The Art of Love (Blu-ray)

From Norman Jewison, the legendary director of The Thrill of It All, The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, Fiddler on the Roof, Rollerball and Moonstruck, comes this hilarious comedy starring James Garner (Support Your Local Sheriff), Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins), Elke Sommer (A Shot in the Dark), Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo), Ethel Merman (Call Me Madam) and Carl Reiner (Ocean’s Eleven). Having failed to establish himself as a painter in Paris, Paul Sloane (Van Dyke) decides to return home to his wealthy girlfriend, Laurie Gibson (Dickinson). His roommate, Casey Barnett (Garner), argues that Paul should fake his own suicide, which will make his paintings much more popular. With Paul presumably dead, demand for his work soars. When Casey grows wealthy selling it off and begins courting Laurie, an angry Paul frames his deceitful friend for his murder. Beautifully shot in Technicolor by the great Russell Metty (Spartacus, Touch of Evil) with a wonderful screenplay by Carl Reiner (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid), based on a story by Richard Alan Simmons (Juggernaut) and William Sackheim (First Blood).