THE MOON IS BLUE—on-the-make rogue ‘David Slater’ (David Niven) hints “The three things I live for are steak, liquor, and sex.” This blithe dispense of creed, which tickled audiences in 1953, would no doubt have today’s cringers panic for the exits. Such obvious self-kidding could twist our new strain of moralizers to huffingly post a caution that it came from a movie that infamously tasked the Ike Era with public airings of “virgin”, “seduce” and “mistress”, firsts in a Hollywood glibcapade. Yet, up for a tumble, Society didn’t crumble, even if the blasphemy was banned in Boston. In fact, the flippant fluff was a boxoffice smash.

Virtuous actress (fingers tremble over the keys) ‘Patty O’Neill’ (Maggie McNamara, 24) meets charming, semi-rake architect Don Gresham’ (William Holden, 34) at the viewing platform of the Empire State Building and before you can say ‘brittle stagy dialogue’ they’re fencing innuendoes like pretend sophisticates. The ‘will they?’—more to the point, ‘will she?’—dares are dialed up when Don’s more rakish neighbor (Niven, 42, clipped Brit delivery, trimmed mustache) turns up with telescopic interest on rabbit-in-crosshairs Miss O’Neill. Men are such…men.

“Suspicion, my child, suspicion. The lurking doubt. Is she or isn’t she? Does she or doesn’t she? Will she or won’t she? Suspicion, the most powerful aphrodisiac in the world.”

Think ‘comedy’ and Otto Preminger isn’t the first name that pops up for guiding one, but he did direct this on Broadway, where F. Hugh Herbert’s play was a hit (924 performances), and McNamara, the young star of its subsequent national tour, was brought along for her screen introduction. Previously a successful teen model, she was sort of an Irish-American answer to Audrey Hepburn, making her Hollywood bow in Roman Holiday. Both went up for Best Actress at the Oscars (Hepburn winning). Along with McNamara’s nod, the Academy saw fit to nominate Film Editing and Song, neither deserved. From this row in the balcony we don’t think Miss McNamara’s was warranted, either: she’s okay, but the character is a bit hard to take (unless you’re turned on by someone saying “I simply adore cooking“), and the whole setup feels artificial, down to the cheesy sets. A director with a way for teasing whimsy, like Ernst Lubitsch, could have done something with it, but ‘sparkle’ and Otto Preminger are like champagne and oatmeal. Holden and Niven strive with easy elan, while Dawn Addams in a few brief scenes lights more fire than the supposedly enchanting lead. *

Done for just $400,000, its over-hyped naughtiness—the furor at the time over a few words shows that puerile Puritan streak never goes away for good—rounded up $12,400,000.   Cogerson has it 11th for the year, Variety 15th.

“Affection, but no passion. That’s lovely. You could run for President on that.”

 With Tom Tully, Gregory Ratoff and Fortunio Bonanova. 99 minutes.

Dawn Addams, 1930-1985

* Maggie McNamara had another hit the following year with Three Coins In The Fountain, then a dud a year later with Prince Of Players. She opted out of the fame fray, only appearing in one more movie (a small role lost in Preminger’s The Cardinal in 1963) and a few TV shows. Depression led to suicide in 1978. She was 49.