Let us say this - the film is an eye-filler. Cinemascope was just starting and the use of the city of Rome as a backdrop was an excellent one. One only wishes a more charming and better film (such as ROMAN HOLIDAY) had been the first to use it, but that film was shot in black and white, and not in a big screen format like cinema-scope. Yet that film holds up better.

There is an unwritten rule regarding screenplays - keep them relatively simple or the story is stretched beyond acceptable belief. As this is a romantic film we are willing to let it stretch a little, but certain points about it that were acceptable in 1954 are now seen as hard to believe.

The plot deals with three women who are Americans and find themselves working in Rome. Two are connected to the American Embassy there, represented by Howard St. John. St. John was a capable, if unexciting, actor. He was the original General Bullmoose in the musical "L'il Abner" (and like Peter Palmer repeated his performance in the film version). He was usually playing professional men (lawyers, bankers, diplomats) many of whom if not crooked were willing to accept a degree of accommodation with unlikeable types for some advantage (in the film of Woody Allen's play DON'T DRINK THE WATER, St. John is willing to allow an innocent American family get smeared by a Communist Regime as spies so he could make headlines about negotiating their release for an upcoming political campaign). He is also recalled as Broderick Crawford's legal adviser in BORN YESTERDAY. St. John fit in well (including his homburg hats) with the style of the Eisenhower years.

Here St. John is observing the behavior of two of the woman, Maggie MacNamara and Jean Peters, making sure they toe the line regarding no fraternizing with Italians. But the three woman (the third is Dorothy Maguire) are walking by the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and when discussing the legend that you can get your wish there they throw their coins into the fountain (hence the title of the film) wishing for staying on in Rome or for romance. MacNamara meets a local Prince played by Louis Jordan, and Peters meets a young man working at the Embassy (Rosanno Brazzi) and two romances start up. St. John is not thrilled at this, and ends (or tries to end) the one between Peters and Brazzi by firing Brazzi. He can't do much with MacNamara and Jordan, as the latter is not attached to the Embassy, and is pretty important in Italy itself.

Maguire has been already living in Rome for 15 years. Originally working at the embassy, she has become the secretary of a famous novelist played by Clifton Webb. Although she occasionally goes out with St. John, she is frequently in the company of Webb as well. We subsequently learn that she has been carrying the torch for Webb all these years, but he is unaware of it.

Now it as been pointed out by other writers on this website that Webb, talented performer that he was in film, was the closest thing that the movies could produce as a closet "Gay" man in the movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Intellectual, sharp tongued, frequently cruel (in his serious roles like Waldo Lydecker or Eliot Templeton) he was amusing (Mr. Belvedere or MR. SCOUTMASTER or DREAMBOAT) and always attention getting. But the thought that he could have any woman quietly carrying a torch for him for 15 years is a stretch - I say this even after seeing him as Frank Gilbreth in CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, as the ultimate father and husband - aided by Myrna Loy in that role. Yet we find him in such a position here, and playing it as though it all makes sense. He even has a chance to show that he can be noble to Maguire when he learns of an unfortunate turn of events.

The other two romances rise and collapse due to economic pressures (Peters and Brazzi) and character failure (MacNamara and Jordan). How does the film end. I will only add that the script writers decided to turn Webb into a noble lover and a deus ex machina at the conclusion.

I take it that this was fine in 1954, the year this film was made and the year of my birth. Ike was President only one year, and we had a confidence in our nation having a fairly flawless future if we only listened to the wisdom of the wise and old. And Webb just fit the bill for that in this romantic film.

The performances are pretty good, including MacNamara - who a year before had gotten critically good notices (and even an Oscar nomination) in the now dated and abysmal THE MOON IS BLUE. Here her stridency in that role is tone down, and she actually is acceptable in her pursuit of Jordan. Jordan is good as a man who believes in trust as the cornerstone of love. Peters is a practical girl who nearly loses Brazzi due to his relative poverty. And Maguire makes the most of her improbable role, especially in a late drunk scene sequence.

For the performances and the cinematography it is a "7". But the story would need real repair work if the film was redone today.