The Glass Bottom Boat

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.

This picture wasn't thought to be much when it was released. Most people thought it was a silly sitcom style comedy not up to Day's earlier romantic comedies. Arthur Godfrey gave it some air play on his daytime radio show, with Day and Taylor as guests, but there wasn't much else as I remember. By this point in his career Godfrey had lost his star lustre of just ten years before and his network radio show on CBS was just about all that was left, so his appearance in a major Hollywood movie was a big deal for him.

The picture did get a Music Hall premiere run in New York, but as I say, most people just yawned.

Seen forty years later it has a lot going for it, especially compared to today's cinema "comedies": good writing, expert direction, good pacing and editing, colorful location shots of Catalina and vicinity, good playing by the leads, who look to be having fun, and really good support from that amazing cast of 60s character actors.

There is a surprising amount of frank sexuality in this picture for the time, without nudity or profanity (Doris' character is a widow so she plays her as sexually mature and sophisticated), Godfrey's character has a wife/girlfriend about whom he's absolutely crazy and shows it, often (!), and there's even a surprising gay subplot that's played for laughs of course, but not offensively so. There's even Paul Lynde in drag...priceless!

Forty years later, it still makes me laugh. You will too.

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.

A star-studded cast with the purist of early 60s silly humor. I first saw this movie on an airplane at age 6. It made me laugh then and it still makes me laugh to this day. Dom DeLouise and Paul Lynde are hysterically funny. Doris Day is as Doris as ever and Rod Taylor made a very dashing scientist! I love watching this movie for all the old styles and realizing that they are all back again. The jokes, though simple and harmless, are still humorous today and they were in 1966.

Amazing how silly I though it was to have vacuum that did the cleaning without the assistance of a human. Amazing how they have those now ... a bit smaller that the movie version and I doubt that they would vacuum up a flip flop, but amazing that even a musical romantic comedy of the 60s would foretell us inventions to come.

Dig those computers in this flick! And Dom DeLouise has been known (and seen) to eat many a gourmet item, but a transistor hors d'oeuvres? Silly, but sooooo funny.

Take a trip to the blue room or red room and enjoy this fun film. But be careful, Doris Day just might be spying on you!

This film is classic late 50's 60's mainstream humor. I happened to be in Catalina during part of the filming, and Arthur Godfrey, always gregarious, commented, barring cameos, it was his first full film role. I don't know if correct, but it was his comment. Great Paul Linde and other comedic talent here.