Review of The Gay Intruders

While the assumption is that the fictional couple that the real life married couple John Emery and Tamara Gava are playing is loosely based upon Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the truth seems closer to Emery and his second wife, Tallulah Bankhead. The "Alabama Foghorn" was starring onstage at the time in a revival of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" (which had starred the long married Lunts in its original production) so this seemed like a good natured jab at the former wife of the film's leading man, perhaps a valentine of sorts as they had remained friends, and Gava's character is rather grand.

At their closing night curtain call, Emery makes the mistake of thanking his wife for "supporting" him on stage, and Gava lays into him in a way that sounds like something that Tallulah would do. Both Emery and Gava get private therapists, and when everyone gathers together, it becomes a case of more than just the patients seeming like they need a head shrinker. Leif Erickson and Virginia Gregg do good jobs as their psychiatrists, and at times, it's difficult to determine who's the focus of the film. Another issue is that they all seem like they're acting out a stage play rather than being characters in a movie. As this was written originally for film, that's a rather odd aspect even though the ensemble of this is indeed very good.