Three Coins in the Fountain

Velvety and glazed like a fattening pastry, this 1954 love story concerns three American women who make wishes for love in Rome, and end up having three romances. The cast is fine, but as for the film, what you see is what you get. There's no mystery to any part of this movie--like everything director Jean Negulesco made once CinemaScope entered his life (e.g., How to Marry a Millionaire, A Certain Smile), Three Coins is designed to lull rather than stimulate. (It did, however, win Oscars for cinematography and the Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn title song performed by Frank Sinatra.) --Tom Keogh