LOVE IS A BALL, a slight, mildly diverting light comedy from 1963 has scenic values so easy on the eyes that it helps ensure the plots contrived silliness is not too much of a pill.

Pleasant casting helps as well, in the story of an heiress (Hope Lange, looking great–“What am I, a box lunch?”) who is courted by a troupe of matchmaking con artists, with Glenn Ford and Ricardo Montalban as the men of the hour. Charles Boyer and Telly Savalas are the cultured brains behind the scheme.

Dippy, but painless,a little too long at 111 minutes, but as a travelogue it’s an okay item to half-watch while flipping through a magazine or tinkering.

Directed by David Swift, who steered cameraman Edmond Sechan to get the bright and colorful best from Monte Carlo, Nice and Cannes. Ford and Ms.Lange were having their own off-set lark that had begun when they’d paired earlier in A Pocketful Of Miracles.  He’s in his nicely relaxed mode, but the best work comes from Montalban, who has some rewarding grace notes marking gentleness and he handles goofy physical shtick with elan.

With Ulla Jacobsson, Ruth McDevitt and John Wood. It made around $1,490,000.