A second option appears in an older Lothario, Rossano Brazzi. He's certainly interested, and appears to be wealthy. But although Pleschette enjoys his company, as well as his infinite knowledge of Rome's relics, she would rather date the first-billed actor. He is Troy Donohue: young, blonde, sensitive, and vulnerable. Soon the two are an item, but Pleschette manages to keep her virginity, even when they are off together on a weeks-long vacation.
Because that's how these movies work, Donahue's former girlfriend, sultry and decadent Angie Dickinson, returns to give Donahue a choice. This leads to a break=up between Pleschette and Donahue, or so we think.
Pleschette's romance with Donahue must have occurred off-screen as well, since they were married for nine months in 1964. It was Pleshette's first film appearance as the female lead, though she had been in Jerry Lewis' The Geisha Boy, in addition to myriad television appearances. Of course, her big role came the following year in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
Troy Donohue's big movie was A Summer Place (1959). The writer-director for that movie was Delmer Daves. Warner Bros apparently believed that the Daves-Donohue combination was a winner, and Daves' next three films again starred Donohue as the lead: Parrish, Susan Slade, and Rome Adventure. Warner Bros must have figured that Daves had earned his penance, since he got to direct Henry Fonda in his next movie.
Rome Adventure is noteworthy as the source film for one of the very few Italian language top ten hits on the Hot 100 charts. Pleschette and Donahue catch the act of Emilio Pericoli singing "Al Di La" at a nightclub. There they meet another man with a top ten Hot 100 hit, larger-than-life trumpeter Al Hirt, who, because it is a movie, is good friends with Donahue.
The supporting cast is rounded out by Miss Stupid, Pamela Austin, and her ever-hovering chaperone Gertrude Flynn. Constance Ford hires Pleschette to work at her book store.
How others will see it. Pleschette was nominated as Most Promising Female Newcomer at the 1963 Golden Globes. Apart from that, the film has attracted only modest interest over the years. Today at imdb.com, it has a middlng 1,127 user votes and an also-middling user rating of 6.4 out of 10. Women over 45 do grade it somewhat higher, at 6.9 out of 10.
The user votes are generally favorable, though. The tour of Italy is fine, but most like the love triangle leads, as well as romantic nightclub singer Pericoli. Some wonder how Pleschette could afford her costumes and vacation on a librarian's salary, and we all know that Donahue isn't much of an actor, but it's all part of the charm, such as it is.
How I felt about it. Aside from its attractive cast, and its tour guide of Italy, Rome Adventure has little to offer the viewer. It is duller than Fancher's worship of the long-gone Etruscans.
Throughout, Pleschette seems far more mature than her physical age. The same goes for Fancher. Donahue is much more impetuous, but that is perhaps his charm.
The one scene that no one can believe comes late in the movie. Pleschette visits Brazzi in his love nest, and practically invites him to bed her. But he doesn't, because he's a fictional character.