pierrotlunaire0

Watching this movie was an easy way to spend a lazy afternoon, but the moment I thought about the plot, it fell apart.

Spoiler #1: David Janssen meets Dina Merrill, and apart from asking, "Haven't we met before?", accepts her word that they have never met. Until a good half hour deeper into the movie, and he suddenly remembers they had a passionate (albeit brief) affair years ago. Why doesn't he remember her? Well, back then she was a brunette, and now she's a blond. Oookay.

Spoiler #2: The con man character wants to hire David Janssen to find his long lost criminal brother. Dina Merrill was raped by the same criminal brother. Turns out that the criminal brother is now a top movie star. And nobody recognized him? Save your money, con man, and go to the movies once in a while. The criminal brother/now movie star is presented as a huge star, such that when he walks through a hotel lobby, excited teen fans mob him. Oookay.

Spoiler #3: Jeanne Crain is supposed to be the woman who broke David Janssen's heart, the woman who sent him a Dear John letter that sent him into a tailspin. They reconnect at the beginning of this movie, and in spite of the pain she caused him, David Janssen can't resist her. Except, once he finally recognizes Dina Merrill, it is as if Jeanne Crain never existed. Oookay.

Odd little movie, with the music score at times blaring as if it were having convulsions.

I know that there are quite a few people who reviewed here who really enjoyed this movie, and Doris Day's performance. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

I was a child when I saw this movie when it came out (I was about 6), and I vividly remember the outcome, so obviously it made an impression on me. But Doris Day's character has to be the most irritating damsel in distress of all time. Anytime anything happens (shadow, stray noise, phone rings), she launches into outlandish hysterics that made me long for someone to slap her and order her to get it together. The worst was a scene where the phone rings when her husband is standing next to her. She snatches up the phone, identifies herself and thrusts the receiver into her husband's hands so he can hear her stalker. Then she stands there, hands clasped together as if pleading or praying, eyes dripping tears, shaking in terror and distress. I wanted to kill her, and I was a viewer!

She also must spend an inordinate amount of time changing her clothes, with a different outfit in every scene. The clothes are the height of fashion circa 1960, and they have not aged well, particularly a hat resembling an overturned bucket with a red flower on the front.

But a lot of people love this movie, so obviously my opinion is not universal. Plus, to be fair, even for those of us who denigrate this film, it is fun to watch in a "OMG, now what?" kind of way.

I put chiller in quotes, because this is just not thrilling or chilling in any way, It needs to be edited down (almost 2 hours for a thin plot), and the writing and the direction needed to be scaled back -- too much scenery chewing and yelling.

But there are some fun compensations.

The director, William Conrad, was better known as a radio actor, and the small parts of this movie are filled with veteran radio performers: Jeanette Nolan, Howard McNear, Ben Wright, Barry Sullivan, and even Conrad's voice turns up as the helicopter operator towards the end. If you listen to old radio shows, this is a bit of a treat.

The fashions are....well, Jeanette Nolan must be seen to be believed. Her hair is tortured into some demented structure in every scene. One dinner scene has her sporting a tower of hair that Marie Antoinette would have envied. Then there is the part where she has her hair in braids like a coronet, this is the scene where she stays up all night long to make sure that her niece is okay. Bright and early, the next morning, her hair is piled up like a castle battlement with curls and ruffles with an incongruous pony tail sticking straight out the back. When does the woman find the time to do her hair? Does she have a fully staffed beauty salon in her bedroom, or does the long suffering butler (the only servant we ever see) do the hot curler thing in addition to everything else? Her costumes are also flowing caftan like things made of satin. Who really dressed like this? Sorry to go on so much about the clothes and hair, but it was absolutely fascinating, in a bizarre way.