Gidget Goes to Rome

Gidget Goes to Rome
Gidget Goes to Rome
	1963 theatrical poster
Directed by	Paul Wendkos
Written by	Ruth Brooks Flippen; Katherine Albert; Dale Eunson
Produced by	Jerry Bresler
Starring	Cindy Carol; James Darren
Cinematography	Enzo Barboni; Robert Bronner
Edited by	William A. Lyon
Music by	John Williams
Production; company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 31, 1963 (Pittsburgh);
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2,000,000 (US/ Canada rentals)

Gidget Goes to Rome is a 1963 Columbia Pictures Eastmancolor feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally portrayed by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film Gidget. The film is the third of three Gidget films directed by Paul Wendkos and expands upon Gidget's romance with boyfriend Moondoggie. The screenplay was written by Ruth Brooks Flippen based on characters created by Frederick Kohner. Veterans of previous Gidget films making appearances include James Darren as "Moondoggie", Joby Baker, and Jean "Jeff" Donnell as Gidget's mom, Mrs. Lawrence.

Plot

College-bound Gidget (Cindy Carol) is vacationing in Rome for the summer with faithful boyfriend Jeff, aka Moondoggie (James Darren) and their friends. Chaperoning the pair is Aunt Albertina (Jessie Royce Landis). However, Gidget's father Russell, worried about his daughter being abroad, asks an old friend of his, named Paolo Cellini, to keep an eye on Gidget to see that she stays out of trouble. Complications set in when Gidget begins to fall for the much older Paolo.^[3]

Cast

Cindy Carol as Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
Don Porter as Russell Lawrence, her father
Jean "Jeff" Donnell as Mrs. Lawrence, her mother
James Darren as Moondoggie (Jeffrey Matthews)
Jessie Royce Landis as Albertina Blythe
Cesare Danova as Paolo Cellini
Danielle De Metz as Daniela
Joby Baker as Judge
Trudi Ames as Libby Bennet
Noreen Corcoran as Lucy McDougall
Peter Brooks as Clay Anderson
Lisa Gastoni as Signora Cellini
Claudio Gora as Alberto

Production notes

The film was shot on location in Rome, Italy, with some scenes filmed on Italian beaches. In a parody of La Dolce Vita, Gidget attends a high society party and goes into the Trevi Fountain.

With Deborah Walley pregnant at the time of filming, Cindy Carol, who had previously acted under the name Carol Sydes took over the Gidget role^[4] and was signed to a Columbia Pictures contract.

Reception

Bosley Crowther noted in the New York Times of 12 September 1963:

When Gidget, played with the proper pout and correct ingenuousness by Cindy Caroll [sic], arrives in Rome with her group of happy friends, she is bound to fall in love with a married and handsome Italian magazine writer, enjoy such exotic delicacies as fettucini and chicken cacciatore, and experience the thrill of attending a 'Dolce Vita' cocktail party. As one of Gidget's friends explains, it's part of her 'growing up.' Gidget falls out of love in time...and all ends happily. Jeff sums up the entire experience in two immortal sentences: 'I guess everybody falls in love in Rome in the summer time. It's that old devil Italian moon.'"^[5]