Un soupçon de vison

A surprisingly funny film with some very good comedic performances. In particular, a wonderfully, gleefully neurotic Gig Young as Cary Grant's secretary. Love the scene when he asks his secretary to let down her hair and then take off her glasses. She remains unattractive. "Funny, he says, it always works in the movies." And what a great and bizarre first name Gig is.

Audrey Meadows is very good as well, as Doris Day's cynical roommate, and John Astin (of "The Addams Family" fame) nearly steals the show as a smarmy Government clerk. "Muscatel, for my lady's pleasure." Sure the plot is dated and predictable, but everything is handled with a light touch and the movie is very watchable. Love the scenes in the automat simply for nostaglia's sake.

Funniest moment. Gig young getting slapped by a hand that emerges from the tiny automat window.

Doris Day and Cary Grant were my parents favorites as well as mine. To see That Touch Of Mink in 2018 is a bit of a cringing exercise. Two mega stars in their, let's say, mature years, specially Grant, behaving like adolescents it's a bit hard to take. Doris's character shares an apartment with Audrey Meadows - who I believe also needs some professional attention - they sleep in little twin beds. So bizarre to see. But and here is were the Doris Day mystery resides. I believed her unbelievable character, one hundred per cent. Doris Day was 39, Cary Grant 58 but everything I saw in Doris Days was true. That's why, I presume, this is a favorite comedy of the Coen brothers. My niece, who is 15, saw the film with me and her comment was that Cary Grant's and Gig Young's characters should be arrested. Yes, 2018 is not 1962 and films are socio-historical documents.

Great writing, cool gowns, and Cary Grant panache only begin to describe the pleasures of this surprisingly refreshing film. Cary Grant is an overly-controlling business executive; Gig Young plays his side-kick, junior, and alter-ego. Doris Day is strong-willed and fun to watch, but Audrey Meadows is sensational in her over-the-top performance as Doris Day's older and wiser roommate. Two scenes stand out: one in the fabled NY quick-meal restaurant, the Automat, the other a computer room scene that has to be seen by anyone who knows what IBM stands for. See this movie. It will surprise you.

This was probably the fourth or fifth early sixties sexual innuendo comedy that I've caught up on during the 2020, now 2021 pandemic. By caught up, I mean I've been trying to screen one film a night, that I've been meaning to watch for years, from my eight thousand plus video collection. The script was funny, the actors were good and the direction was fine. I just had a couple of problems.

Cary Grant was an entity onto himself in not less than ten brilliant, classic comedies of the late thirties and early forties. He was a suave middle aged leading man in Hitchcock suspense films of the forties and fifties. By the early sixties, while he was still sophisticated and sharp, he didn't quite have it as the romantic comedy Lothario. And Doris Day, at age forty, while still quite beautiful, charming and witty, didn't convince me that she was the nervous, starry eyed young virgin who was living the lifestyle of a twenty two year old, trying to find herself.

The original idea for the Mary Tyler Moore show had Mary Richards newly divorced and starting over in a new city. They decided to change it and have her fresh out of a long term relationship. She was thirty years old and they knew the idea that she was still a naive virgin wouldn't quite fly. If Doris' character in this one was divorced from the only man she'd ever been with, and nervous and anxious with someone new, it would have worked for me. A forty year old woman, living in a tiny apartment with a roommate, working at temp jobs and staying in a room with a man for the first time was less than credible. Yes, women like this exist and I've met them. They're usually not the type that a suave billionaire playboy who looks like Cary Grant would do an immediate backflip over.

Okay, now I sound like a sexist and an ageist. The fact is, a forty year old virgin, male or female, isn't usually the most sought after partner in New York. To leave on a positive note, Audrey Meadows was perfectly cast as the wise and cynical best friend. I wish she had done more films but I guess I should be happy that Alice Kramden is forever a part of my DNA.

Very cute movie. It was very enjoyable and put a smile on my face. It's obviously a bit dated, I doubt there are many young, independant working women that swoon over losing their virginity these days. I even doubt it was quite like that back in 1962. It's still very sweet and it would make a good date movie.

I should also mention the movie looks beautiful. Movies from this era tend to look great. The quality of production in movies seriously declined the closer Hollywood got to the 70's.