Gidget Goes Parisienne.
The Man I Married is an American 1940 drama film starring Joan Bennett, Francis Lederer, Lloyd Nolan and Anna Sten.
A Night to Remember is a 1942 mystery comedy film starring Loretta Young and Brian Aherne. It was directed by Richard Wallace, and is based on the novel The Frightened Stiff by Audrey Roos and William Roos. A mystery writer and his wife try to solve a murder when a corpse is found outside their Greenwich Village apartment.
Gidget Grows Up is a 1969 American made-for-television comedy film directed by James Sheldon with stars Karen Valentine, Edward Mulhare and Paul Petersen as well as alphabetically listed special guest stars Warner Anderson, Bob Cummings, Nina Foch and Paul Lynde. Freely adapted from the novel Gidget Goes New York by Frederick Kohner, the film premiered on ABC on December 30, 1969, and was intended as a pilot for a possible new Gidget series, possibly a sequel to the 1960s sitcom Gidget.
Sis Hopkins is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Judy Canova, Bob Crosby, Charles Butterworth, Jerry Colonna and Susan Hayward. It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures, who made a number Canova films, and was released on April 12, 1941.
Mother Didn't Tell Me is a 1950 American comedy film written and directed by Claude Binyon. It is based on the 1949 book The Doctor Wears Three Faces by Mary Bard. The film stars Dorothy McGuire, William Lundigan, June Havoc, Gary Merrill, Jessie Royce Landis and Joyce MacKenzie. The film was released on March 3, 1950, by 20th Century Fox.