★ 7 / 10
Cindy Carol is the best of the three
Wuchak
Cindy Carol is the best of the three Gidgets, plus several Rome attractions RELEASED IN 1963 and directed by Paul Wendkos, “Gidget goes to Rome” chronicles…
Cindy Carol is the best of the three Gidgets, plus several Rome attractions
RELEASED IN 1963 and directed by Paul Wendkos, “Gidget goes to Rome” chronicles events when Gidget (Cindy Carol) visits Rome with two girlfriends along with Moondoggie (James Darren) and two of his buds, but the group has to enlist the services of Judge’s eccentric aunt as a chaperone (Jessie Royce Landis). While Moondoggie becomes infatuated with a beautiful guide (Danielle De Metz) Gidget finds herself drawn to a suave writer, who’s much older (Cesare Danova).
Gidget is 18 years-old and freshly graduated from high school in this film, which means the events take place about two years after the events in the original 1959 movie. Cindy Carol was 18 during filming and makes for a superior substitute for Sandra Dee than Deborah Walley did in 1961’s “Gidget goes Hawaiian.” Deborah was charming enough, but her hair & eyes didn’t fit, plus she tended to have weak & whiney facial expressions, which detracted from what Gidget was all about as established in the first film, i.e. a precocious, tomboyish teen who was more interested in surfing and insightful exchange than kissy-kissy, although she was interested in that too; it just wasn’t her first & only priority.
Honestly, Carol is my favorite of the three actresses to play Gidget in the three theatrical movies, followed by Dee. Unlike Dee, Carol has womanly curves, which are on display from the get-go at the Malibu beach, as well as in a later scene at a Rome fashion show. Like Dee, she’s also all-around kinetic and winsome. The head-turning De Metz also scores well on the feminine front, not to mention the amusing Trudi Ames (Libby) and redhead Noreen Corcoran (Lucy).
Another plus is how the story naturally takes advantage of numerous tourist attractions in Rome. As such, the viewer gets his/her own tour of “the eternal city.” While the theme lacks the potent subtexts of the original movie, it’s still worthy: Get out and see the world when you have the opportunity and get cultured from every angle.
THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 44 minutes and was shot in Southern Cal and Rome. WRITERS: Ruth Brooks Flippen, Katherine Albert & Dale Eunson.
GRADE: B
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★ 4 / 10
Elvis connections ....
Historyteaches
The casting director for Elvis movies in the sixties must have been impressed by this movie! The next year, 1964 Cesare Danova was featured in Viva Las Vegas…
The casting director for Elvis movies in the sixties must have been impressed by this movie!
The next year, 1964 Cesare Danova was featured in Viva Las Vegas as Count Elmo Mancini. The race car driver/ playboy competing in the race and off the track for Ann Margret.
Peter Brooks and Joby Baker appeared in Girl Happy the next year. 1965. Brooks as a nerd around the motel (who morphs into Nita Talbot's date in the finale). And Baker is a buddy who played in Elvis's band. And shares in the hijinx.
The Gidget movie was intended to show the character as more mature and growing into a young adult. Beach scenes and family interaction were quickly disposed of in the first ten minutes. And the teenage romance/courtship dynamics of the earlier films was pretty much suspended as each lead pursued other potentially romantic partners for the bulk of the story.
The reunited ending was totally predictable. What else could it have been given the light comedic theme of the plot.
James Darren was in his prime then. On the charts in the early sixties he had a number of hit singles. Including Goodbye Cruel World and Her Royal Majesty amongst many others. He was in a handful of teen oriented films. And in a couple of years would star in the Time Tunnel sci Fi TV show.
All in all it was a nice enough bright, vivid time capsule of an early sixties milieu. And a view of a fun stereotypical tourist first visit to Rome. Hardly a memorable or captivating movie, but it did what it was intended to. Move Gidget off the beach and appeal to a familiar demographic.
Simple, innocent fluff that does build on the earlier Gidget mythos. The TV series actually is the best representation but has more time to expand on character and stories.
And as a footnote. Noreen Corcoran had just finished playing the teen daughter in the sitcom Bachelor Father.
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5.1/10
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Pls reload 1080p, it stopped at 62,5% forever..