A New Kind of Love

A New Kind of Love
A New Kind of Love
	Film Poster
Directed by	Melville Shavelson
Written by	Melville Shavelson
Produced by	Melville Shavelson
Starring	Paul Newman; Joanne Woodward; Thelma Ritter; Eva Gabor
Cinematography	Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Erroll Garner; Leith Stevens
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 30, 1963
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English; French
Box office	$2,250,000 (US/ Canada)

A New Kind of Love is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Melville Shavelson and starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Frank Sinatra sings "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" over the opening credits.

Plot[]

A womanizing American reporter (Steve, played by Paul Newman) assigned to Paris comes to live in the Montmartre district with his friend Harry Gorman. He meets "Sam" (dressed as a man) very briefly in a gents toilet.

Meanwhile, tomboy Sam is being dragged around Paris by her older friend, Leena. After a girl's night out (with Maurice Chevalier) she prays at a street shrine to be more feminine.

In her attempt to look more feminine she overdoes it: she dons a blonde wig; puts on red lipstick; and wears a fur coat. She sits outside a bar smoking a cigarette in a long holder. Here Steve mistakes her for a high-class prostitute and pays $200 in advance for two hours.

He decides to interview her for a series of articles, then falls in love with her. Sam goes along with it, first out of revenge as he snubbed her during a past encounter, then out of feelings of her own.

Cast[]

Paul Newman as Steve Sherman
Joanne Woodward as Samantha "Sam" Blake / Mimi
Thelma Ritter as Leena
Eva Gabor as Felicienne Courbeau
George Tobias as Joseph Bergner
Marvin Kaplan as Harry Gorman
Maurice Chevalier as Himself
Robert Simon as Bertram Chalmers
Valerie Varda as Mrs. Chalmers
Joan Staley as Stewardess
Robert Clary as Frenchman at Restaurant

Awards and nominations[]

Academy Award

1964: Nominated, Best Costume Design, Color - Edith Head
1964: Nominated, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment - Leith Stevens

Golden Globe Award

1964: Nominated, Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy - Joanne Woodward

Laurel Awards

1964: 3rd Place, Top Female Supporting Performance - Thelma Ritter

Novelization[]

Before the release of the film, Dell issued a worthwhile paperback novelization of the screenplay by mainstream author W.H. (William Henry, aka Bill) Manville (1926–2017) as Henry Williams, the pseudonym he used for tie-in work. The screenplay is not directly attributed as the source, but it is cited in a back cover film credit list, and the copyright is assigned to Paramount Pictures. The cover illustration features Newman and Woodward in the "falling-kiss" pose of the movie poster, and the middle of the book contains a four-page insert of captioned, black-and-white production stills.