The Love Lottery (1954) User Reviews

Niven in a Bind!

[spookyrat1 · 5/10 · 2 July 2020]

This 1954 Ealing comedy is pleasant enough, but does stand out for a few distinctive features.

The international settings around Lake Como are splendid, especially since we're fortunate, in that they are presented in colour.

David Niven gives a lively, energetic, physical performance, even though (somewhat incongruously) he is playing a burnt out, but very popular matinee idol.

The rather bland script is given extra life when one considers, the main storyline involving a competition to raffle Niven's character to be married off, anticipates popular (I seriously don't know why.), contemporary reality TV shows such as Married at First Sight, The Farmer Wants a Wife and The Bachelor.

Lastly, the concluding scene, filmed overlooking the Thames River, includes one of the great actors of the 40's and 50's in a surprising wordless cameo. It's a corker and does finish the movie on the right note.

Satire on stardom misses the mark

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 28 November 2015]

This was one of 6 films produced by Ealing in 1954. Of these only The Maggie sticks in the memory. Little surprise then that Rank closed the studio the following year and sold it to the BBC. Whilst this film is amiable enough it never does more than raise a smile now and again. In any event with the studio system fast crumbling stars with contracts that tied them to a studio were fast becoming a dying breed. So I do wonder whether David Nivens character would be quite so happy to be rid of his studio. Interesting to see Humphrey Bogart in the final shot,probably done as a favour to Niven. He epitomized the new order making films through his independent company,Santana.

Innocuous Little Time Waster

[aramis-112-804880 · 5/10 · 12 February 2022]

It's a paradox that "The Love Lottery" is a delightful comedy largely without laughs (except for one very big one at the end which I won't reveal, though it's worth the wait).

A statistician (Herbert Lom, later to become the hilarious eternal foil of Inspector Clouseau) approaches Errol Flynn-esque film star Rex Allerton (David Niven, who knew Flynn personally) with the notion of raffling himself off as a groom to marry the lucky winner.

Niven's character, troubled by dreams of a beautiful young woman he's never met (Peggy Cummins) thinks the idea ludicrous until Lom's colleague Jane helps seduce the actor into playing along.

While Cummins' star-struck character (Sally) stocks up on lottery tickets Rex and Jane begin falling for each other. Will they find married bliss together, or will the fear of jilting a quarter of a million ticket holders keep Rex from tying the knot prematurely?

The most amusing scenes are the ones reminiscent of Buster Keaton's "Seven Chances." And if you don't know what I mean, look it up.

The most notable feature of the movie is the brief appearance of rising talents: Gordon Jackson, Theodore Bikel and Sebastian Cabot, all destined to varying degrees of international fame in the 1960s.

The other sexy Rexy.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 11 July 2022]

It's a one joke plot that has dashing David Niven as a movie heartthrob (in gold lemay!) whom teen girls go crazy over, breaking into his house and stealing his socks. He decides to take a trip to get away from it all, having had a nightmare where these groupies attacked him and tore off his head, turning it into a soccer ball. I guess Niven was the Conrad Birdie pre-Beatles and Elvis.

When he fails to get a job in a play, he ends up in Italy in a small village on a remote island, continuing to have the nightmares in which he keeps seeing the same young woman which means of course that she's going to show up in reality at some point. The local government (led by Herbert Lom) wants to utilize his presence to bring tourism to the island for a lottery where the prize is his hand in marriage. Anne Vernon is the beautiful math expert who becomes sort of a protector. Peggy Cummins also stars.

While David Niven was a popular British actor, he hadn't yet established himself as an international star, only having fleeting success in supporting roles in Hollywood. So it's sort of presumptuous for him to be cast in a role like this, even as a joke, although he does have a natural charm that makes the ridiculous premise palatable. Of course, the beautiful locations help too. But after a while, his being chased by young women everywhere he goes gets tiresome, and I anxiously longed for the end.

A forgotten pleasure

[daniel-charles2 · 8/10 · 4 April 2009]

This is a delightful comedy and, what is more, it is neither devoid of depth nor lacking in intelligence. The idea is simple. Fans make a film star weary. He is so fed up with life than he accepts becoming the prize of a love lottery. He finds love on the way, but can't get married since he is engaged to the future winner. The winner -another girl- realizes after a day with him that her first love is more her type. The End. Admittedly, it's a slim story line, but David Niven makes it great fun, and Charles Crichton adds some delightfully ironical moments (he did make "A fish called Wanda" later). All in all a much under-rated comedy, worth many better-known ones. Definitely worth seeing.