Reviews

"The Great Lover" is just another one of Bob Hope's many solid comedy vehicles he made during his prime period(1940-1955), mostly for Paramount. His timing was perfect then and his gift for playing the cowardly everyman forced into bravery by the villains in the situation while winning the affections of the film's beautiful leading lady(this time it's lovely Rhonda Fleming) is in full force here. It also helps that his comedy writers gave him strong material during this period as well. Alexander Hall("The Doctor Takes a Wife") keeps things running at a fast pace and "The Great Lover" wisely does not outstay its welcome with its brief 80 minute running time. The film also features appearances by a pre-Superman George Reeves and Jim Backus, 14 years before he and Hope would reunite in "Critic's Choice".

HERE COME THE SPOILERS FOR THIS FILM AND THE LADY EVE AND READ WINDOW! What stood out to me in "The Great Lover" was how it recalled and foreshadowed 2 much more famous films. The novelty of Hope getting involved with the daughter of a cardsharp nobleman aboard a luxury liner recalled Preston Sturges' "The Lady Eve" while the sequence where Rhonda Fleming is investigating Roland Young's cabin with Hope trapped outside foreshadowed Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Rear Window" where Grace Kelly is caught in Raymond Burr's apartment with Jimmy Stewart unable to help her.

Bottom line: 80 minutes of laughs and fun for Hope fans. Only problem is the title "The Great Lover" doesn't really seem to suit the plot.

*** out of ****.

May contain SPOILERS:

I approached Bob Hope's and Phyllis Diller's 3rd and final "epic" with some trepidation. After the mediocre "Eight on the Lam" and the dire "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number!", I wasn't expecting much. However, I am a huge fan of Gina Lollobrigida(billed here as "Miss Gina Lollobrigida") so I decided to give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised. While no classic and far from great Hope, "The Private Navy of Sergeant O'Farrell" is an amiable, easy-to-take farce in the "McHale's Navy" vein and is Hope's best film from a not-so-great period(1964-1972) in his film career. Basically Hope and his men are fighting WWII in the 1960s, not the 1940s, replete with anachronisms including references to "watching reruns" in the decade before TV was commonplace in most American homes. Anachronistic highlight is the gorgeous 41-year old Miss Lollobrigida showing off her breathtaking figure in a 1968 bikini complete with 1968 makeup and hairdo in a sequence allegedly set in 1941 Waikiki. Interestingly enough, no reference is made to Italy being Japan's and Germany's ally during WWII. Jeffrey Hunter, most famous for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in "King and Kings" shows a surprising strong aptitude for comic ability as a lieutenant-cum-descendant of John Paul Jones with a propensity to seasickness. In one of the film's daffier subplots he keeps having romantic dreams about Miss Diller! The Adam and Eve sequence is a hoot. Mako shines as a Japanese-American named Calvin Coolidge Ishimura who gets mistaken for an Axis soldier. All of the likable nonsense is well directed by former Warner Brothers cartoonist turned comedy director Frank Tashlin("Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?", "The Glass Bottom Boat"). In a clever moment, Bob and Gina spoof Burt Lancaster's and Deborah Kerr's "From Here To Eternity" beach love scene 12 years prior to Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty did so in the hit spoof "Airplane!"

Bottom line: Nothing great but pleasant and worth seeing if you're a fan of Hope or Gina. Too bad they didn't make more films together.

Rating: 6 out of 10 or **1/2 out of ****.

Makes a good double feature with either of these Cary Grant WWII Pacific Theater comedies: "Operation Petticoat"(1959) or "Father Goose"(1964).

Warning: review may contain SPOILERS.

After reading the other reviews of this film, I went at it with really low expectations and found it better than I had thought it would be. Of course it pales alongside the first 2 versions of Agatha Christie's story. Most cinephiles rank the 1945 original version as the best while the 1965 version with Shirley Eaton(The "Golden Girl" from "Goldfinger") has always been my favorite. As of this writing, I haven't yet seen the 1989 version. 1974's "Ten Little Indians" suffers from poor production values not uncommon to low-budget international co-productions of the time period. The direction is flat and there are moments of poor acting(Elke Sommer's shoving her fist in her mouth when hearing Orson Welles' recorded voice describe her "crime" struck me as particularly funny). The whole production feels like a mid-70s TV "Movie of the Week" and suffers from a tackiness symptomatic of the decade, e.g., Charles Aznavour's tuxedo and the cheesey music score.

