The Tunnel of Love

The Tunnel of Love is a 1958 American romantic comedy film directed by Gene Kelly and starring Doris Day and Richard Widmark. The film follows a married suburban couple who want a child but are unable to conceive. After adopting a child, they find the baby looks suspiciously like the adoptive father (Widmark). It is based on the 1957 hit Broadway play by Peter De Vries and Joseph Fields, which in turn was based on De Vries' 1954 novel. The Tunnel of Love is the first film directed by Kelly in which he did not also appear. Day received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. The film was a box office disappointment, which Kelly attributed to audiences not accepting Widmark in a comedic role. Plot In Westport, Connecticut, Augie and Isolde Poole celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary by turning in an application to the Rock-a-Bye adoption agency. Encouraged by their friends and next-door neighbors, Dick and Alice Pepper, who have three children and another due, Isolde, who has been unsuccessful in her attempts to become pregnant, is determined that she and Augie will eventually be parents. While awaiting news of the application to the agency, Isolde decides that she and Augie should continue to try to have a baby on their own, and she enthusiastically follows all the latest advice by pregnancy experts. Although exhausted by Isolde's resolve, Augie worries about having a child while they are living off Isolde's family money as he struggles to make a success as a serious cartoonist. Dick, editor of The Townsman magazine, assures Augie that his publication would gladly hire Augie to write gags, but Isolde insists that Augie hold out for a more important offer. Dick criticizes Augie for being too serious, compared to his own lighthearted manner, which, to Augie's dismay, includes perpetual infidelity.