Who Was That Lady - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

After hes caught kissing one of his co-eds, college professor David Wilson (Tony Curtis) is given marching orders by his livid wife, Ann (Janet Leigh). In order to avoid divorce, David concocts an elaborate alibi with his TV writer buddy (Dean Martin) : he claims to have been on an undercover mission for the FBI and that the kiss was crucial to his mission. With the help of a few props, Ann believes her husbands tall tale completely. And thats when his problems start.

The movie was made by Ansark-Sidney, distributed by Columbia Pictures, directed by George Sidney, and produced by Norman Krasna, who also wrote the screenplay based on his successful Broadway play Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? The music score was by Andre Previn and the cinematography by Harry Stradling. The costume design was by Jean Louis. The title song was written by Sammy Cahn.

The film features James Whitmore, John McIntire, Barbara Nichols, Larry Keating, Larry Storch, Simon Oakland and Joi Lansing. Jack Benny appears as himself.

Who Was That Lady? movie scenes undefined

Dean Martin received a Golden Globe award nomination for his performance in Who Was That Lady?, which also was nominated for Best Comedy.

In order to get back into the good graces with his wife with whom he has had a misunderstanding, a young chemistry professor concocts a wild story that he is an undercover FBI agent. To help him with his story he enlists the aid of a friend who is a TV writer. The wife swallows the story and the film's climax takes place in the sub-basements of the Empire State Building. The professor and his friend, believing themselves prisoners on an enemy submarine, patriotically try to scuttle the vessel and succeed only in rocking the building.

Plot

College chemistry professor David Wilson is caught by his wife in his lab, kissing another woman. Ann Wilson immediately wants a divorce.

Dave prevails upon his best friend and Army buddy, Michael Haney, a CBS Television writer, to help him out of this jam. Haney comes up with a scheme in which Wilson lies to his wife that he is not actually a professor at all but an undercover agent for the FBI. Haneys contacts in television even manage to get Wilson an authentic-looking identification card and fake gun.

Ann falls for it, but is so impressed with what her husband does for a living that she cant keep quiet about it. Michael is so impressed with Anns gullibility and patriotic urging of her husband Dave to do more "secret missions" that Michael sets up a date with two blondes with the promise of spending a weekend together with them. The indiscretions cause a number of complications, including some with the real FBI, the CIA and hostile foreign secret agents.

Main cast

The film also features brief appearances by comedians Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Snub Pollard and Emil Sitka.

Original Play

Krasnas play, Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?, opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on March 3, 1958 in a production directed by Alex Segal and designed by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, and starring Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy. The play ran for 208 performances.

Krasna was unsuccessfully sued for $500,000 in a breach of trust claim by writer Valentine Davies, who contended that Krasna incorporated material from Davies work Love Must Go On.

The plays original title was My Wife and I.

Similar Movies

Dean Martin appears in Who Was That Lady? and All in a Nights Work. Tony Curtis appears in Who Was That Lady? and Goodbye Charlie. Dean Martin appears in Who Was That Lady? and The Silencers. Tony Curtis appears in Who Was That Lady? and Some Like It Hot. Janet Leigh appears in Who Was That Lady? and Three on a Couch.

Production

The production company, Ansark-Sidney, combines the names of producer Krasna (spelt backwards) and director Sidney.

References

Who Was That Lady? Wikipedia

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