Lover Come Back, 1961
Director: Delbert Mann
Writers: Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning
Cinematographer: Arthur E. Arling
Producer: Robert Arthur, Stanley Shapiro, and Martin Melcher for 7 Pictures Corporation-Nob Hill Productions, Inc.-Arwin Productions, Inc. Production
Starring: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Jack Oakie
Why I chose it
After a few ultra-serious films, I was in the mood for a frothy comedy. When this one popped up on my list, I was especially attracted to it as a way to start filling in the gaping hole in the Rock Hudson-Doris Day films. When I saw Jack Oakie was in the cast, that sealed the deal for this secret Oakie enthusiast!
'No-spoiler' plot overview
Carol Templeton (Day) and Jerry Webster work for rival ad agencies on Madison Avenue. Even though they haven't met, they often fight to win the same potential client, which engenders a bit of an (un)friendly 'in name only' rivalry. Womanizer Jerry doesn't hesitate to go to extreme lengths to win a client, much to the consternation of his neurotic boss and company owner, Pete Ramsey (Tony Randall). A major ruse is unleashed when in the midst of trying to keep one of his girlfriends (Edie Adams) from walking out, he makes up a product name (Vip) and promises she can be the "Vip Girl". Jerry then has to actually get Vip to materialize and enlists the help of brilliant chemist Linus Tyler (Jack Kruschen) to come up with something (anything). Hot on the trail of Vip, and not knowing there is no such product, Carol is introduced to Jerry who pretends to be Tyler to access to some of her business secrets. Of course, the two begin a relationship. Viewers must stay tuned to see what Vip will really turn out to be, and how long Jerry can keep his real identity hidden from Carol!
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| Carol (Day) tries to console Linus (Jerry in disguise) when he just doesn't know what to do with his feelings for her (!). |
Production Background
The first film pairing of the dynamic Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959) was a huge success with late 1950s audiences, and co-producer Stanley Shapiro, who also wrote Pillow Talk, looked to pair them again in a similar tale of mistaken (or unknown) identities, and personality mismatches.
Lover Come Back was also a hit, and oft-grumpy NY Times critic Bosley Crowther even loved it. He said, "Pillow Talk was but a warm-up for this springy and spirited surprise, which is one of the brightest, most delightful satiric comedies since It Happened One Night."
Despite the lauds it received from critics, Lover Come Back only garnered one Oscar nomination, for Best Writing, Screenplay.
Some other notable film-related events in 1961 (from Filmsite.org):
- The action war film The Guns of Navarone (1961) starring Gregory Peck, had one of the most expensive budgets of films at the time, at $6 million, and was one of the top-grossing films of 1961, along with Disney's animated 101 Dalmatians (1961).
- Method actor and maverick auteur John Cassavetes' low-budget film Shadows (1961) was his first directorial effort - deliberately created as a contrast to Hollywood's studio system. The self-financed, self-distributed cinema verite film was a story set in New York about an inter-racial couple. Shot on 16-mm film and using a non-professional cast and crew, the film symbolized the emergence of the New American Cinema movement, and inspired the growth of underground films and other independent ("indie") and personal works.
- A search commenced for the first James Bond actor, after UA announced it would produce seven films based upon Ian Fleming's 007 British super-spy, to be produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Cary Grant, James Mason, Patrick McGoohan, and David Niven, were considered for the role, ultimately given to 30 year-old actor Sean Connery.
- Marilyn Monroe's last completed film, before her death in 1962, was director John Huston's anti-western The Misfits (1961) -- it was also the last film of screen icon Clark Gable.
- ANOTHER film in which a chemist is portrayed as a socially-awkward misfit? Oh my. So it's especially hard to imagine that Doris Day is supposed to believe gorgeous Rock Hudson is a chemist, even if he wears a beard, along with an ill-fitting suit and bowtie, and acts ultra naive. That's OK, I suppose we are supposed to believe that Doris as Carol is a bit naive herself, even if she is a savvy marketing executive.
The chemist vs. the leading man - which do you choose? Hudson as Jerry as Linus (!) feigns shock watching a strip show
with Carol. Carol either doesn't like the show or is embarrassed by
Rock's wardrobe. - With the prevalence of social media, business sites like LinkedIn, etc., it did strike this modern viewer as quaint that the main plot revolved around Carol having no idea what her well-known but hated rival Jerry actually looked like!
- Jack Oakie's role was much too small. This comedy star of early talkie cinema had a unique slapstick style and loved to put on accents (think 'Napaloni' in The Great Dictator (1940)). Here he is a rich Virginia gentleman who plays into the hands of Jerry and Carol who duke it out to win his account. As a mere tool to set up the characters and scenario for the film, he disappeared after the first ten minutes, much to my chagrin. This film was the last Oakie made.
Jack Oakie (right) being treated to a good time by
Rock Hudson as a prelude to a deal.The good time was just a bit too good. Carol
(Day, left) looks at the aftermath in horror. - How much inspiration did Matthew Weiner, the creator of TV's smash hit Mad Men, get from this movie, set in precisely the same era, with the focus on sexual politics interfering with work politics? For fans of the series, I would strongly recommend this film, even if the romantic comedy angle is not the main theme of the series. I really enjoyed the film and felt that the pacing, performances, script were perfect, and the set and costume design were scrumptious.
Jon Hamm (left) and John Slattery in a scene from Mad Men - Tony Randall is wonderful. He underplays a comic role that could tempt most actors to slice the ham a bit too thick, but his interactions with Hudson are believable enough to be downright hysterical.
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| Tony Randall (left) as the boss uses a horn to beckon moose as the clearly unamused Jerry wishes here were anywhere else. |
- For Bit player bingo this time, I present Ann B. Davis, well known as the smart-aleck but loveable maid Alice in The Brady Bunch, here playing Day's assistant.
Ann B. Davis (right) looks uncannily like Alice when she helps
Doris Day with her outfit.
It's available on DVD and can be streamed for a small fee on many standard streaming services.
Further Reading
Check out this piece in Vanity Fair detailing the lives of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, and how they intersected inside and outside the movies they made together.
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