La blonde défie le FBI

Frank Tashlin directed this sunny comedy that relies heavily on Doris Day, an actress who was at the height of her popularity back when this film was done. "The Glass Bottom Boat" is a fun comedy that mixes science with espionage and mistaken identities that produced a funny movie, even when watched today.

Doris Day in her heyday couldn't do anything wrong, in spite of the silly premises of what was written for her. In this comedy is Jennifer Nelson, a widow, who works in the aerospace industry. The genius scientist, Bruce Templeton, likes what he sees and proceeds to pursue Jennifer, but things get complicated because it appears Mrs. Nelson is a Soviet spy.

The film's pace never lets up. Doris Day is wonderful as the naive, but resourceful woman who can charm us with one of her wonderful smiles. Rod Taylor is the hunky Bruce Templeton who sees in Jennifer not only a beautiful lady, but the right one for him.

The supporting cast in this movie is full of familiar faces. Paul Linde provides one of the best laughs in the movie when, as a security guard, and suspecting Jennifer of the worst, dresses in drag and follows her to the ladies' room. Arthur Godfrey is Jennifer's father. John McGiver, Edward Anderson, Dick Martin, Dom DeLuise, Eric Fleming, Alice Pearce and George Tobias contribute to make this a fun movie. The cameo by Robert Vaughn is a surprise.

The film will not disappoint fans of Doris Day.

Director Frank Tashlin tries to do for Doris Day what he did for Lucille Ball (Miss Grant Takes Richmond), Bob Hope (Son of Paleface), and Jerry Lewis (Who's Minding the Store, many others) casting her in a comedy full of cartoonish color, gadgets, and slapstick. Not surprisingly Tashlin started as a director of Warner Brothers cartoons, moved into live action as a gag writer and became one of the most stylish directors of comedies. In many of his films Tashlin's world is full of out-of-control vacuum cleaners, remote control appliances, and a struggle to cope with the fast pace of modern civilization. In The Glass Bottom Boat (the title is misleading, the Catalina Island attraction is around just for the opening number) Tashlin pokes fun at the spy genre (most notably The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which was a popular TV show at the time). Rod Taylor is Day's romantic interest and the intellectual and corporate head of an aerospace corporation. He lives in a dream house with resort-style guest rooms, a futuristic kitchen, and a foyer that seems to go on forever. Doris Day plays an employee at his company who is mistaken for a spy by everyone but Taylor. Actually she is a widow who lives with her dog (he has a Russian name which adds to the confusion of her being a spy), some fish, and mockingbirds. The mockingbirds are tied into the title song which is sung to the tune of "Mockingbird." (At least one professional critic missed the purpose of the Mockingbird song that's why I'm bringing it up.) Taylor and Day have pretty good chemistry but the story is more about the chase so we don't see much romance. Instead Tashlin prefers to tie the story together with slapstick scenes such as Hi-Fi installer Dom DeLuise and Day getting their feet stuck in a trash can, Day being chased by a robotic floor sweeper, and Day in a runaway (remote control) speed boat. These are signature pieces for Tashlin and he does a good job with them but Doris Day seems a bit out of place. Slapstick requires the actor to fill in the time with quick broad expressions and physicality. We think of a physical actress like Lucille Ball trapped in a glass shower filled with water and drawing laughs from her expressions and cries. In a similar scene with an automatic floor sweeper Doris Day just seems to be there letting the antics on stage play itself out. In another scene she's virtually hanging on in an out-of-control speed boat. We can imagine Jerry Lewis changing expressions every half second and flipping on his back every two. Tashlin's skill makes the scenes funny, but they are not as hilarious as when cast with a physical clown. Day does a lot better in the quieter romantic comedy scenes and is given incredible support by a never-ending list of character actors who steal each and every one of their scenes. Among the best are Paul Lynde as a security chief who dons poor disguises and Dick Martin as Rod Taylor's "good-time" partner. Paul Lynde is joined by fellow Bewitched alumni George Tobias and Alice Pearce, virtually replaying the neighbors of that TV show Mr. and Mrs. Kravitz, this time as Doris Day's neighbors, and watch for Robert Vaughn in a quick cameo as The Man From U.N.C.L.E. himself. Add to this a rare supporting role by Arthur Godrey (with his trademark ukulele) as Doris Day's dad (they sing a duet), 60's comedy "stuffy character" actors Edward Andrews and John McGiver, and a pre-Walton's Ellen Corby as Rod Taylor's maid. Most films from this era can look really outdated but the sets here still look retro-cool. For breezy 60's fun the film is worth a look and despite a slow start seems to get better and better all the way to the end as the supporting characters come together and start interacting with each other, not just with Day. If only the entire film had the energy of the finale there might have been some much needed belly laughs generated.

