RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Dalbert Pringle Initially I had thought 1964's Joy House was supposed to be a rip-roarin' Comedy (and a lame one at that). But I quickly found out that it was a dead-serious Thriller.Perhaps I was in the wrong frame of mind when I sat down to watch this picture, but, whether a Comedy or a Thriller, I thought Joy House stank in the worst possible way imaginable.Set in the ritzy district of the French Riviera (and directed by French film-maker, Rene Clement), I found Joy House to be a piece of empty-headed fluff that might have benefited some had it been filmed in colour.Joy House stars shallow, French actor (and all-round pretty-boy), Alain Delon, who (without his looks) couldn't act his way out of a wet, paper bag, even if his life depended on it.This film's cast also included 2 big-name, American actresses, Jane Fonda and Lola Albright. At first I thought these women's characters were a lesbian couple, but that assumption soon proved to be an error.Since this was a French production (with English subtitles), both Fonda and Albright's voices were dubbed (badly) and this annoyance, of course, proved to be yet another strike against this dimwitted picture that steadily began to grate on my nerves, big-time.From my perspective, Fonda and Albright's characters were truly sickening. These 2 bitterly jealous women (living under the same roof) were both vying for the attentions of the same man (Delon) and, as a result, they came across as being nothing but ruthless, calculating sluts.Joy House's story has small-time con-man/gigolo, Marc (Delon) on the run from a group of bungling hit men. Marc takes refuge in the posh mansion of a wealthy widow (Albright) who lives there with her cousin (Fonda).It's from this point (when Marc encounters these 2 women) that Joy House's already faltering story completely falls to pieces and lost my overall interest, altogether.

dbdumonteil ...only "Plein Soleil" ("Purple noon" -the talented M.Ripley first version- ,a first Delon/Clement collaboration ,is superior.The director's other thrillers were marred by unbearable metaphysical pretensions ("La Maison Sous les Arbres" " la Course du Lièvre à Travers Champs" "Babysitter" ...)which the use of American actors did not help.A black and white film ,a strange choice for a story which takes place in a luxury mansion on the Cote d'Azur ,the cinematography is in direct contrast to that of "Plein Soleil" .Whereas the former work was often filmed in open air ,at sea,in "les felins " ,we almost never go out of the Fonda/Albright's place.The screenplay is absorbing ,a la Boileau-Narcejac (who wrote "Diabolique" and "Vertigo" ) and the suspense is sustained throughout the story. (I particularly dig the scenes with the car at the end).It was actually René Clément's last good movie.All that follows is virtually disposable.

shepardjessica-1 Alain Delon has the perfect role as the ne'er do well young man, Lola Albright (sad & wonderful in LORD LOVE A DUCK) has commanding screen presence, and Jane Fonda is youthful beauty personified. Ms. Fonda was never more gorgeous than in this creepy little French Film. Those eyes. Nice job with the French language as well. Cool house. Interesting quirky musical score by Lalo Shifrin. Great B/W cinematography and strange "plot".A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Jane Fonda. It's hard to describe what goes on in this one, but I couldn't get it out of my head for days. Nice atmosphere.

baker-9 There's a good thriller hidden somewhere in all the messiness of "Joy House," but the film is ruined by the truly terrible performance of Alain Delon (his first in English, perhaps - which would partly explain it) and the mediocre script, which might have worked better in French since some of the English dialogue is very awkward. Delon's character is so obnoxious and makes so little sense that impossible to care about him one way or the other. Jane Fonda is fun as a young vixen who's more unbalanced that you might think, and Lola Albright does well under the circumstances as a mysterious, manipulative widow. Rene Clement's direction is frantic and sometimes incoherent, as is the plot. We never really do find out who Fonda's character really is, and her relationship to the widow.I'm not a huge fan of "Plein Soleil" ("Purple Noon"), but that is a masterwork next to this. Clement's talent as a director had clearly dissipated by the early 60's. His subsequent films to "Joy House" are even less interesting.