''A New Kind of Love'' is a 1963 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film written, directed, and produced by Melville Shavelson and starring

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

and

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

sings "

You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" is a 1930 popular song. The credits list music and lyrics as written by Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, and Pierre Norman. Since Fain was primarily a music writer and Kahal a lyricist, it may be assumed that the m ...

" over the opening credits.

Plot

Steve Sherman, a womanizing American newspaper columnist, is exiled to Paris after unwittingly sleeping with his publisher's wife. On the plane, Steve meets Samantha "Sam" Blake, whom he mistakes for a man due to her

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

appearance, and the two instantly dislike each other. A career woman, Sam works as the head buyer for a large department store in New York City, copying designs from high-end fashion houses to be recreated and sold at her store for a fraction of the cost. Accompanied by her boss Joseph "Joe" Bergner and colleague Lena O'Connor, Sam travels to Paris in order to scour '' couture'' houses and fashion shows for inspiration. During the St. Catherine's Day celebration, where young unmarried women pray for husbands, an intoxicated Sam has a vision in which St. Catherine advises her on how to attract potential men. Following a complete makeover at a beauty salon, Sam emerges donning a blonde wig, red lipstick, and glamorous clothes. Meanwhile, Lena, who is secretively in love with Joe, forlornly watches him become romantically involved with Felicienne Courbeau, the store's French agent. Steve runs into Sam at a café, but fails to recognize her, mistaking her for a high-class prostitute. Sam plays along with the charade, as a means of revenge for the way he treated her on the plane, and adopts the alias Mimi. Steve decides to interview Sam as she feeds him fabricated tales involving sexual dalliances with some of Europe's most powerful men. He then publishes her scandalous tales in his new column, which proves an instant success. As the two spend more time together, they begin to develop feelings for each other. When Felicienne's sordid past resurfaces in Steve's column (after Sam appropriated one of Felicienne's tales and relayed it to Steve), Joe ends their engagement—which later brings him and Lena closer together. Running into a desolate Joe, Steve decides to introduce him to "Mimi" in order to cheer him up, unaware that Joe is her boss. Although humiliated, Sam admits to Lena and Joe that she loves Steve. At Lena's suggestion, Sam convinces Steve that she wants to change her life by leaving prostitution. Steve takes Sam to see a priest in order to save her, but she runs away screaming. While observing a photograph of "Mimi", Steve finally realizes she is actually Sam. Despite feeling betrayed, Steve confesses to Lena that he is in love with Sam. Determined to expose Sam's ruse, Steve invites her to his apartment, pretending to offer her money to spend the night with him before he leaves Paris the following day. When Sam leans in to kiss Steve, he pulls her wig off and reveals he already knew the truth. Sam sobbingly insists she did not plan to accept his money and apologizes for deceiving him. Steve forgives her, and the two kiss while professing their love for each other. He then pulls out the money he originally planned to give to Sam and declares he will now be her sales manager, angering her. In a fantasy sequence, Steve, wearing a football uniform, chases down Sam in a wedding dress and carries her to a nuptial bed.

Cast

Accolades

Novelization

Before the release of the film,

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

issued a paperback novelization of the screenplay by mainstream author W.H. (William Henry, 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 Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. 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.

References

External links