A rarely screened curio adapted from Irving Wallace's novel which took off from The Kinsey Report. This trashy 1962 film is a shallow soaper which unfortunately is not in the same league as Doctors' Wives(71); being so unintentionally bad it's a must see. Like Doctor's Wives, The Chapman Report is a "woman's picture" based on a best selling novel directed without distinction by George Cukor who directed The Women('39) and won an Oscar for My Fair Lady('64). Topped-billed Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is a dull leading man, and even for a movie his character's professional behavior stretches credulity;he becomes involved with the frigid young widow he interviews. As the voluntary subjects of a scientific sex survey Jane Fonda is coltish and striking, Claire Bloom as a doomed alcoholic nymphomaniac has some intense scenes, Shelly Winters is dullest as a women involved in an extra marital affair while Glynis Johns comes off best as intentional comic relief. Chad Everett is young and handsome and Ty Hardin is a hunk though the men are as usual in these films are negligible. There are some unintentional laughs but, the Chapman Report on the whole is rather pointless and mostly of interest due to the people involved. Cukor claims the film was recut, apparently without his consent. No matter how you slice it, it's pretty thin.
Review of The Chapman Report
