Love Is a Ball

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Charles Boyer, Glenn Ford, and Hope Lange in Love Is a Ball (1963)

On the French Riviera, a professional matchmaker assisted by an American adventurer arranges for convenience marriages between titled impoverished aristocratic men and rich low-bred women.On the French Riviera, a professional matchmaker assisted by an American adventurer arranges for convenience marriages between titled impoverished aristocratic men and rich low-bred women.On the French Riviera, a professional matchmaker assisted by an American adventurer arranges for convenience marriages between titled impoverished aristocratic men and rich low-bred women.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

689

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Director David Swift was greatly annoyed throughout the filming by the behavior of leading man Glenn Ford , later telling an interviewer that if Ford were his child, "I would spank him".

Goofs
When the estate agent shows the villa to M.Pimm she quotes the monthly rental at 7,500,000 francs. In 1963 at the exchange rate of 4.901 francs to the US dollar that would be the equivalent of 1.53 million US dollars per month. In 1963 that villa may have been valued at 1.53 million but would hardly have rented for that much. Up to the introduction of the Euro EUR, many French people still counted in and spoke in "anciens francs." So 494 anciens francs were worth 4,94 nouveaux, or the number of anciens francs divided by 100. The "nouveau franc" was introduced on 1 January 1960. In this case 7.5M anciens francs would equal 75,000 nouveaux francs or $15,303, a much more reasonable amount.

Quotes
M. Etienne Pimm: It's so easy to make money when you're clever. It's embarrassing.

Connections
Featured in Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963)

Soundtracks
Love Is A Ball
Written and Performed by Michel Legrand Et Son Orchestre

User reviews25

Review

Featured review

7/10

Team Gaspard

In Love Is A Ball Glenn Ford is a down on his luck charter boat captain who is asked to join an unusual enterprise by Charles Boyer. Ford has his charter boat business on the French Riviera which is a great place to be if you're down on your luck. This project involves training Ricardo Montalban in the fine arts of royal behavior. Montalban is royalty all right, but the exiled and impoverished kind. Still he does have a somewhat tarnished title the kind that rich folks might marry for the prestige.

This is a plot situation that goes back to authors like Henry James and Mark Twain, the rich Americans getting together nobility down on its luck. You can still find a flock of them today on the Riviera. The problem is that Montalban as Prince Gaspard lacks a lot of polish, in fact he's from the Inspector Clousseau school of unpolished. Hence Boyer as his manager has assembled his team to give him that. Ford's job on the team is to teach him race car driving and horseback riding, he's done both in the past.

The object of all this prince preparation is heiress Hope Lange who is visiting the Riviera with grandmother Ruth McDevitt and uncle Telly Savalas. Ford also is hired on as a chauffeur for wild child Lange to watch the investment for the team.

The most interesting performance in the film is Montalban's who shows a nice comic touch with some tender moments of self reflection with Boyer's secretary Ulla Jacobbson. He realizes more than anyone else what an essentially useless life he leads. Though Clousseau was not yet on the scene, Montalban had the rich comic genius of Jerry Lewis to get some of his moves down for this film.

Ford and Hope Lange were an item at the time and the film was made around the tail end of Ford's career height as a box office star. It's got some nice cinematography of the French Riviera, a place like Hawaii it's impossible to get bad pictures of and a cast that delivers the goods for the viewer.

What's not to like?