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Move Over, Darling (1963)

The situation is hilarious--a man finally gives up his wife as dead in a plane crash in the South Pacific and remarries. Then she comes home, just hours after the ceremony. And in time to avoid the classic consummation at the ritzy hotel. Doris Day plays the lost wife returning home and her hubby is the charming James Garner. And Garner's mother--Day's mother in law--is played by the impeccable Thelma Ritter.

So what could go wrong here? Nothing much really. It's colorful, plasticky, fun, goofy, and well written. Except that it's a remake of a more famous and in many ways better movie starring the snappy on-screen couple: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The original is called "My Favorite Wife," and I totally recommend it.

It must have occurred to these newer actors that they had huge huge shoes to fill. And to make things more weird, Doris Day is basically filling in for Marilyn Monroe, who died during the filming of this same kind of plot (though this movie started the idea almost from scratch, only Ritter and some of the sets being carried over).

One way to avoid comparisons is to never see the original. We all know the dangers there--who wants to only see the second or third "King Kong" or the second "The Women" and so on? But there is also the truth that Doris Day is her own commodity. She is convincingly regular, a true 50s/60s mom type for middle class America (though be sure, these are all extremely rich people here, part of the glamorizing that the audience craves).

So go back to the start here--this is a well made, fast paced, silly movie in the Doris Day vein. She's the true star, though Garner does his best to be a somewhat more conventional Grant. There are a couple of scenes that will crack you up beyond the endless smaller jokes and gags. One is where Day pretends to be a Swedish masseuse and ends up "massaging" that is torturing the new wife. The other is a wonderful automatic car wash scene in a classic car with suds flying--and the top to the car goes down by mistake. Day is an amazing sport for all of this.

Despite my not being around when this was released, (I am 14) James Garner is really a dish. I enjoyed this movie a lot. It was done in a way you don't see anymore. James and Doris look so cute together. I really liked the story and am hoping to see the original with Cary Grant/Irene Dunne. I especially have a place in my heart for Doris Day's 60's comedies and I rank this with the best of them. I love the car wash scene...It was so cute. And Doris's and James's jealousies at what they had been doing when they were away, (just the measures they took), just was funny. If you wanna feel good, watch this movie!!!

No, it's not the most hilarious movie you've ever seen. But there is something magical about Move Over, Darling. No one could ever get mad like Doris Day and boy does she shine in this movie as usual. It's a fun film that anyone can enjoy if they don't think too hard and just sit back and relax. The added bonus is seeing James Garner flashing that million dollar smile and of course, Thelma Ritter who was always a riot in any movie she was in. Doris Day lovers need to add this to their collection.

Move Over Darling with James Garner and Doris Day which is a remake of the RKO classic My Favorite Wife is probably better known for being the end result of the disaster known as Something's Gotta Give. That of course is Marilyn Monroe's legendary last film that she never finished.

Looking over the cast of the unfinished Something's Gotta Give I have to say though I don't think it would have been Monroe's greatest film, the rest of the cast was pretty good. When 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn, Dean Martin also quit and the whole film was scrapped. At that point it was just decided to redo the whole thing with an entire new cast and apparently no one survived the change.

I also imagine that a serious rewrite would have to be done in order that a role originally cast for Marilyn Monroe could fit Doris Day. Seeing Doris on the screen I can't imagine that Chuck Connors or in Marilyn's case, Tom Tryon, would have been unsuccessfully trying to catch her on a desert island for five years.

The story as originally written by Sam and Bella Spewack has James Garner going to court to get his first wife, missing for five years after a forced ocean landing, declared legally dead. He wants to marry Polly Bergen. But wouldn't you know it, a Navy submarine rescues Doris Day at just that time and when she hears about Garner's new bride, it's Doris off to spoil that honeymoon.

Polly Bergen was just great as the picture of sexual frustration on that honeymoon. Although I can certainly see Cyd Charisse in that same spot with Dean Martin.

Edgar Buchanan is great as the crusty judge who declares Doris legally dead the first time and then has all the parties and then some in court to try and untangle things. That role was supposed to go to John McGiver and certainly those two would have been different types.

It goes that way up and down the cast list, Don Knotts substituting for Wally Cox as the timid shoe salesman Doris has impersonate Chuck Connors so Garner won't be jealous. And I can't see much difference with Phil Silvers as opposed to John Astin as the smarmy insurance man.

One thing I did notice is that there was no equivalent parts in Something's Gotta Give for Fred Clark the hotel manager and Thelma Ritter as Garner's mother. My guess is that whoever was supposed to play those roles may never have got on camera because there was no way to shoot around them.

I suppose the best thing to do is not speculate, but enjoy the funny comedy that did come out of all the grief 20th Century Fox had with this film.

Certainly only Doris Day could convince you that in five years she never succumbed to Chuck Connors.

This is the somewhat "infamous" film that has the distinction of being Marilyn Monroe's final film (titled "Something's Got to Give"), however she doesn't appear in any scene of it whatsoever. That's because by the time this film ended up being made, she was sadly already dead. Nevertheless Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen and Don Knotts step in to replace Marilyn, Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse and Wally Cox and the results are simply hysterical.

This is a classic early 1960's "Kennedy-era" screwball comedy with jokes, gags, comic pratfalls and the like. Who out there will ever be able to forget Doris Day as the scheming "Swedish Nurse" and Thelma Ritter as the up to no good meddling mother-in-law? Move Over, Darling is a film that I like to watch at least twice a year whenever I need a good laugh.

My only wish is that Rock Hudson would have teamed up with Doris yet again to reprise their earlier success of "Pillow Talk". James Garner to me always seemed a bit wooden in the role of Nicholas Arden. Both Polly Bergen and Thelma Ritter singlehandedly steal the show.

One final note: in the original "Something's Got To Give" film that Marilyn did, there was a nude swimming pool scene. I would have liked to have seen Doris try to pull that one off, but alas, was it too "impure" for her to even think of doing in the first place?

My rating: 3 stars

(For an excellent analysis of Marilyn Monroe's final film with 20th Century Fox check out the book "Marilyn the Last Take". You won't be disappointed, trust me.)