That stated, it doesn't really qualify as a "turkey". I'm of the school of thought that even a poor film version of a strong literary source is still going to be vastly superior to most cinematic nonsense simply because it has a better story than most of the drivel churned out by the filmmaking industry. This film is a perfect example of this. Dame Agatha's story is one of her very best and draws the viewer in despite the film's technical problems. Also, a desert hotel in pre-Islamic revolution Iran makes for a fascinating and ideal location for the story and makes it a unique and interesting time capsule. There's also novelty value for 007 fans of seeing 2 James Bond villains(Gert Frobe a.k.a. "Goldfinger" and Adolfo Celi a.k.a. Emilio Largo from "Thunderball") in the same film.

Rating: 3 out of 10 for the execution but 10 out of 10 for the story and location, making a final grade of 6 out of 10 or **1/2 out of ****.

Bottom line: This "Ten Little Indians" is OK but I recommend the 1965 version for those who are unfamiliar with the story.

Review contains SPOILERS:

In 1951, Bob Hope made the 3rd and final entry in his "My Favorite_____" series which reteamed him with director Norman Z. McLeod("Road to Rio", arguably the best of the "Road" pictures). Fresh from her success in Cecil B. DeMille's classic Biblical epic "Samson and Delilah", the beautiful Hedy Lamarr(perhaps Hope's most glamourously exotic leading lady up to that point in his career) was cast to play the comedian's favorite spy. The result was a workmanlike but enjoyable comedy/spy thriller which seemed to satirize not only exotic international intrigue films like "Casablanca" but if it weren't for the fact that it was released 11 years before the first 007 film, a viewer might think it was also a James Bond spoof. The fire truck chase where the hero hangs on a ladder while the heroine drives the vehicle was recycled years later in the Bond film "A View To A Kill."

Essentially, "My Favorite Spy"'s plot follows a typical Hope film formula: our hero is an everyman, in this case a burlesque comic, who is forced into dangerous situation(the reason being in this case, the old Hollywood movie rule that someone can pass for an identical twin of someone to whom he has no biological relation to! Alright, I know it's a cliche but it's a good cliche later reused in another comedy classic called "On The Double" with Danny Kaye). Anyway, because of and often in spite of his attempts to conquer his enemies, he outwits the bad guys and wins the affections of the knockout lead female character. It was a formula that worked for several Hope films of his prime era(1940s-early 1950s). "Spy" is typical of Hope's entries of this time. If there's any flaw to the film it's that it's never anything great. However, it makes no pretense of being a masterpiece. The filmmakers never promise the viewer anything more than an entertaining 93 minutes of fun and they completely succeed in delivering what they promise. If only more films could make that achievement.

Bottom line: "My Favorite Spy" resoundingly earns a respectable *** out of **** and makes for an amusing comedy adventure well worth watching if you're a fan of either Hope or Miss Lamarr. Why it has never been released on home video is a mystery. Favorite line-"Why don't you go? If you hurry, you can catch the nine o'clock broom."

For more fun with Bob in the world of espionage, I also recommend "They Got Me Covered", "My Favorite Blonde", "Call Me Bwana" and "Road To Hong Kong". For more comedy fun with Hedy, check out her underrated "Ninotchka" take-off, "Comrade X". Any of those titles would make for a good double feature with "My Favorite Spy."

Review contains SPOILERS:

Most Bob Hope films released between 1965 and 1972 are, to put it delicately, not considered classic comic cinema by a longshot and "Cancel My Reservation" is no exception. However, compared to "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number", "Cancel My Reservation" seems like a celluloid masterpiece.

