Joyeux anniversaire

Happy Anniversary which was known as Anniversary Waltz on Broadway had a good 611 performance run on Broadway in 1954-55 season. Authored by Jerome Chodorov who was having blacklist problems in Hollywood it finally made it to the big screen in 1959 probably for that reason. But the delay knocked the props out of the big gag of the play.

David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor after 13 years of marriage and 14 year of kanoodling with two kids to show for it are having some wear and tear on the marriage. A big issue is Niven's old fashioned views on television, he hates it and won't have it in his house.

In 1954 a lot of people still didn't own a set. But by 1959 when I was 12 years old just about every family did. It was the major medium of entertainment and news and the two hadn't quite blended yet. Niven was not funny, in fact he was downright ludicrous.

And heavens to Betsy he actually admits that he and Gaynor were kanoodling even before it became official. That gets a good row going with her parents.

Gaynor got to sing a song in the film while she and Niven were dancing on their anniversary. Musicals were rapidly disappearing and good thing she got a number in here. But Happy Anniversary will not go down as a great David Niven or Mitzi Gaynor film.

In 1959, there were several precursors to the typical "1960s sex comedy," including Pillow Talk and Happy Anniversary. In this hormone-based comedy, David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor are married with two kids and too busy to focus on each other anymore. Of course, we all know it that means when The Niv comes home from work early, gets into his bathrobe, and calls Mitzi up to the bedroom. Then, with phone calls, kids barging in, and their cook interrupting, they sigh and face the rest of the day without their afternoon diversion. Niv complains and reminds his wife how much fun they had the year before they were married, sneaking off to hotel rooms and going to dive bars.

When Mitzi's parents (whom The Niv naturally hates) come over for dinner, Niv drinks one too many cocktails and lets the cat out of the bag. Mitzi's folks are shocked and disgusted that he sampled the goods before the wedding, and when he reminds them, "Well, I married her, didn't I?" it doesn't go over well. Of course there are fights and humiliations and vows never to forgive, and by the end of the night, The Niv is banished to the couch while Mitzi hides behind her locked bedroom door.

If you like to chuckle about jokes old movies get past the censors, you might like this one. While out to lunch on a date without their family responsibilities, The Niv promises to never lose his temper again. Mitzi is so grateful, she asks if there's anything she can do for him. He smiles and the scene cuts to show the outside of a hotel. When they come home later that afternoon, they're all smiles and giggles. I thought it was entertaining because David Niven's comic timing is wonderful, and it was funny to see him take all his frustrations out on his wife instead of reverting to his playboy ways. I normally can't stand Mitzi Gaynor, but if there's anyone who can make her look good, it's The Niv. Try it out with a bunch of your girlfriends and cocktails this weekend!

The real question is how the source material, a play by these screenwriters called "Anniversary Waltz," managed to captivate Broadway audiences for 18 months and tour extensively. (MacDonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle must have helped.) It's a prurient, shrill sex comedy about how a happily married couple with two 1950s-adorable kids endure a domestic crisis involving a) television's entry into their home and b) the revelation to her parents that they enjoyed premarital sex. It's smug and leering, and so's this loud film version, with a rather clueless David Niven and a posturing Mitzi Gaynor, directed by the seldom-reliable David Miller. The stately black-and-white photography (including some sumptuous 1959 NYC locations) helps, as does Carl Reiner in a capable best-friend supporting turn, as does Patty Duke as the daughter. Phyllis Povah and Loring Smith, as the parents, are tedious, as is the rest of the supporting cast, as is a screenplay that seemingly chuckles at how naughty it's being. You get to see Niven smash a bunch of television screens, and Gaynor does attractively croon one song. But it's 1950s sex comedy at its most lascivious and boring, at the same time.

Here's another one of those funny movies the whole family can enjoy. You can really relate to this one, because the funny things here really happen in real life. My favorite is Niven's toast at dinner that starts a family argument. I can just see my family reacting to it now. As usual in the fifties, family values are squeaky clean, but that doesn't deter from the plot or the humor, which is the kind Niven fans expect.

David Niven is great as usual. Patty Duke is excellent and funny. Mitzi Gaynor is the perfect Barbie send-up, and as always, perfect for the time. If I could find it on tape, I would buy it, since this is a classic for its time, like "The Importance of Being Earnest" was decades earlier.

As a young girl, my all-time favorite film star was David Niven. I went to as many of his films as I could. Happy Anniversary was a hilariously funny film. Of course, since television became such an American staple, some might not find the humor in it. I call TV the plug-in drug! So, I have always felt this very funny film was a masterpiece.