This film has its moments of great screwball comedy, and Tashlin seems to keep alive the finesse and sophistication of a Hawks, McCarey or LaCava. The story built around the attraction between two opposite individuals never reach the sublime heights of `Bringing up Baby' –needles to say, Taylor and Day aren't Grant and Hepburn-, and it seems that this film greatest problem is not to dare going too far in its craze, as other Tashlin's films like `Rock Hunter' or `Artists and Models' did. Probably the cause is the plot dealing with the cold war, a subject pretty much on the focus at the time. Now and them you feel that the director is doing a sort of journalism through a territory that doesn't suit him as good as Hollywood and its superficiality, for example. But Tashlin always manages to insert his comments about the decadence of American life, a circumstance that not even the fanciest of technology can hide. In his anarchic fashion, Tashlin's films counterpart Douglas Sirk's melodramas. Both are about the same, but the path chosen to express its vision are opposite.

This film has a wonderful use of color, an admirable pacing and a freshness rarely seen in the studio comedies of the time (the singing scene in the boat looks totally improvised). But if Tashlin's background as a cartoonist often contributes to his creative ability to take situations beyond the edge, and to destroy a stiff established order, very seldom this very quality can work against him. And this is what happens with all the bad guys in this film. They are a mere caricature, and one can never feel them as a serious threat. The theme demanded something more serious, and these clumsy amateurs certainly fail.

Anyway, watch the film and sing the title's tune; it'll remain with you for ages.

What a warm, wonderful actress Doris Day is, what a knockout, what a screen presence. And just think, at the age of 42 (ancient by Hollywood standards in 1966) she was playing a desirable woman lusted after by several men. Glass Bottom Boat is a very '60s comedy in look and subject matter - the space age and spies. Taylor has invented a gizmo and when there's a leak from his project team, suspicion falls on Day, who works for the company and calls someone named Vladimir several times a day. Vladimir, however, is her dog, and she's calling him so he'll run around while the phone is ringing and get some exercise.

The film is loaded with space-age gadgets. Taylor's computerized, motorized kitchen is great, complete with a floor-cleaning robot - wonder if the inventors of today's robot vacuum saw this movie. He also pilots his boat via a remote - but as he points out during a scene where the boat runs amok with Day inside, that needs further work.

There's lots of slapstick and comedy support from Dom Deluise, Dick Martin, and Paul Lynde. Lynde, by the way, looked great in drag, and has some great delivery in his scenes. Some of the scenes, especially those of Deluise, had an improv feel. The late Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood's boss on "Rawhide," plays a CIA man. This was his last film; he drowned shortly afterwards. Rod Taylor, who, by the way, is younger than Doris Day, is effective as Day's romantic interest. Of note, radio personality Arthur Godfrey plays Day's father. There's also an appearance by Robert Vaughan as an homage to his "Man from UNCLE" character.

Frothy fun, and Doris Day is always a delight.

Just think that if Doris Day had not for some reason named her dog, Vladimir there might have been no plot at all for this Frank Tashlin comedy.

That might have been bad because this was the best of Doris Day's films in the late sixties as she was beginning a downward drop in her box office appeal. The Glass Bottom Boat was the second film she did with Rod Taylor as co-star and the first of two she did with Frank Tashlin as director. And this one was the best product in both associations.

Doris works in public relations at a space lab in California where scientist Rod Taylor is developing new stuff for the Defense Department and NASA. She also doubles and helps her dad Arthur Godfrey on his glass bottom boat tourist vehicle. One of the things I like best about The Glass Bottom Boat is Doris sings again on screen, once in a nice duet with Arthur Godfrey on his ever present ukulele. She also sings her most famous song, Que Sera Sera once again for a new generations of film fans.

One thing about Doris's later films, she always had excellent supporting casts and this one is loaded with some very funny people like, Edward Andrews, John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Dom DeLuise, Dick Martin, George Tobias, and Alice Pearce. They all fill roles that you would expect from them.

The Glass Bottom Boat has Rod Taylor concerned with plant security in regard to his top secret work. An overzealous security guard played by Paul Lynde overhears Doris call her dog on the phone. What she does is that in order to give the pooch some exercise during the day she calls her own number, counts the rings and then says something to the unanswered phone. It's for the dog to get exercise because he runs around like a maniac when the phone rings.

From that we deduce that Doris is a Soviet spy and the real CIA in the person of Eric Fleming is called in. This was Fleming's last big screen appearance before he was drowned on location in Peru. A very sad end to a career that might have been the equal of his Rawhide co-star, Clint Eastwood.

Seeing Paul Lynde in drag, questioning an inept spy played by Dom DeLuise is worth seeing this film alone.