Essentially, the film plays like a combination of the formula from his 1940s hits like "My Favorite Blonde" and the 1970s NBC Mystery Movie. Hope plays a successful New York TV talk show host who heads to Arizona for a rest/vacation and ends up getting framed for a murder. His wife and co-host(wonderfully played by Eva Marie Saint) heads out west to help him and together the duo go thru a series of detecting and misdadventures before clearing Hope and the obligatory happy ending. Much of the film feels like a pilot for a husband-wife sleuthing team/seriocomic detective show in the manner of "McMillan and Wife" or "Hart to Hart" with Ralph Bellamy, Keenan Wynn, Forrest Tucker, Chief Dan George and the adorable Anne Archer(daughter of Hope's BDIGAWN "wife" Marjorie Lord) as the guest stars and featuring cameos by John Wayne, Johnny Carson, Flip Wilson and the ubiquitous Bing Crosby. While never a particularly "good" film, "Reservation" remains watchable thanks to some nicely photographed Arizona scenery and a thankful lack of "blue screen" except during the rather obvious scene of Hope on a motorcycle. "Reservation" also benefits from giving Hope a wonderful leading lady in Miss Saint. The 1954 Best Actress Academy Award Winner sparkles as Hope's co-star and the two of them have terrific chemistry together. I wish that the other film they made together, 1956's "That Certain Feeling", would become available on home video so I could see that too. The Hope/Saint duo beats the Hope/Phyllis Diller duo anyday IMHO.

Bottom line: if you've never seen Hope or Miss Saint before I recommend you pick another of their films to start with. For Hope, "They Got Me Covered" or any of his "Road" films while for Miss Saint, I recommend "North By Northwest" or "36 Hours" first. But, if you are already a fan of either star, "Cancel My Reservation" makes for painless enough star vehicle viewing as a late movie on the AMC channel.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Warning: review contains SPOILERS.

Fresh off their success with "The Road to Morocco", Bob Hope, his frequent leading lady Dorothy Lamour and expert comedy director David Butler teamed up for this (then)topical laughfest about a bumbling news correspondent who uncovers an Axis spy ring on the eve of the U.S.'s entry into WWII. In an adventure that takes him to Moscow, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Niagara Falls, Hope runs across international cutthroats, femme fatales, undercover agents, blond burlesque queens, Axis saboteurs, a crazy Civil War vet, and (sort of-spoiler here) an unforgettable fellow airplane passenger. All of the riotous mayhem culminates in a hilarious conclusion in Washington beauty salon where Hope outwits the villains in a way that has to been seen to be believed.

When it comes to comedy, nothing beats Bob Hope in his prime(1940s) and the one-liners provided for him here are classics. The often underrated Miss Lamour shines as a Lois Lane-type reporter. She and Hope have fabulous chemistry together and their comic timing as a team is impeccable. Directing great Otto Preminger("Exodus", "Laura") is perfect as the villainous Nazi spymaster while the lovely Lenore Aubert{"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein") makes an alluring femme fatale. Harry Kurnitz script is stronger-than-average for a Hope vehicle while David Butler again proves he was one of Hollywood classic era's most capable and underrated directors. Wisely, they allow the villains to play it straight to give this mostly light film a serious(but not too much so) undertone which makes it seem edgier and thus more effective as a comedy thriller.

Bottom line: One of Hope's best that deserves to be rated higher in Hope's 1940s film canon. *** 1/2 out of ****.

Makes a good double feature with either "Caught in the Draft"(1941) another Hope/Lamour/Butler collaboration or "My Favorite Blonde"(1942), another Hope comedy/WWII spy-thriller classic.

Warning, this review may contain spoilers for this and other Bond films.

In the world of James Bond movies, certain films could easily have a subtitle to them: MOONRAKER("The Outer-Space Bond"), THUNDERBALL("The Underwater Bond"), YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE("The Japan Bond"), LICENCE TO KILL ("The Edgy, Dark, Realistic Bond"), ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE("The 007 Gets Married Bond"), DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER("The Las Vegas Bond"). If TOMORROW NEVER DIES had a subtitle it would be "The Non-Stop Action, Cuts, Explosions Bond." Essentially scriptwriter Bruce Feirstein took the stories of 2 previous Bonds(YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME)fused them together, streamlined them for a late 1990s movie audience that likes the aforementioned non-stop action, cuts, and explosions ladled out with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and cares little for characterization, suspense, or dramatic tension.

Not to say TOMORROW is a bad film. On the contrary, of all 3 of the 1990s 007 flicks, TND is the one I enjoyed the most on my initial viewing of it in the cinema. My immediate response after seeing it the first time was to give it ***1/2 out of ****. When I saw it a 2nd time, my initial enthusiasm for it tempered somewhat. Nonetheless, after even multiple viewings, I still give it a solid *** "good" rating.

