While the plot and characters are as described above, two things puzzle me. The film's title, for one - at no point is this a battle of the sexes, the fact that protagonist and antagonist are of differing gender matters little until Mr. Martin's clumsy attempts at murder are mistaken for seduction by his intended victim.
And then there's the coda of the piece, where a voice-over suggests that maybe Mr. Martin has won the battle, but may lose the war, as Mrs. Barrows' tears stir something within him. The entire sequence feels tacked-on, and the American accent of the v/o artist (Sam Wanamaker) suggests the film, extolling as it does traditional values over modern ways, perhaps wouldn't play well in the progress-obsessed 1950's America, and was hastily re-branded as a quirky sex comedy. Incorrect though such an assumption may be, it does leave one wondering. . .
And then there's the coda of the piece, where a voice-over suggests that maybe Mr. Martin has won the battle, but may lose the war, as Mrs. Barrows' tears stir something within him. The entire sequence feels tacked-on, and the American accent of the v/o artist (Sam Wanamaker) suggests the film, extolling as it does traditional values over modern ways, perhaps wouldn't play well in the progress-obsessed 1950's America, and was hastily re-branded as a quirky sex comedy. Incorrect though such an assumption may be, it does leave one wondering. . .