Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Richard Chatten 'The Perfect Furlough' is two-thirds of the way through before it finally stops wasting our time and the romance we've been anticipating all along between real-life lovebirds Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh finally blooms; although there are still the usual irksome misunderstandings to be surmounted before the final clinch.Two decades after this film Blake Edwards returned to glossy sex farce availing himself of the far more relaxed censorship of the seventies, eighties and nineties, but with not much more stimulating results. Shot in colour & 'scope to compensate for the fact that although set in Paris, the production never leaves California; there's the usual "ooh la la" nonsense about how romantic Paris is, and plenty of talk about sex, but none actually takes place during the film's running time, and most of the narrative tension derives from the film's attempts to sound raunchy while still adhering to Eisenhower-era censorship. When one of the characters is revealed to be pregnant the audience (but not the cast), for example, is already fully aware that the young lady was already safely married at the time of conception.Although given little to do, Elaine Stritch shines in the sort of role Eve Arden would have played in the forties.

bkoganbing In his memoirs Tony Curtis lists this as one of five films he would make with first wife Janet Leigh. As opposed to such dramatic fare as Houdini or a great comedy like Who Was That Lady, The Perfect Furlough is distinctly second rate. The film is also one of four Curtis did with Blake Edwards as director. Tony and Blake first teamed with a good dramatic film Mister Cory and then later in Operation Petticoat and The Great Race. All of those are better than The Perfect Furlough.The great military minds of the Pentagon are concerned about the morale of those Air Force guys stationed in the Arctic. All 104 men are performing a top security job at the North Pole so we can't furlough them all to get what they obviously need.So what's the answer as thought of by Colonel Les Tremayne. Get a willing movie star like Linda Cristal to go on a carefully chaperoned date in Paris with just one lucky airman chosen by lottery. The others will live vicariously through Curtis's good times. The operation to be supervised by Lieutenant Janet Leigh.Curtis is the base conniver and he connives his way into winning the lottery and the dream time with Cristal. It's one of those operations like you used to see on The Dating Game. Only Curtis does play for keeps and Leigh wishes he would play with her, officer/enlisted man rules of non-fraternization not withstanding.It's a dumb premise to start with. I mean Lee Marvin when his Dirty Dozen had completed training he took care of them in proper style before they went on their mission. But Marvin was an original thinker on these matters unlike those in the Pentagon in Cold War peacetime.Note some good performances by Elaine Stritch as Cristal's studio chaperon and Keenan Wynn as her controlling producer. But over all The Perfect Furlough is far from perfect.

richard-1787 This isn't a perfect movie. It's unlikely to end up on anyone's ten best list in any category. But it's a perfectly enjoyable way to wile away 90 minutes.Briefly, it's the story of an oversexed serviceman, Curtis, who manages to win a three-week furlough in Paris with an Argentine bombshell-movie "actress". That's the first part of the movie, and it's pretty obvious.In the second half, Curtis' character falls in love with Janet Leigh's character, an army psychologist who has been sent to Paris to keep Curtis' character from having sex with the bombshell or otherwise embarrassing the American military while on furlough in Paris. There is actual chemistry between the two - not a surprise, as they evidently married after making this movie - and the scenes between the two of them are more than just slapstick by the book.The ending is obvious, but what you would expect from a 1950s romantic comedy.Unlike a lot of other American movies set in Paris in the 1950s, this one doesn't do much with the location. But that's fine.Not a great movie, certainly, but not a bad one.

ScarletPimpernel64 This is a cute piece of fluff, with the sole purpose of entertainment. One poster said something about slapstick brawls in a pan, and there are none of those. Tony Curtis shines in the type role he shone so well in during the late 1950s, and Janet Leigh is the officer sent to keep an eye on him during his jaunt in Paris with Linda Cristal. And that's the beginning. There's a good amount of chuckles, and a fine supporting cast led by Elaine Stritch, King Donovan, and Keenan Wynn. No classic, nor is it intended to be. Just an fun, enjoyable film, and one that deserves a larger audience and a DVD release. Hopefully, TCM airs it in order to allow more of an audience to view it.