Nobody Lost Their Temper Like Doris
1 June 2004
Doris Day was one of my favorites in the 50s and 60s, even in her

final clunkers, she always rose above the material. Thankfully in

the early 60s she was at her most productive, giving really fine

comic performances that not even Goldie Hawn could match in

quality. Here's she's the attractive housewife to James Garner's

equally attractive pediatrician husband. They live in the burbs, and

at a dinner party, she's suddenly offered the opportunity to become

a pitchwoman for a line of laundry detergent. It's not a hard

job--the advertising agency simply shoots the TV spots in her

home. But Doris becomes a star, and her well-ordered life veers

completely out of control. Her mildly chauvinistic husband (typical

of the times) hates her working, taking time from him and the kids

(okay for him to be constantly busy and challenged by his work).

You need know nothing more of the plot, which involves the head

of the agency's wife giving birth in a limousine, and the by now

somewhat separated Day/Garner partnership finds their spat over

with a big embrace before the final credits.

A smart script by Carl Reiner and Doris at her comic and

glamorous best (the costumes are really gorgeous early 60s

knockouts) with wonderful chemistry supplied by hunky Garner.

The kids are cute, Arlene Francis and Edward Andrews are fine

comic foils. I've seen this movie a half a dozen times, and always

watch when it's on late-night TV. The scene where Doris finally

loses her temper over her husband's un-reasonable jealousy and

anger over his wife's career, is a howler. As she demonstrated in

all her movies with Rock Hudson, nobody can boil over in comic

rage better than the adorable Miss Day.
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