The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

(On Cable TV, November 2020) We don’t naturally associate Steve MacQueen with comedy, but The Honeymoon Machine does offer him a good showcase for his persona in a more lighthearted context. Here, he plays a hustler-type US Navy sailor who sees an opportunity when his ship, equipped with a super-powerful computer, docks at a fantasy version of Venice complete with a casino and a luxurious hotel suite. Dragging fellow crewmembers into his burgeoning scheme, he rents the suite, gets the cooperation of the computer expert, brings in the necessary equipment to communicate with the ship and finds a way to crack the probabilities of roulette. Things get funnier and more complicated when the admiral’s daughter stumbles into the suite, when the computer operator’s old flame resurfaces, when the admiral launches an investigation into unauthorized ship-to-shore communications and when even the Russians grow concerned about what’s happening with the Americans. Before long, The Honeymoon Machine (adapted from a Broadway play) has several spinning plates all crashing into each other in comic complications. MacQueen is his usual cool and likable self, except playing for farce this time around and being good at it—even if he reportedly walked out on the film’s sneak preview. Meanwhile, Paula Prentiss looks gorgeous in her character’s thick-rimmed glasses, even with the film making a few jokes about it. The Honeymoon Machine is not a good movie, but it’s a fun one—it’s very much in-line with a stage-bound farcical tradition and is well worth rediscovering from Hollywood’s archives. Plus, there’s a MacQueen in a rare comedy role, which isn’t the least of the film’s charms.