Delbert Mann

A rich businessman and a young woman are attracted to each other, but he only wants an affair while she wants to save herself for marriage. Cathy Timberlake is an old-fashioned country girl who meets the man of her dreams, Philip Shayne, after his Rolls Royce splashes her with mud on her way to a job interview. Philip is a romantic businessman who is taken by Cathy's honest heart. There's one problem: he's not interested in marriage, and she has never thought of anything else. —Kelly On a rainy day, currently-unemployed Cathy Timberlake is furious when a passing limousine, driving through a puddle, splashes her, muddying her coat and dress. She is even more furious when the limousine fails to stop, although she knows the limo's passenger saw her get splashed. She changes her tune when she meets that passenger: dashing, wealthy businessman Philip Shayne. Cathy is immediately attracted to him and he to her. However, ladies' man Philip is much more experienced than she, and she is unprepared for his lavish and elaborate proposal--that she accompany him immediately to Bermuda, Paris, and Monte Carlo--and its connotation that it hold no strings. Cathy turns to her streetwise roommate, Connie Emerson, for advice. As Philip and Cathy's whirlwind relationship progresses, Cathy's hesitance to "go all the way" with Philip always leads to frustration for him. Despite Philip and Cathy being unable to make a full connection, Philip's business associate Roger believes that Cathy is just what Philip needs in his life, as he has never needed to work at making a conquest. Although Cathy really does want to be with Philip and he wants to be with her, can they get over these initial obstacles? —Huggo While heading out to collect her unemployment paycheck and then to attend a job interview, naive Cathy Timberlake gets her coat mud-splashed by the Rolls Royce of millionaire businessman Philip Shayne. He sees her going to have lunch from his office and sends his financial advisor Roger to give her some money to compensate for her loss. The offer offends Cathy and she goes to Philip's office with the intention of throwing the money on his face. However, when she sees the handsome Philip, she immediately falls in love with him. They date and Cathy expects that Philip will propose--but he has no such intention. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product which has not yet been invented, while he romances his rival in the guise of its inventor. Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton are both in the advertising business, but for different agencies. Annoyed by Jerry's methods of using alcohol and women to ensure contracts for his agency, Carol tries to get him thrown out of his profession. To avoid this Jerry bribes the girl who would testify against him by starring her in a TV commercial for a product named VIP that he's just made up. By accident these commercials are broadcast, and to keep his job, Jerry must come up with VIP for which he enlists the help of Doctor Linus Tyler. Carol goes to see the Doctor to try to get the VIP account, but because she and Jerry have never met, she mistakes Jerry for the Doctor. Jerry takes advantage of this situation to win her. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> A series of misunderstandings between Carol Templeton and Jerry Webster, representatives of two different advertising agencies, leads to a campaign for a product VIP, which doesn't exist. Meanwhile, Jerry romances Carol, although she does not realize who he is. —Huggo In New York, Madison Avenue is the center of the advertising world, divided into workers and drones like a beehive. Carol Templeton is a professional that has just arrived from Omaha, Nebraska, to work in the Bracket, McGalpin and Gaines Advertising, expecting to be a winner through hard work. The unethical Jerry Webster works in the Ramsey and Son and entertains his clients with sexy women, bribes, and booze to ensure contracts for his agency. When the Southern J. Paxton Miller comes to New York to close the contract of the Cera Miller account, Carol prepares a presentation to the old man. However, Jerry wins the account by taking Miller to a nightclub with strippers, booze and a party later in his penthouse with the strippers, led by Rebel Davis. Carol is upset and goes to the advertising council to throw Jerry out of the advertising business. However, Jerry lures Rebel, who is to testify against him, offering the position of VIP girl in TV commercials for the new product VIP. Then he asks the team to not broadcast but only file the footage, since VIP doesn't actually exist. However, insecure Peter 'Pete' Ramsey, who has inherited the Ramsey and Son, orders a massive advertising campaign broadcasting the commercials to show himself off to his employees. In order to save his job and the agency, Jerry hires Doctor Linus Tyler, who is a lonely man, to develop VIP. Meanwhile, Carol decides to take the VIP account for her agency and she visits Dr. Tyler. However, she meets Jerry instead and believes that he is the famous scientist awarded with the Nobel Prize. Now Carol wants to convince Dr. Tyler to come to her agency and the cynical Jerry uses the situation to seduce Carol. