The Third Girl from the Left

"The Third Girl From the Left" is a film that is less a complete story and more just a character study of a woman who is getting older and is vaguely dissatisfied with life when the film begins....and is pretty much the same when it ends.

The story begins with Gloria (Kim Novak) reaching another birthday and realizing her life is passing her by. She's been dating Joey (Tony Curtis) for 13 years and she's getting a bit old to be a chorus girl. Surely, some sort of change is in order. The first opportunity for change is Joey asking her to marry him...though the film seems to imply that this has happened before and nothing came of it. The other change is a young man who is inexplicably smitten with her. He doesn't have a lot of ambition but is very sweet...sort of the opposite of Joey. Will she have a fling with the new guy, stick with Joey or just say none of the above?

This is how the film starts and, for the most part, it's where the film ends. Because of that, there's a vague feeling of dissatisfaction when you watch it. Interesting but missing something...and, by the way, the theme song is annoying and way overused.