Un mari en laisse

If you love the lighthearted, romantic comedies of the 1960s, then you'll consider this one of the all time classics. In the same genre as the wonderful Doris Day movies of the same era, this will provide fun, wholesome viewing. A must-have for movie collectors of this time period!

This film, adapted from Winifred Wolfe's novel, has its moments and most of them are given to us by a very rare character in fifties comedies: an irresistibly attractive woman in her forties. Micheline Presle plays Sandra Dee's mother, and the dispenser of some delicious advice: Treat your husband like a dog. Sandy's taken aback, like everyone else, until Mother points out that dogs are treated with affection and respect - husbands often get neither. And then wives are surprised when they don't come home.

Oh, there are other pleasures - Dee and Darin are agreeable, and Stefanie Powers gets to be the bitchy girl friend. But Presle is such a joy, she's worth the price of a ticket.

"If a Man Answers" is a nice comedy-romance that stars two of the most promising new actors from the late 1950s. Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin had each won a Golden Globe as the most promising newcomer to film. She for her role as Evelyn Leslie in "Until They Sail" of 1957, and he for his role as Tony in "Come September" of 1961. Dee also was in the latter film, and the couple was married by then. This is one of three films they made together while married (1960-67).

This film has a very good plot and script. Darin and Dee play newlyweds, Eugene and Chantal. Micheline Presle and John Lund are very good and funny as her parents, John and Germaine Stacy. Cesar Romero is very funny in his short supporting role as Eugene's father, Adam Wright, who poses as Robert Swan, a fictitious love interest of Chantal (and of her mother in days gone by). The plot has a unique aspect, but to tell more would give it away. It's hilarious. Darin sings two songs with the title and credits of this film.

This is a film that most people should enjoy for the plot, the characters and the acting. Darin's songs add some flavor and a touch of nostalgia.

Darin will be remembered much longer for his great musical talent. He composed music, wrote songs and had a voice that made him one of the great male singers of the 20th century. But for his early death in 1973, Darin likely would have given us many more hit songs and memorable tunes. Can anyone hear "Mack the Knife" being sung and not picture Darrin singing the song that topped the charts in 1959? It continues to be played and heard in movie soundtracks, on radio, and in other venues well into the 21st century. Among his other hit songs were, "Beyond the Sea," "Splish Splash," "Dream Lover," "Let's Fall in Love," and "One for My Baby."

Darin and Dee's marriage may have been ideal at the start, but it ended in 1967.

Darin died at age 37 after open-heart surgery on Dec. 20, 1973. He had severe rheumatic fever as a child, and wasn't expected to live beyond his teens. Only late in his life and after his death did much of his background become public. Not even he had known that the woman whom he thought was his older sister, Nina, was actually his mother; and that Polly, whom he thought was his mother was really his grandmother. He learned the truth from Nina just five years before he died.

Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto, May 14, 1936, in East Harlem, New York City. His name was that of his mother and maternal grandparents. Nina became pregnant with him in the summer of 1935 when she was 17. Out of wedlock births in those days were very scandalous, and the family wouldn't consider an illegal abortion. So, they moved a few blocks and Polly passed Bobby off as her new son and brother of her teenage daughter Nina. Bobby's maternal grandfather was a gangster who died of pneumonia in prison a year before Darin's birth. Even after Nina told Bobby the truth about their relationship in 1968, she never revealed to him or anyone else who Darin's biological father was. While the family was poor, they were all close. Bobby's health suffered as a child, but he had a great singing voice, and he taught himself to play several instruments

Sandra Dee had come from a marriage that ended when she was five. She was born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1942. She was abused by her stepfather and was anorexic most of her life. She was driven by her mother who wanted her to become an actress. She was a model at age four and then an actress in TV commercials. She moved to Hollywood in 1957 and made her first film that year. She became well known and liked in her ingénue roles. Her movie career began waning after her marriage to Darin, and when they separated she became a recluse and alcoholic. She died of kidney disease on Feb. 20, 2005, at age 62.

Darin and Dee had one son, Dodd (born in 1961), who wrote a book in 1994 about his parents, "Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee." He also worked on films about his parents and Bobby's music. Kevin Spacey played Darin and Kate Bosworth played Dee in a 2004 biopic, "Beyond the Sea." Before that, PBS aired a 90-minute documentary in 1998, "Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song," and the A&E Biography series ran a 2001 episode, "Bobby Darin: I Want to Be a Legend." Darin had a popular TV show in 1973, "The Bobby Darin Show."

While both of these young stars of the mid-20th century had troubled childhoods and tragic ends, they made good marks on society and American culture. We would be missing something had they not been born.

It has been long in coming but the movie is now out on DVD. I had found it before on VHS on ebay but it was going for $15 +. It looks like it's about $12 on DVD! I was lucky enough to have this recommended by a friend and watched her copy. I have looked through movie stores and even had one of the video rental stores order something with a similar title that turned out to be a B horror flick. Luckily they just put it on the shelf and didn't make me buy it. I can't wait to get the DVD and watch it again. I'm sure I've forgotten just how funny it is since I haven't seen it in about 8 years. They just don't make movies like this anymore. Sweet, wholesome fun.

Okay, so Dee ain't Day, and Darin is hardly Hudson. There's a couple of surprises in this movie. In fact, there's a delicious exception to the rule: a woman in her forties who is wise, glamorous and a successful wife and mother. Micheline Presle plays Dee's mother, and she's the one who advises her daughter to treat her husband like a dog. "Husbands often leave home; pets never do. There must be a reason." And, "Most husbands are not given the affection and consideration of the average dog." She smiles knowingly, and Dee begins to follow instructions: "Never lose your temper with your puppy...Praise him lavishly when he does something right...Make living with you so much fun he never wants to go anywhere else..." And it works. Food for thought.