Steineded How sad is this?

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

mark.waltz Doris Day herself even reflects on the original version of this ("My Favorite Wife") where, with a Swedish accent, she asks the new wife of her husband (James Garner) what would happen if the first wife (herself!) came back from the dead, "just like Irene Dunne done....ah, did..." The zaniness of this very 60's remake is obvious from the get-go, taking a good deal of the structure of the original, yet giving it a modern feel thanks to the presence of some of the biggest stars of its time and casting many great actors in smaller parts.Take the opening courtroom sequence for instance with "Petticoat Junction's" Edgar Buchannan as the irascible judge who declares Ms. Day legally dead and then marries his "widower" to the neurotic Polly Bergen. As coincidence would have it, Doris has just returned from being shipwrecked on a desert island, shocking her mother-in-law (Thelma Ritter) who faints long enough to reveal her secret thrill that the new marriage isn't valid, sending Doris on her way to where the unlucky newlyweds are honeymooning. This creates a lot of confusion for the hotel staff once Garner is forced to get his back from the dead wife a room of her own so he can intelligently think of how he's going to get himself out of this jam.Garner is a perfect replacement for Cary Grant, equally as dashing, and very much the picture-perfect husband. While Day is more famous for her pairings with Rock Hudson, I think she had equally hot chemistry with Garner, although they only did one other film together ("The Thrill of It All", the same year as this), and only did a total of three with "the Rock". I would also rank this higher than many of her other sex comedies of the late 50's and 60's for being consistently funny and definitely much better written, not rushed together just to get another film out to take advantage of her status as top female box office star, even higher than Liz, Audrey, Sophia, Marilyn (originally assigned to do this film) and Debbie.Such comical gems as Fred Clark, Don Knotts, John Astin and Max Showalter have nice parts here, and Chuck Connors is (at least from the face down) nice to look at as the body builder Doris was stuck on an island with. There's plenty of slapstick to keep this moving at a steady pace, and a hysterical chase sequence that has Doris covered in car wash soap suds. Even if her character is a bit abrasive, Bergen adds a patheticness to her that you feel sorry for her even though it is obvious that she is fighting a losing battle. Ritter gets in a few of her typical deadpan laughs, and the children (played by Pami Lee and Leslie Farrell) are adorable. While remakes of classic screwball comedies are often a mixed bag, this one scores highly, even though the plot had been done over and over again. 1940's "Too Many Husbands" a sexually reversed version was not nearly as good as the remake, and only made more palatable with campy musical numbers as 1955's "Three For the Show".

Stachehunter-857-73111 Caught this refugee from the Sixties on television the other evening and let's just say that time has not been kind to it. Doris Day cranked out a series of bedroom comedies during one of the most turbulent periods in American history, "Move Over, Darling" is just another in Doris' canon of "chase me, honey" farces. Even when this flick (and many others like it) were splashed over drive-in screens, they were already outdated. Between the violent upheavals in the country, the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, and youth counter-culture among other things, Doris' antics would have been embarrassing even in the Fifties.All the bedroom farces had to offer were Cinemascope and double entendres. "Move Over" has so many smarmy, smutty, and lewd jokes (all of which fall flat) you feel like you just escaped a traveling salesman convention. The wit and sparkle found in "My Favorite Wife", upon which this travesty is based is nowhere to be seen. Doris is certainly no Irene Dunne, and although square-headedly handsome, James Garner is a poor substitute for Cary Grant. Doris is way too old for Garner, so their relationship seems off from the get-go. Also floundering in this dirty joke is Polly Bergen, acting as if she can't get out of whole mess quick enough. Fill in the rest of the cast with future TV "stars", obvious indoor sets that make the Brady Bunch's yard look real, and the beginning of Doris' infatuation with terrible dynel wigs that look like white cotton candy. The whole movie looks cheap, no better than a high school play. The incessant sex jokes and innuendo drag everything down as soon as the cartoon opening credits unspool.One of the strangest fixtures in these sort of farces is the insertion of at least one "gay" joke. "Move Over" has two: future Laugh-In resident flamer Alan Sues mincing around in a non-speaking role as a court clerk, and Don Knotts. Knotts is first seen fluffing a chiffon scarf around a woman's shoe display, in an entirely lavender surrounding. He also minces, but is soon revealed as a ladies' man when Doris picks him up. It is to be supposed that audiences loved a good chuckle at the nervous nellies on display, but this sort of cheap joke went out of style in the Forties. Still, every one of Doris' movies in this genre contain at least one such scene. Perhaps the director thought it was "hip", but we'll never really know. This is a movie best forgotten and left on the shelf as a curiosity. It's nearly impossible to sit through, so watch at your own risk.

bkoganbing Move Over Darling with James Garner and Doris Day which is a remake of the RKO classic My Favorite Wife is probably better known for being the end result of the disaster known as Something's Gotta Give. That of course is Marilyn Monroe's legendary last film that she never finished.Looking over the cast of the unfinished Something's Gotta Give I have to say though I don't think it would have been Monroe's greatest film, the rest of the cast was pretty good. When 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn, Dean Martin also quit and the whole film was scrapped. At that point it was just decided to redo the whole thing with an entire new cast and apparently no one survived the change.I also imagine that a serious rewrite would have to be done in order that a role originally cast for Marilyn Monroe could fit Doris Day. Seeing Doris on the screen I can't imagine that Chuck Connors or in Marilyn's case, Tom Tryon, would have been unsuccessfully trying to catch her on a desert island for five years.The story as originally written by Sam and Bella Spewack has James Garner going to court to get his first wife, missing for five years after a forced ocean landing, declared legally dead. He wants to marry Polly Bergen. But wouldn't you know it, a Navy submarine rescues Doris Day at just that time and when she hears about Garner's new bride, it's Doris off to spoil that honeymoon.Polly Bergen was just great as the picture of sexual frustration on that honeymoon. Although I can certainly see Cyd Charisse in that same spot with Dean Martin. Edgar Buchanan is great as the crusty judge who declares Doris legally dead the first time and then has all the parties and then some in court to try and untangle things. That role was supposed to go to John McGiver and certainly those two would have been different types.It goes that way up and down the cast list, Don Knotts substituting for Wally Cox as the timid shoe salesman Doris has impersonate Chuck Connors so Garner won't be jealous. And I can't see much difference with Phil Silvers as opposed to John Astin as the smarmy insurance man. One thing I did notice is that there was no equivalent parts in Something's Gotta Give for Fred Clark the hotel manager and Thelma Ritter as Garner's mother. My guess is that whoever was supposed to play those roles may never have got on camera because there was no way to shoot around them.I suppose the best thing to do is not speculate, but enjoy the funny comedy that did come out of all the grief 20th Century Fox had with this film. Certainly only Doris Day could convince you that in five years she never succumbed to Chuck Connors.

Martin Bradley This might have been a lot different were it called "Something's Got to Give" had Marilyn Monroe not been sacked from what might or might not have been her final film. So many 'what if's'. Instead, it became a vehicle for Doris Day, playing the part Irene Dunne played in "My Favourite Wife", of which this is a mildly entertaining, mildly funny remake. None of it rings true, but then farces usually don't and this is a farce which is why we wish it were funnier.In this one Day is chirpy rather than starchy but is prone to mugging, (something she was inclined to do from time to time). The husband who has just remarried, (Day has 'come back from the dead'; she was marooned on a desert island, presumed drowned), is James Garner who was a much finer comedian than he was given credit for. Polly Bergen, looking uncomfortable, is the new wife and Thelma Ritter, as ever, steals the picture as the mother-in-law.