Stanley Donen is mostly known for his musicals, from Singing in the Rain (1952) to Damn Yankees (1958), but he also was a skilled director of low-key comedies, including Love is Better Than Ever. The premise of the film is dated, indeed --younger woman falls in love with older man after he romances her but when he resists marriage she has to outwit him --but Donen imbues it with a certain amount of low-key humor, as Elizabeth Taylor ensnares Larry Parks.
The film is written by Ruth brooks Flippen, who mostly wrote for TV, and photographed with MGM gloss by veteran Harold Rossen. Taylor runs a dance school in New Haven (Donen choreographs some nice routines for toddlers) and meets Parks, a theatrical agent, when she goes to New York for a convention of dance teachers. Parks takes her to her first baseball game, the Giants at the Polo Grounds (where he explains the infield fly rule) and to nightclubs and theatres. Taylor falls in love with him but he wants "no hearts and flowers," so when she returns to New Haven rumors are started by jealous women about her and Parks and she and her mother put an announcement in the newspaper that Taylor and Parks are engaged. Of course this brings Parks up to New Haven, where he is charmed by Taylor in her natural habitat.
Parks was 36 when Love is Better Than Ever was made and Taylor was 18 (though already married and divorced) but Parks was headed to TV after the release of Love is Better Than Ever was delayed until Parks agreed to name names for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, while Taylor's career continued at MGM. Donen moved the camera frequently and effectively in Love is Better Than Ever, from the hectic pace in N.Y. to the chaos of performances at Taylor's dancing school.
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