THE TENDER TRAP

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 892, 7 September 1956, Page 17

THE TENDER TRAP

(M.G.M.-CinemaScope) A Cert. OVE is the Tender Trap and I suppose, in the vulgar phrase, it is essentially a trap for young players. But that’s not quite how I feel above .this movie. : Definitely unsuitable for children, of course, and its bouquet largely wasted on the twenty-year-olds, this is a film for the amusement of the middle-aged. No, on second thoughts, let’s not be too brutal with ourselves-say, rather, those about to contemplate middle-age. Filmgoers in the higher age-brackets will mutatis mutandis, enjoy it too. After that, you will no doubt be expecting me to describe The Tender Trap (director, Charles Walters) as sophisticated comedy, and this I do rather reluctantly. It is sophisticated, to be sure, in the sense that it is worldly-wise, but there’s more to it than a glittering superficiality; there is a modicum of wisdom as well as wit, and there’s a warmth that is as delightful as it is unexpected. The principal player (certainly the highest-paid one) is Frank Sinatra, whose singing invariably appals me, but whose ability as an actor (particularly when he plays Sinatra) I find just as invariably entertaining. Here, as an unspecified type of New York theatrical agent, he is right in the groove, and is himself to the manner born. But if you happen to be one of those who don’t care particularly for Sinatra, don’t be put off. There are others present. In spite of his undoubted ability, Sinatra has the show stolen from under his nose by two supporting players-David Wayne and Celeste Holm. Without these two the piece could still have been gay and witty and smart-it’s a screen play from a stage play, and the lines have sparkle and polish-but they give it warmth and an authentic tenderness, Miss Holm I found particularly delightful-she may not be as slim as she once was, but in skill and charm she has a head start on the younger lovelies in the picture. Chief of these is Debbie Reynolds, teamed opposite Sinatra. Beside Miss Holm she is almost too much the ingenue, and there is, besides, a derivative flavour about her part which she can’t quite conceal. Maggie McNamara would have done more with it, and indeed did more once in a blue moon. As a movie in the literal sense, The Tender Trap does not move much. Dialogue and acting are all. CinemaScope,

it is true, once more proves itself to be the right shape for recording life in the plushier New York apartments, but don’t look for other than routine competence in the sets and photography-they do little more than give you a seat on the legitimate stage. But with acting of legitimate quality, you may well be content.