Jessica (1962)

(On Cable TV, April 2022) If your idea of a good time is to hang out in a small Sicilian village with Maurice Chevalier being your guide as a young attractive American woman arrives to upset nearly everyone, well, there’s Jessica for you to watch.   But be forewarned: the film is almost obscure for good reasons: it’s far duller and longer than expected, doesn’t quite know what to do with its assets and plays out in a way that fails to engage. Chevalier himself was in his seventies by the time the film was shot – far too old to play a romantic lead, and so safely neutered as an elderly priest able to pick up an instrument, directly address the audience and be his own one-person musical segment. Angie Dickinson is cute as an attractive America earning lust and jealousy alike. But the film’s attractions (once you factor in the Italian scenery) pretty much stop there, because its development is laborious and there’s seldom any strong attachment to the material being shown. Jessica is practically unknown today, and the sorry state in which TCM (infrequently) shows it is indicative of the lack of attention it has attracted since its release. At best you’ll see Chevalier in another a late-career role as romantic facilitator, but even his considerable charm can’t do much to save the rest of the production.