TND contains many positive ingredients. Although Pierce Brosnan's debut Bond GOLDENEYE featured a stronger story and a more alluring heroine, TND still improves over its predecessor in many ways. For one thing, Roger Spottiswoode's direction has a fluidity that Martin Campbell's lacked in the previous film. Also the editing of scenes together is smoother and less abrupt than in the previous entry. Perhaps the most obvious improvement of all, was the replacing of Eric Serra with David Arnold, the best Bond composer since John Barry. Arnold's work incorporates the classic "James Bond theme" over and over that was so conspicuously absent in GOLDENEYE as well as nicely scoring both the action sequences (especially the pre-title sequence) and the love scenes between Brosnan and Teri Hatcher. Arnold's end title song "Surrender" is a real show-stopper with a classy "Diamonds Are Forever"-type feel to it(very interesting that Don Black provided the lyrics for both tunes).

Brosnan gives a much more self-assured and confident performance as Bond(Of course, having just come off a $350 million plus megahit should bolster the confidence of anyone.) He seems to grow more comfortable with the role each time he plays it. As for the new "regulars"(Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny) both actresses seem more comfortable in their roles this time around as well. The same sadly can't be said for Joe Don Baker as CIA man Jack Wade. Although Baker was reasonably amusing as Wade in GOLDENEYE (as well as having portrayed a villain in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), in TND he comes off as more obnoxious than J.W. Pepper. Thankfully, his screen time is short and he did not return in the next Bond epic THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH. Hopefully, we have seen the last of Wade and the Bond producers will bring the real CIA agent/Bond ally Felix Leiter back instead.

Jonathan Pryce plays Elliot Carver in the mode of Charles Gray's Blofeld from DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Like Gray, Pryce(BRAZIL) is a fine actor and amusing to watch but doesn't provide 007 with any real physical threat(like Robert Shaw in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE) or provide the kind of intellectual duel Bond had with villainous greats Goldfinger, Scaramanga, or Sanchez.

Michelle Yeoh portrays the athletic heroine competently but her Wai Lin character too obviously replicates THE SPY WHO LOVED ME's Triple X (female superspy from a Communist superpower who initially rivals then allies with 007).The Bond/Wai Lin relationship never gets to develop in an interesting way as the Bond/Triple X one did in the earlier film thanks to TND's over dependence on action at the expense of the storyline. To Feirstein's credit, Wai Lin doesn't make the mistake that her 2 immediate predecessors(Natalya in GOLDENEYE, Pam in LICENCE TO KILL) did by falling for Bond after a quick introduction and one action sequence. Instead, Miss Yeoh(in the tradition of Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, Jane Seymour, Jill St. John, Barbara Bach, Lois Chiles and others) makes Bond work his charm on her first before succumbing to the obligatory clinch. In fact, the Bond/Wai Lin relationship is the most platonic one Bond has had with a woman since his relationship with Melina/Carole Bouquet in 1981's FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Like Melina, Wai Lin doesn't even let Bond kiss her till the end(and in TND its to save her life from drowning).

Although Miss Yeoh survives to the end, the "real love interest" for Bond this time is Teri Hatcher as Paris Carver, the villain's wife and the woman who got "too close" to 007. The chemistry between Miss Hatcher and Brosnan is incredible starting with their witty repartee ("How about the words I'll be right back") at Carver's party. Their sparks intensify with their love scene which is the most intensely romantic one Bond has had with a woman since Kara in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. Later, when Bond discovers her murderedbody in his bed, Brosnan shows a genuine sadness reminiscent of the final scene in OHMSS where Bond's wife is killed. It's sad that Miss Hatcher(who would make a worthy Bond heroine as her work on TV's LOIS & CLARK proved, is given so little screen time as her Paris character gives TND the film's best non-action moments such as the one where Bond sits alone in his hotel room with his drink and his gun waiting for Paris to come to him. The idea of Bond running across a former lover and her having to chose between him and the villain is a good one and I hope reappears (better developed and with more screentime of course) in a future film.

Spottiswoode stages the action sequences spectacularly. The standouts in this area include the pre-title teaser sequence involving a terrorist bazaar with MI6 personnel watching Bond's adventures on a large video screen and a delightfully over the top motorcycle/helicopter chase across Saigon with Bond and Miss Lin handcuffed to each other (Hitchcock fans will easily see how TND stole this idea from the classic THE 39 STEPS).

