Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sarah Deever (Sandy Dennis) is an idealistic young woman living in Brooklyn. Her altruistic nature finds her taking in visitors for a month at a time to help them in their time of need. Charlie Blake (Anthony Newley) is her latest reclamation project, a cardboard-box factory worker and owner of an annoyingly loud alarm on his wristwatch. Charlie gains entrance to her apartment and eventually her heart when he reveals he always wanted to be a poet. Sarah seeks to overcome her own problems by helping those in need, but her need for Charlie's love soon supersedes her initial intentions. He is allowed to stay for the month of November as she adheres to her traditional deadline on guests.

Synopsis by Dan Pavlides, Allmovie.com

A viewer's reaction to Sweet November will depend upon his or her appreciation of the unique personalities of its stars. A great appreciation is needed indeed to make up for the artifice-laden Herman Raucher screenplay, which strains credulity at every manufactured turn. The basic premise – that a woman takes on a different "case" every month, inviting a man into her home and straightening him out (whether he needs it or not), then thrusting him out of her life – is too entirely unrealistic in itself. Raucher doesn't help things by lacing the script with banal dialogue and making Sara an interfering, manipulative, and annoyingly overbearing person who tries to mask these flaws through her "caring" (as well as her tragic "secret," which even the dullest viewer will catch onto early in the film). Worse, he expects the viewer to believe that all these men whose lives she invades will fall madly in love with her. Fans of Sandy Dennis and Anthony Newley may excuse all this, as it does give them a chance to watch the stars go through a number of set pieces that display their talents; those who are not already fans may want to give the film a miss, although Newley, at least, is less mannered than in some other roles. (He does, however, boast an amazingly bad makeup job, a distinction shared by co-star Theodore Bikel.) There are a few moments when Dennis, Newley, and Raucher drop all the artifice and achieve something sweet, warm, and real – but those moments are ultimately too few.

Review by Craig Butler, Allmovie.com

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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Sweet November (1968)

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