Watch The Chapman Report For Free
The Chapman Report
A research psychologist gets involved in the personal lives of four women.
Release : | 1962 |
Rating : | 5.5 |
Studio : | Darryl F. Zanuck Productions, |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Shelley Winters Jane Fonda Claire Bloom Glynis Johns |
Genre : | Drama Romance |
Watch Trailer
Cast List
Related Movies
Reviews
Very well executed
I wanted to but couldn't!
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
A few notes about this film. Apparently, director George Cukor was unhappy with the finished product. The studio (Warner Brothers) and producer (Darryl Zanuck) caved to pressure from the Catholic Legion of Decency and altered the ending in order to provide a morally-correct resolution for the main characters (and audience).It would certainly be interesting to see a director's cut of this film, or at least a shooting script to get a better idea of what Cukor and Zanuck intended. Probably Zanuck's goal was to create a film where people more openly discussed sex. However, America was not quite ready to do that yet in 1962, and with the Legion of Decency hovering over the scene, it would be nearly impossible. I do think there are some excellent performances in this film, namely Glynis Johns and Claire Bloom who prove that British actresses often surpass their North American counterparts.
Movies about nymphomaniacs are always labeled "cheap and tawdry." Well, movies with these women as the focal point of these films are similar to the ladies who appear in porn (a multi-BILLION dollar business). Men are interested in these "strange creatures" with "weak flesh," who can't get enough sex, and the public is fascinated with them: Claire Bloom in "The Chapman Report," Merle Oberon in "Of Love and Desire," Suzanne Pleshette in "A Rage to Live," Joanne Woodward in "From The Terrace," etc.We sit fascinated by them, but condemn them for the "illness" from which they suffer. To be frank, nymphos behave sexually EXACTLY like men (straight and gay). If hetero men had the opportunity to get the amount of stranger sex that "loose women" get, they wouldn't hesitate one iota. Straight men don't get nearly as much sex as gay men do, for instance. Why? Because str8 guys are dealing with "just say no" women. Gay men with the same mentality about sex as their hetero counterparts don't have the "woman factor" to hassle with on dates. A huge amount of gay men feel that sex on the first date is expected, not some hopeful wish. Some gay guys don't care about being labeled a "tramp" or a "slut." But women DO.Yes, women like Claire Bloom, who are "suffering" with their nymphomania are sad creatures being taken advantage of by cruel, sex-hungry men who know their "condition," and cannot wait to take advantage, like the sleazy musician, Corey Allen and his band buddies, also, the water delivery guys in "Chapman Report." Or, Barbara Loden in "Spendor in the Grass," the rebellious sister of Warren Beatty, who acted like a tramp to defy her absent parents. She nearly got gang-banged during a drunken New Year's party. All these scenes are "titilating," but being Americans, we feel guilty and believe that we must dismiss them as "cheap and tawdry." They might be, but most viewers can't take their eyes off the screen.The ironic thing is that hardcore porn is practically in every household in America, not to mention the rest of the world. We can be such hypocrites!
When I saw this during its theatrical release, primarily because I was a fan of the Misses Glynis Johns and Claire Bloom, though I'd been forewarned by reviewers that it was just as trashy as its best-selling source, I was somewhat appalled that the esteemed George Cukor had consented to direct it. Hindsight tells us that it may have been the numerous young hunks in the cast who ensnared that Hollywood master's interest in assuming the directorial reins. (His personal preferences were not as widely known, outside of Hollywood's insiders, anyway, at the time of this film's production.) Glynis gives it a lively go but the rest of the cast would probably prefer that we not remember their participation in this embarrassing dud. I think I saw it as part of a double feature (Those were the days!), and though I don't remember its companion at that viewing, I suspect I found it somewhat more worth the price of admission.
This movie largely consists of four stories about four women involved in a sex survey. The stories involving Shelley Winters, Claire Bloom, and Jane Fonda aren't worth mentioning, but the episode with Glynis Johns works because it's played for comedy. Glynis is an aspiring sculptor who persuades a hunky football player to pose for her. Ty Hardin appears as the "jock" and while there's talk of him posing in the nude, nothing, alas comes of this. (Though he gets to appear bare-chested for long stretches of film and, boy, what a chest!) Glynis makes her scatterbrained character fresh and appealing and Ty shows a flair for light comedy that should have been explored in his later career.