Suzanne Pleshette didn’t always get a crack at leading roles so it’s fun to see her in this Italian romance piece. She was briefly married to the film’s star, Troy Donahue, making his fourth film with Delmer Daves. Pleshette is a librarian about to be fired for letting students read a racy novel (“about love”) so she heads off to Rome, stays at a boarding house with other Americans and goes to work for an American book store and falls in love with an American (Troy Donahue).
There’s not a lot of plot – they fall in love and walk around Rome seeing the sights, and go on a trip. Lots of men fall for Pleshette - a younger nerdy guy and Rossano Brazzi - and Pleshette faces a Donahue rival in the form of Angie Dickinson (who is quite fun).
There’s far too many scenes of Donahue and Pleshette being worried about having to share a room together even though they aren’t married and not nearly enough conflict. The angst level of the characters is very high despite the lack of true problems anyone seems to have. This is a problem for the movie; Daves' earlier melodramas with Donahue - A Summer Place, Parrish, Susan Slade - had more story. If this didn't have story then it needed more comedy, but it's all played straight.
There’s camp value to seeing Donahue running around Rome in a red sweater on his moped but if truth be told Pleshette doesn’t really have the chops to carry a film this thin on story. The locations are pretty. Troy D is awkward as every but it's hard to really dislike a film like this.
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