Caprice

Drug smuggling in the cosmetics industry, with Doris Day and Richard Harris as industrial spies. Wild Frank Tashlin slapstick--funny gadgets, double agents--mixes curiously with serious action sequences involving a sniper; there's also a transvestite reveal (!) and at least one movie in-joke (Day's father, seen in a photograph, is Arthur Godfrey, who played her dad in Tashlin's "The Glass Bottom Boat"). Certainly an odd choice for Day, who later claimed her manager-husband signed her to the project before she could read the script (it was later tailored to her--and very well). She's dryly sarcastic throughout, and very appealing in her scenes with Harris. Incredible Leon Shamroy cinematography, terrific locations, plus a hilarious bit by Michael J. Pollard as a hippie. A strange one, indeed, but fun. *** from ****

Surely Fox had intended this one for Raquel Welch but dusted it off when Doris needed to complete her three picture deal with the studio. She had saved their necks at Christmas time in 1963 with MOVE OVER, DARLING (the re-tooled SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE), but two years later she was rewarded with DO NOT DISTURB, a second-rate farce based on a third rate play. Then along came this attempt to turn Doris into a go-go mod spy with BATMAN trimmings. Well, Doris is always watchable and there are a few funny and/or exciting set pieces, and the photography is gorgeous, but really, I am shocked that a major MAJOR talent like Doris Day settled for this feeble outdated-the-minute-it-was-released effort. There isn't even a decent ending! The way films were being made and watched and reviewed and studied was changing rapidly (mostly for the good) in 1967, and it is a shame that an iconic performer like Miss Day could not ride the wave to a nice third act to her movie career. Still, this does have the makings of a cult film, and perhaps when viewed in context of the time it was made and released (Spring of 1967) future audiences will appreciate it for what it is rather than what it is not. Watch anyway!

The talents of Frank Tashlin and Doris Day would seem to be a Hollywood combination made in heaven but, with "The Glass Bottom Boat" (made at M-G-M a year earlier than "Caprice') and this one, their fans were doomed to a certain degree of disappointment. The main trouble with this film is its impossibly convoluted and ridiculous script, giving little opportunity for anyone to shine, except, perhaps, the set and clothes designers, though one must appreciate that their efforts look very, VERY much of the dreaded "Mod" period when this one was conceived.

Technical credits are, for the most part, top-notch, especially that old pro Leon Shamroy's lush cinematography (although I do recall that the back projections were very obvious when I saw this on a 40-foot wide CinemaScope screen when it was first released).

I've never been a particular fan of Richard Harris and he was most definitely miscast opposite Doris. His too-clipped delivery of some of his lines can be attributed, I suspect, to Mr. Tashlin's rather slack direction (unusual for that comic master).

All in all, when one considers that producer Martin Melcher, Doris's husband, was, at the time, squandering her hefty paychecks in unwise investments, it's easy to understand why Ms. Day has since been content to retire form the screen and allow us to remember her better, earlier efforts.

I don't know why the most people think, that "Caprice" is a mad movie, it is no true. This one is the follow-up of "The Glass-Bottom Boat" and is in every case bigger an greater, but not better. Frank Tashlin did a very good job, when he first cooperated with Doris but he used her for his crazy and hardly understandable sense of humor. You have to laugh about the whole movie, you can't take anything in it seriously. That's the trick of it. There are very funny moments, e. g. when Doris goes to cinema to watch "Caprice" and when she strikes again a sexual attack. Perhaps a few of you really enjoy this movie as I do. Take it easy and with a little smile. For all others: Doris didn't like the movie herself.

"Caprice" was made near the end of Doris Day's spectacular film career. It was met with mixed reviews by the New York critics. But, when I saw the film at Radio City Music Hall, the audience seemed to enjoy it.

The opening credits were very clever and there was a spectacular beginning to the film, a ski chase with the villain in black and the victim in white getting shot to death.

Doris Day was dressed in mod attire and gave her usual professional performance. The plot was the film's biggest problem. It was very complicated and it takes two or three viewings to grasp everything.

Richard Harris was a good choice to play opposite Miss Day. He later said that, even though he didn't like "Caprice", he was delighted to work with Miss Day, a true expert in the comedy field. He stated that he learned more from her about comedy than he could have learned in years at the Royal Academy. Nice words.

This picture could have been good, if they had cut several scenes. I liked the rapport that Miss Day had with Edward Mulhare in their scenes together. She also worked well with Lilia Skala, Ray Walston and Jack Kruschen. There was a funny bit, which Doris played with Michael J. Pollard in a movie theatre, that was showing Doris Day and Richard Harris in "Caprice".

Doris Day is a "natural" actress. She uses props well and approaches her material from a realistic standpoint. You believe her, even when she is thrusted in the most unbelievable situations. Miss Day was very good near the end of the picture when she confronted Ray Walson, in drag, and then Edward Mulhare who sent her on an unexpected helicopter ride.

There were some exciting scenes, especially the one when Doris is being chased down the slopes by the man who killed her father in the beginning of the film. The resulting "rescue" was directly out of the old '40s cliffhangers.

It has become fashionable to dismiss "Caprice", but if you are a Doris Day fan, you might enjoy it if you can ignore some of the "cuteness" director Frank Tashlin threw into the plot.