It "wasn't very good."Jane Fonda, Peter Finch, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Hill, and Constance Cummings star in "In the Cool of the Day" (1963.I have no idea what the title means. It's one of those titles like "Fever in the Blood." Actually, "Fever in the Blood" would have been better.Murray Logan (Finch) plays a publisher who falls in love with his friend Sam's (Arthur Hill) young wife Christine (Jane Fonda). She is a fragile woman both physically and emotionally, suffering from a lung disorder.Part of her problem is her mother (Constance Cummings); she is afraid of her and hates to be around her. Christine's husband worships the ground she walks on, but at this point, they are separated and she is living with her father (Alexander Bonner), and they meet at his house.Murray's wife, Sibyl (Angela Lansbury) is a recluse, due to a horrid automobile accident she and Murray were in which killed their little boy. Murray feels responsible so he puts up with her, though she's a nasty woman.Sam makes certain promises to Christine about the way she can live her life -- he's very suffocating -- and she desperately wants to see Greece. She invites Murray and Sibyl to accompany her and Sam. Surprisingly, Sibyl accepts.The Grecian scenery is stunning.The movie overall moves like molasses, and it was difficult to invest in any of the characters. As far as Fonda's hair - it was distracting. It's also the way women wore their hair in the '60s. I didn't mind her clothes, which some have mentioned. She was still quite beautiful.The performances were okay - for me, only Lansbury and Cummings provided any spark. Fonda's performance was a little mannered for me. I can never get over the fact that Arthur Hill was the original George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf because he's the same in every single thing I've seen him in. Peter Finch didn't register a ton of emotion.The ending was very clichéd.I just found it a waste of good talent and beautiful locations.

I give it a one, just for Jane Fonda's 'hair' (a lot of us are obsessing about it...), which - seems to be what's most interesting in a very dreary, creaky RomDram from '63.I don't know the story of where the title a actually came from, but, the fact that it's 'opposite' (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) titled film was such a well-received film came out AFTER this (as well as the book that film's based on) is probably one of the more interesting aspects going on in it's making.In her interview with Robert Osborne (PRIVATE SCREENINGS), Angela Lansbury said that it was a 'difficult' project for her, and, while she did her best, she didn't think it was 'that good.'Thus was an early vehicle for the young, gorgeous Fonda. She was still not fully comfortable on camera, and it shows. The film tries to showcase her as the typical 'sexy, young girl,' this time playing married (to the older Arthur Hill), who shares 'common interests' with the also married - to Angela Lansbury - Peter Finch.ICD tries to be too many things, but fails in them all.This was put out at a time in Hollywood before the 'revolutions' of sex, politics would play out in the real world. MGM - desperately trying to find a direction to navigate this tidal change - ends up with a film that might've been 'ahead of it's time' had it come out a few years earlier, but, as the grounds were already trembling, MGM ends up behind-the- times, with a product that - besides the natural beauty of Greece (where this was shot on location) feels very forced and dated.

No wonder this wasn't even listed in my comprehensive special edition video book covering thousands of movies ~ not even as a dog. Since yesterday, 10/16/06, was Angela Lansbury's 81st birthday they featured her movies on Turner Classics. Evidently Jane Fonda must still have some pull with Ted, because her performance didn't warrant viewing; it made ME uncomfortable watching her. Angela, in a recent interview, mentioned her disappointment with that movie. No surprise! That's 90 minutes I'll never get back. However, I made a lovely cauliflower au gratin and a pumpkin pie while the movie played on our kitchen TV (I kept thinking something would happen or the story would get better; it didn't).

Poor Jane Fonda must have been under the taut thumb of the studio system when she signed on to do this movie--how else to explain a talented and attractive up-&-coming starlet getting trapped in the middle of this island? Sappy plot involves infidelity on the Mediterranean, as sleepy-eyed Peter Finch falls for his best friend's flirtatious wife while touring Athens. British production does look good, but the handsome travelogue footage from Greece fails to bolster the wayward story. Performances are mostly dull, with Fonda looking highly ridiculous in an Oriental-style "fall" causing her to resemble the night hostess at Madame Chow's. *1/2 from ****