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The Art of Love
The Art of Love
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Norman Jewison
Screenplay by	Carl Reiner
Story by	Richard Alan Simmons; William Sackheim
Produced by	Ross Hunter
Starring	James Garner; Dick Van Dyke; Elke Sommer; Angie Dickinson; Ethel Merman; Carl Reiner
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Edited by	Milton Carruth
Music by	Cy Coleman
Production; companies	Cherokee Productions; Ross Hunter Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	June 30, 1965;
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3,500,000 (US/ Canada rentals)

The Art of Love is a 1965 technicolor comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and starring James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommer, and Angie Dickinson.

The film involves an American artist in Paris (Van Dyke) who fakes his own death in order to increase the worth of his paintings (new paintings keep "posthumously" hitting the market). His conniving pal (Garner) sells the paintings and withholds the proceeds while the artist toils in a shabby garret.

The picture was written by Carl Reiner (from a story by Richard Alan Simmons and William Sackheim). The supporting cast features Carl Reiner and Ethel Merman.

Jewison noted in his autobiography that the film's flaw was that the script assumes that an artist's death guarantees a huge increase in the sales value of his paintings. That hurt audiences' responses to the movie enormously.^[2]

All of the paintings that were used in the movie were the work of international artist Don Cincone.

Plot

An aspiring artist, Paul Sloane, struggles in Paris and wants to return home to America to resume his relationship with his rich fiancee, Laurie. His best friend and roommate, Casey Barnett, tries to talk him out of it. When a beautiful woman, Nikki Donay, suddenly leaps into the river Seine to escape a man's attentions, Paul jumps in to save her. They make it to a barge, but Casey and everyone else is under the mistaken impression that neither survived. Casey gets an idea—a dead artist's paintings could now be very valuable, particularly considering the publicity given Paul's heroic attempt to save the damsel in distress. He begins selling Paul's work, but when the artist himself reappears, very much alive, they hatch a scheme. Paul will pretend to still be dead while continuing to produce paintings for Casey to sell. Matters become further complicated when Laurie comes to Paris. Casey falls in love with her. This infuriates his best friend, resulting in Paul seeking revenge by slipping evidence to the police that Casey actually murdered him to profit from the art. Casey is tried, convicted and sentenced to death, by guillotine. Paul saves Casey at the last second. Casey and Laurie end up together. Paul and Nikki get married.

Cast

James Garner as Casey Barnett
Dick Van Dyke as Paul Sloane/Toulouse aka Picasso
Elke Sommer as Nikki
Angie Dickinson as Laurie Gibson
Ethel Merman as Madame Coco La Fontaine
Carl Reiner as Rodin
Pierre Olaf as Carnot
Miiko Taka as Chou Chou
Roger C. Carmel as Zorgus
Irving Jacobson as Mr. Fromkis
Jay Novello as Janitor
Paul Préboist as Bus Driver

References

^ This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 6
^ Norman Jewison (2005). This terrible business has been good to me. Internet Archive. T. Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-32868-9.