The Birds and the Bees

During an transatlantic sea voyage, a card shark and his daughter, Mitzi Gaynor, cheat a wealthy simpleton out of a lot of money, but complications ensue when the the girl falls in love with the victim. David Niven is his usual charming self as the father, but George Gobel as the love interest is wooden and the film falls far short of the original. Preston Sturges directs this mixture of slapstick and sentiment. Save your money and rent the original, The Lady Eve, instead.

Unless you are a big George Gobel fan I'm not sure you'll like The Birds And The Bees. Especially after you've seen the Preston Sturges classic The Lady Eve which this is a remake of. I wonder how Preston Sturges felt about Gobel taking over a part that was created by Henry Fonda.

One thing though, while Mitzi Gaynor got an opportunity to sing and dance a pair of numbers, one of them a duet with Gobel she sure lacks the spark that Barbara Stanwyck brought to the part of the female card shark. Glad they put those numbers in for her, giving her a chance to do what she does best.

David Niven is third billed and takes over the part of Gaynor's father which Charles Coburn played in the original. Due to his star status his part is built up somewhat. They gave him a touch of gray in his hair and Niven looked older than 46 years at the time. Three years later Niven and Gaynor would be playing husband and wife in Happy Anniversary.

Try as I might I can't conceive that Gaynor would waste her time with Gobel unless it was the millions that he had. See The Lady Eve before you see this one and judge for yourself.

A much better remake than it has a right to be. The improvements over the original includes a much better musical score, the advent of color.and the addition of the 2 leads Mitzi Gaynor and George Gobel. Hank Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck are physically well matched so it is hard to swallow her character not being attracted to his character. For the remake because Mitzi and George are so mismatched physically, and there seems to be chemistry between the two principals the romance works. The screen play trims some of the fat off the supporting characters Fred Clark always shines with the brunt of the story focused on the main leads. The casting of George Gobel using his television alter ego as an innocent over an obvious ploy by what should be another fortune hunter is delicious for me. The supporting cast rounds out a formula musical comedy. I look forward to a DVD copy of this movie.

Most reviewers compare this film unfavorably with it's model: "The Lady Eve", staring Henry Fonda and Barbara Streisand. I haven't seen the earlier film, so can't compare them. I never was favorably impressed with George Gobel's humor when he was a TV star, and I'm not much impressed with his humor in this film, the obvious being his running into waiters carrying full trays. Oh yes, in one seen, Gobel is talking to Mitzi Gainer, and goes up a stairs , not noticing that she kept walking forward. He briefly ran into another lady listener, then descended another stirs, to rejoin Mitzi again.......The latter part of the film ,where Mitzy and David Niven pretend to be a couple of French aristocrats, whom Gobel has never seen, is an unconvincing masquerade. The only thing different about Mitzi was her pseudo-French accent, which I though was very good. Niven just added a goatee to supposedly disguise himself. Any fool(except Gobel) would have immediately recognized them as the same pair Gobel interacted with on the ocean cruise.(Gobel later claims he knew all the time, but didn't let on). Through most of the film, it's not always clear whether Mitzi is a gold digger, or, as she claims, has fallen in love with the clumsy, if wealthy, Gobel(very hard to believe). Mitzi comes across as a foxy elegant woman, very animated and beautiful. She and Gobel get to sing and dance a bit to the title song, which probably will sound familiar.

Although folks these days sometimes complain about Hollywood's love of remakes, remaking films is certainly not a new thing. In fact, in the 1930s, films were sometimes remake as few as 2-4 years after the initial movie! In many of these cases, we're talking about B-movies and obscure productions...but occasionally they remake big films...films that were just great originally and had no reason to be remade at all.

A great example of a film that was originally great but got remade anyway is "The Lady Eve". Preston Sturgis wrote and directed it and the movie starred Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda and Charles Coburn...and it was a classic in every possible way. Yet, oddly, someone thought it needed a remake...which they got to 15 year later.

In pretty much every way, the remake is inferior. While Mitzi Gaynor was fine, she wasn't exactly Barbara Stanwyck. But much worse....instead of a nice-guy actor like Henry Fonda, someone thought that bumbling, nerdy George Gobel would be great in the lead...something that simply defies common sense. How nerdy is George? Well, he's an ichthyologist (he studies snakes) and seems more like Harry Langdon than Henry Fonda! He's just all wrong...especially since the film finds Gaynor's character falling in love with him for no clear reason. Even worse is casting David Niven in the supporting role. While he was a wonderful actor and great in leading roles, here he simply isn't at all in the same league as Charles Coburn...not even close.

The bottom line is that "The Birds and the Bees" is harmless entertainment...but hardly any sane people would consider it a classic. "The Lady Eve", on the other hand, is a magical film that you simply must see.