There's obviously no easy answer, but this obscure British drama starring Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom and Judy Geeson does ask a lot of important questions and give some answers, even though not every affair ends up in the divorce court or with a fatal attraction. Steiger and Bloom have marital issues due to her reluctance to adopt a child and his putting all the responsibility on her.

He picks up 19 year old hitchhiker Geeson, and she has no qualms about letting him make love to her, although I was never quite sure if it was because of her obvious belief in free love or a desire to control him. She can be quite immature one moment, then quite understanding when they meet up again. I wanted him to dump her without regret when she threatened a public scene, then changed my opinion when she showed another side when they hung out another time, after Steiger and Bloom had a nasty argument.

But when Geeson shows up and manipulates an invitation to stay from Bloom, it's clear that his world is going to explode. And of course, the inevitable happens, or so she makes him think. If it wasn't for the three dimensional characterization of the three leads (with Geeson not a complete monster), I'd rate this lower. You can't hate Steiger either for cheating, and it's obvious that he regrets the fling quite quickly. I found it odd that he blamed himself for a "rape" when it was very clear what she was up to from the start, being an older "Lolita". Veteran actress Peggy Ashcroft has a small role as Bloom's aging mother, a touch of class I wish had more scenes of.

Perhaps as a warning to mature men to be wary of lusty legal aged young girls it's fine, but it's also a warning to young women to avoid becoming a cloying nymph that Geeson turns into, feigning vulnerability yet hiding the sting of the scorpion who can't help but take others down with her. The permissiveness of the altered code from a few years before this allowed for films like this to get approved, and while this isn't a bad film, it certainly was a dark comment on the dangerous desires of a not yet completely matured mind that is capable of great destruction without the intention to be.

I saw this film when it was on general release and even 50 odd years later I begrudge the time I spent. A naff storyline about a group of two dimensional characters behaving in a wholly unbelievable manner. Steiger, being unable to attempt an English accent, settled for an execrable stage Irish accent, stopping just short of " begarrorah & bejaysus". Bloom portrayed the "wronged" wife with all the charm and charisma of a bookshelf. Whilst Geeson delivered her lines as though she were reading them from a railway timetable.

Perhaps because "Three Into Two Won't Go" was written by a woman (Edna O'Brien), based upon Andrea Newman's novel, it has a distinctly (and cuttingly) female point of view on the after-effects of an extra-marital affair. 43-year-old advertising executive in England is unhappily married to a former teacher; she's anxious over the pricey new home they've bought, and unhappy that she and her husband can't have children (and that he isn't enthusiastic about adoption). He picks up a comely hitchhiker one morning and unassumingly checks into a hotel room with her, but after a second tryst the young woman shows up on his doorstep and befriends the Mrs. Complex character-study begins with some frisky interplay, yet in the second-half becomes a sobering drama of tangled lives. Rod Steiger is so engaging when he's playing a randy sort that it's a bit of a let-down to see the scenario turn into an elongated marital complication (with the scheming hitchhiker pregnant/not pregnant). Still, Rod is wonderful trying to sort out the prickly emotions and feelings of both his wife and his mistress, and both women are intriguing, three-dimensional characters. For those expecting a sexy comedy, the pointed shift toward melodrama won't be a satisfying turn. However, this change in tone does allow for several truths about marriage (and in-laws) to come to the fore, and the final confrontation is downbeat but extremely well-considered. A smart, adult movie about decent people making questionable choices, and how those decisions touch everyone else. **1/2 from ****