The High Cost of Loving

After a string of such serious projects as The Shrike and I Accuse, director-star Jose Ferrer lightens up a bit with the frothy comedy The High Cost of Loving. Ferrer plays purchasing executive Jim Fry, who has doubts about his financial future when his company is taken over by a conglomerate. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that Fry's wife Virginia (Gena Rowlands, in her film debut) is expecting her first child. Surrounded by ulcerated status-seekers and "grey flannel suits", Jim and Virginia wonder if they've lost the fundamental values that attracted them to one another in the first place. The film's satirical barbs seem a bit muted today, but that's the price one pays when putting together a "topical" comedy.