Despite its many entertaining aspects, TND is not without blemishes. The credits loudly proclaim Pierce Brosnan as "Ian Fleming's James Bond", but with the exception of the scenes with Mrs. Carver and her murderer Dr. Kauffman there's little of Ian Fleming's creation to be found(such as Brosnan saying such PC statements as "Never argue with a woman. They're always right" or referring to smoking as a "Filthy habit." The real Bond would never say those things). Also, there is something fundamentally disturbing about a film's politics that lets Communist China(one of the most oppressive dictatorships on the face of the earth)off the hook yet vilifies Rupert Murdoch(in the guise of Carver) who provides one of the fairest and most informative news networks in the world. While the action is all spectacularly staged, the gunfire, cuts and explosions go into overkill after a while. If FOR YOUR EYES ONLY had the most underwhelming final conflict to a Bond flick, then TND wins the opposite award for the most overdone as "Ian Fleming's Bond" turns into Pierce Brosnan's version of Bruce Willis in DIE HARD. While this "cuts/explosions approach" is done to attract younger viewers weaned on MTV, its sad that so many new Bond fans will watch TND and then complain how true Bond classics that more accurately reflect Fleming's works and characters(such as Terence Young's FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL) are "boring" by comparison because they were made in a era when scriptwriting, wit and style were more important than explosions and cuts.

Complaints aside, TOMORROW NEVER DIES makes for 2 hours of mostly satisfying action entertainment though I'm glad its sequel THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH put greater emphasis on Bond's humanity and brought back some traditional "Flemingesque" elements.

Warning, this may contain spoilers.

DARLING LILI, writer/director Blake Edwards' megamillion dollar epic production valentine to his superstar wife Julie Andrews has gone down in Hollywood history as one of its biggest flops. (History would repeat itself a quarter-century later when director Renny Harlin did the same thing for his wife Geena Davis in the multimillion dollar dud CUTTHROAT ISLAND).

Its not difficult to understand LILI's initial box office failure. It's difficult to classify what genre DARLING LILI belongs in. Most often it gets labeled a musical but the songs take place in the context of someone(mostly Miss Andrews) performing. Never do they just "happen" with the background music coming from nowhere as in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Not helping matters is the fact that the script by Edwards and Wm. Peter Blatty(A SHOT IN THE DARK) seems to keep changing its focus on exactly which film genre LILI belongs in. In fact, LILI often seems like a pastiche of other Edwards films. As with THE GREAT RACE, LILI is a big-budget lengthy, epic period piece set early in the 20th Century. It starts out as a very serious spy drama(like THE TAMARIND SEED). When Rock Hudson shows up, the film then turns into a gooey romance like BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S with the song "Whistling in the Dark" becoming LILI's "Moon River" equivalent. Then two bumbling French detectives appear a la Inspector Clouseau from THE PINK PANTHER series bringing in a dose of slapstick. Then with the arrival of the "Operation Crepe Suzette" issue, LILI becomes a bedroom farce in the VICTOR/VICTORIA mode. It all finishes with an exciting chase involving period cars, a train and WWI era airplanes making for the most entertaining sequence in the film.

Despite the rather odd jumbling of elements and moods(which reminds me of Leo McCarey's underrated 1942 WWII romantic comedy drama spy adventure film ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON), LILI has its redeeming features. The music score which features WWI favorites as well as an original score by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer is quite pleasant and humable. Russell Harlan's Panavision/Technicolor photography beautifully captures picture postcard views of France, Belgium and Ireland. Mr. Hudson and Miss Andrews both perform as well as the script allows them to although the chemistry that he shared with previous leading ladies Doris Day and Gina Lollobrigida and that she shared with previous leading men Dick Van Dyke and James Garner is conspicuously absent between the two leads. Jeremy Kemp(as he did in THE BLUE MAX and would again in THE WINDS OF WAR) embodies the old Hollywood adage that British actors make the best World War movie Germans.

In 1991, Edwards made a "director's cut" of DARLING LILI and that's the version broadcasted on television today. As of this date, the film has yet to be released on home video. I saw the original, longer version of LILI on television back in 1984 and I have to say this is one case where the director's cut(which is tighter, moves faster and has a shorter running time that suits its slight story better) is undoubtedly an improvement.

Rating: For the original version, ** out of ****.

For the director's cut, **1/2 out of ****.

Bottom line: Uneven but pleasant and worth seeing if one is a Julie Andrews fan. Just don't expect anything remotely reaching the quality of THE SOUND OF MUSIC or even THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE.