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth. Life at the Beauregard Hotel in Bournemouth during the off-season livens up when beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs. Railton-Bell discovers that the kind if doddering Major Pollock isn't what he appears to be--particularly shocking news for her frail daughter Sibyl, who is secretly in love with him. —Shannon Patrick Sullivan <shannon@mun.ca> In Bournemouth, England, the Beauregard Hotel is located three minutes from the sea and managed by Pat Cooper. It is off-season and only the resident guests are lodged in the hotel. Timid Sibyl is a hysterical spinster totally controlled by her arrogant, snobbish mother, Mrs. Maud Railton-Bell, who doesn't want her to work. Sibyl is secretly in love with the reformed Major David Angus Pollock and enjoys listening to his stories. Lady Gladys Matheson is the only friend of Mrs. Railton-Bell. Medical student Charles wants to marry his fiancée Jean but she refuses. Miss Meacham and Mr. Fowler like to play billiards and she always wins the game. American John Malcolm is an alcoholic writer who is secretly engaged to Pat. When elegant, gorgeous Ann Shankland checks into the hotel, John is affected by her presence and Pat learns that Ann is his ex-wife and he'd tried to kill her five years ago. Meanwhile, Major Pollock unsuccessfully tries to steal the West Hampshire Weekly News from reception, but Mrs. Railton-Bell finds an inflammatory article about him and tries to expel him from the hotel. These events will affect the residents' lives. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Managed by the efficient Pat Cooper, the Beauregard Hotel on the English coast in Bournemouth is a stuffy, second-rate establishment. Only a handful of mostly resident guests are currently staying at the hotel. They include: retired and decorated Major Angus Pollock; elderly Maud Railton-Bell, who needs to control everything, especially her mousy spinster daughter Sibyl Railton-Bell, who has a quiet bond with and crush on the Major; Lady Gladys Matheson, who follows whatever Mrs. Railton-Bell wants purely out of camaraderie; straightforward, slightly gruff Miss Meacham; staid schoolteacher Mr. Fowler; students Charles and Jean, a young unmarried couple who are the primary focus of Mrs. Railton-Bell's ire for probably doing it out of wedlock; and writer John Malcolm, a brash American who hides his issues behind his excessive drinking and who is in a secret liaison with Pat and wants to marry her. Their relationship is threatened by the unexpected arrival of Ann Shankland, who has a turbulent, passionate history with John. Ann's arrival is not by accident; she says she wants to help John before she remarries, but she might have other, more self-motivated reasons. The focus of the entire group changes when Mrs. Railton-Bell learns of a secret the Major is hiding. As Mrs. Railton-Bell tries to control the situation with the Major to her satisfaction, which includes bending the truth to suit her own needs, the others out of their own situations, especially Sibyl, might eventually come to their own conclusions on how best to deal with the Major's issue with respect to his stay at the hotel. —Huggo During the off-season at the Beauregard Hotel, the secrets of some guests are exposed. Lovely but vulnerable Ann Shankland travels to the hotel in hopes of starting over with her ex-husband, John, but she does not know that he is already engaged to Pat Cooper, the manager of the hotel. Meanwhile, Mrs. Railton-Bell and her daughter Sibyl discover the hidden truth about war veteran Major Pollack. —Jwelch5742

A middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other. Stuck as the last of six children at home with an overbearing Italian mother, the only child still unmarried, 34 year old socially awkward Bronx butcher Marty faces middle age with no prospects of marriage, and he faces permanent bachelorhood. But when he is goaded by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty unexpectedly meets Clara, a lonely teacher. Suddenly, Marty's future seems bright. —trivwhiz This acclaimed romantic drama follows the life of Marty Piletti, a stout bachelor butcher who lives with his mother in the Bronx. Always unlucky in love, Marty reluctantly goes out to a ballroom one night and meets a nice teacher named Clara. Though Marty and Clara hit it off, his relatives discourage him from pursuing the relationship, and he must decide between his family's approval or a shot at finding romance. —Jwelch5742 The oldest of several siblings, thirty-four year old Italian-American Marty Piletti is a butcher in the Bronx. He is somewhat a sad man in his life not turning out the way he wanted. An academically intelligent man, he never chose being a butcher as a career, he having fallen into it as the responsible thing to do as the oldest. Regardless, he is thinking about buying the butcher shop where he works in the owner planning to sell. The biggest source of his sadness is while all his younger siblings are now married, some with children, he is still single, living in the family home with his widowed mother Teresa. While he, his best friend Angie and their other bachelor friends hang out together during their free time, sometimes cruising for girls but more often than not just wandering aimlessly, Marty has come to the conclusion that love is not in the cards for him in not having the model good looks that seems to attract girls. In addition, he has had enough heartache in being turned down time and again when he does put himself out there to no longer wanting to do it. Against his better judgment, he, on his mother's urging in wanting him to find a girl, goes out on Saturday night with Angie to the Stardust dance hall. While this night looks like it will turn out like most such nights, namely in heartache, Marty ends up meeting twenty-nine year old schoolteacher, Clara Snyder. A proverbial wallflower, Clara is equally as sad as Marty, she using the excuse of her father in particular needing her as a reason not to strike out on her own, with her and Marty's meeting solely due to her blind date ditching her in being disappointed with the setup due to her looks, she also not model material. In their shared loneliness, Marty and Clara end up connecting emotionally. While there seems to be the possibility that love with each other could end up part of their lives, they not only have to overcome their own insecurities to enter into a relationship, but the open feelings of others, those in Marty's life injecting their own biases in seeing Clara as not the one for him. —Huggo