The Marriage Go Round (film)

Plot

At a Florida college, professor Paul Delville and wife Content, who is the school's dean of women, anticipate a visit from Sweden. The people they expect are a former colleague, Professor Sveg, and his daughter Katrin.

Katrin arrives alone. The Delvilles are astounded that Katrin, whom they remember as a gangly teenage, has grown into a statuesque blonde bombshell. Their astonishment is just beginning, because Katrin brashly announces that she wants Paul to sire a baby with her, assuring offspring with both brains and beauty.

Paul is flustered by Katrin's unwillingness to take "no" for an answer. She gives him a nude statue of herself, suns herself at his house in nothing but a skimpy towel, then shows up at a practice of the men's swim team in a provocative bathing suit.

Katrin's come-ons become a greater temptation, causing Content to seek the advice of a friend on campus, Ross Barnett, a married professor. Ross dares her to "call his bluff," which is his way of trying to seduce Content herself. She returns home and finds her husband and Katrin in a passionate kiss, but when he swears his allegiance and that nothing has happened, Content believes him. Katrin finally gives up and decides to go try someone else.

Cast

Production

Sol C. Siegel of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had originally bought the film rights for $400,000.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it a "giddily light and witty film" and a "mentally strip-teasing escapade"; he called Newmar a "specimen of modernity the likes of which we have never expected to see" who "looks like a twenty-first-century vision, standing a good 6 feet tall and being as beautifully proportioned and persuasive in personality as in physique." Crowther also complimented producer Stevens and director Lang for "settings about as crisp and colorful as one could wish and the whole movement of the running dalliance tasteful and absorbing in the limited space."