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

When Michael Winner decided to remake Howard Hawks's 1946 classic version of Raymond Chandler's mystery novel "The Big Sleep", he must have known that comparisons to the original film would materialize and that the majority of them would not be in favor of his 1978 screen retelling. The majority was correct. This 1978 version can't compare to the Hawks original(**** out of ****) in terms of style or entertainment value.

That stated, this "Big Sleep" does make for worthwhile viewing after one has seen the original. While I haven't yet read the book I believe Chandler fans who say this version is more faithful to the original novel despite its updating from 1940s Los Angeles to 1970s London. This version benefits from writer/director Winner's tight screenplay that makes more sense than the earlier one penned by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman. After screening it, so many things that baffled me after even multiple viewings of Hawks' version became clearer resulting in a more coherent and intellectually satisfying viewing experience. Therefore, I recommend this one after seeing the stylish original to help better understand Chandler's complex story.

Other benefits include relatively handsome production values and a good cast: Robert Mitchum(in his 2nd performance as detective Philip Marlowe), James Stewart, Sarah Miles(who unfortunately sports a very unflattering Donna Summer-style hairdo but hey it was the late '70s), Richard Boone, Joan Collins, Oliver Reed, John Mills and Richard Todd. Contrary to the advertising on the current video release, Miss Collins doesn't play the female lead. That honor goes to Miss Miles who co-starred with Mr. Mitchum previously in David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter"(1970). Don't expect the same playful chemistry that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall shared in the original as the Marlowe/Vivian (or rather Charlotte as the elder Sternwood daughter character is named this time around) relationship is decidedly different.

Warning: parents, pay attention to the R rating. Certain subject matter only hinted at in the 1946 version is portrayed much more graphically this time around. Definitely a film for adults only.

Final rating: **1/2 out of ****.

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

The premise for DO NOT DISTURB sounds like a good one for a Doris Day romp. An All-American newlywed couple in London experience trouble when he spends too much time at the office with his attractive secretary so she flirts with a Continental charmer. Through a series of merry misunderstandings and comical mishaps everything works out and the couple lives happily ever after. If DO NOT DISTURB had the smooth direction of Michael Gordon and the witty screenwriting of Stanley Shapiro(the same team who worked on Miss Day's megahit PILLOW TALK), DO NOT DISTURB would have been a classic.

Instead, DO NOT DISTURB receives direction from Ralph Levy who served primarily as a TV director of sitcoms such as I LOVE LUCY. Levy does what he can but ultimately he and the cast are let down by the script. DO NOT DISTURB starts out with a fun cartoon title sequence animated by DePatie-Freling(THE PINK PANTHER) accompanied by a memorable title tune warbled by the film's leading lady. The film reasonably amuses for the 1st act but tends to sag during the midsection when Miss Day heads off to Paris(and trouble) with Sergio Fantoni(THE PRIZE, ESTHER AND THE KING). Things do pick up when Miss Day heads off to a wool manufacturers convention at a swanky Paris hotel(the set used for it looks suspiciously like Captain von Trapp's home in THE SOUND OF MUSIC which was made by 20th Century-Fox the same year)where she pretends to be her husband's(Rod Taylor) "secretary". In the process she ends up impressing the host(Leon Askin) by becoming the life of the party. This sequence(including the band abruptly alternating between mid-1960s twisting and Viennese waltzes at the whim of the Austrian wool magnate) is the funniest and most satisfying section of the film.

DO NOT DISTURB is pleasant enough and Rod Taylor(THE BIRDS, 36 HOURS) makes a worthy leading man for Miss Day. Their chemistry is delightful. There is also terrific support from veteran character actors Hermione Baddeley(who was also in Miss Day's 1960 vehicle MIDNIGHT LACE that like DO NOT DISTURB deals with a young wife in London) and Reginald Gardiner. Also, Day fans will like the injokes where children ask her if she knows Cary Grant and Rock Hudson, in reality her 2 most famous co-stars. But it's never as fun, well-crafted, memorable or as inspired as some of her other vehicles such as MOVE OVER DARLING and TEACHER'S PET. She and Taylor would be better served by their next vehicle together, comedy veteran Frank Tashlin's classic THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT.

Bottom line: For diehard Day fans only. Rating: 5 out of 10.