Que faisiez-vous quand les lumières se sont éteintes?

Only the most ardent DORIS DAY fan could find this one even bearable to watch. When one thinks of the wealth of material available for a story about New York City's most famous blackout, a film that could have dealt with numerous real-life stories of what people had to cope with, this scrapes the bottom of the barrel for lack of story-telling originality.

Once again Doris is indignant because she suspects she may have been compromised on the night of the blackout when she returned to her Connecticut lodgings, took a sleeping potion and woke up in the morning with a man who had done the same, wandering into the house by mistake.

Nobody is able to salvage this mess--not Doris, not ROBERT MORSE, TERRY-THOMAS, PATRICK O'NEAL or LOLA ALBRIGHT. As directed by Hy Averback, it's the weakest vehicle Day found herself in, committed to do the film because of her husband's machinations and unable to get out of it. Too bad.

Doris Day has always been fun to watch as she brings her characters to life on the screen. She can play such a broad scheme of emotions, often switching gears in a second. She was particularly delightful as Maggie Garrison, the very happily married wife of Peter Garrison. Then they hit a bump in their relationship--the same night that the the power goes off in New York and the NE part of the country. Maggie retreats to their country home and Peter follows. But this is made more challenging by the loss of power and all the people stranded everywhere. Doris Day is at her funniest when her husband finally does catch up with her and she's so sleepy she can't stay awake. Various coincidences and misunderstandings add up to an amusing and enjoyable film. Also of note is Steve Allen's performance as the Radio Announcer and it was fun to see Pat Paulsen as the Conductor. Both of these characters contributed to the atmosphere during the blackout. It's interesting to note how these New Yorkers in the 1960s handled the power outage, now that we've experienced 9/11.

There was a time when you could send $25 to Doris Day's animal foundation, and she'd send you an autographed picture. Well, my dog was a cute shelter terrier that I named Griffin, and since this was one of my favorite films, I asked and she agreed to sign her picture "Where Were You and Griffin When the Lights Went Out?"

I like this movie. I even found the movie poster for this film at an antique shop in Myrtle Beach. It's rather cool with Ms. Day posing as if she is the Statue of Liberty.

I paid only $8 for it. It's the only thing I remember from that specific beach trip. I also own the video. I don't think the film can air right now due to legal stuff.

I have watched it a dozen times. It's a feel good movie. It has a lot of nice, fun people in it, even in the minor roles. This includes Steve Allen, Pat Paulson, Jim Backus, Ben Blue, Robert Emhardt and Morgan Freeman in an uncredited role.

About Doris Day.....she was gifted, versatile, and very underrated. Groucho Marx once said he knew Doris before she was a virgin. He was referring to her sunny, innocent girl next door image--which gets the one-two punch in this film, to great effect. Day plays a Broadway actress starring in the Constant Virgin, and most of the film discusses whether she sullied her marriage and herself by sleeping with Robert Morse during the NYC blackout from 1965.

This movie isn't Shakespeare. Just relax and enjoy the goings on. Turn back your mental clock to 1968. It's a well remembered time when people drove big Chrysler convertibles. Plus, Lola Albright wears a dark wig and seduces Patrick O Neal with the line "I like big buildings." The Letterman sing the catchy title tune, I wish they would have put it on their LPs from that period. Terry-Thomas and Robert Morse comment on the space between their teeth. Discussing failed dental work between these two actors was entirely unexpected.

Some of the reviews in this group suggest the movie is terrible and Day's star was in decline. They are not being fair. I believe people stay away from terrible movies and terrible movies lose money. This movie was actually a big earner in 1968. Yes, It's true that this is Day's next to last film before she went to TV. However, her last film "With Six You Get Eggroll" was released later in the same year AND was more profitable than this one.

In defense of Ms. Day's star power, the business did not leave Day. She left the business. All good things eventually end. The world is now less bright without Day.

Doris Day and Patrick O'Neal are husband and wife in this permissive comedy based on a stage play with Terry-Thomas as a stinker, playing a Hungarian but apparently with received pronunciation.

A young man is passed over for promotion by the bosses stupid son so he hatches a plan to steal the companies dividends. When there is a black out in New York, he has difficulty escaping and ends up sleeping with Doris Day.

Its a jolly and pretty well made film and I'm don't really understand all the negative comments. Perhaps because it's a foreign script, or because it's not dripping in gee-schucks All-American schmaltz like the other Doris Day films ?

Product placements - Kodak, The New York Times and Pan- Am. The Kaiser Group (Checker) provided the vehicles, an S series Valiant breaking down.

On November 9, 1965 much of the eastern seaboard suffered a power outage and this included huge sections of New York City. To that effect, this film involves several fictional characters who had their lives severely impacted by this development. The first character by the name of "Waldo Zane" (Robert Morse) who works as the treasurer for a large corporation and has just stolen $2 million from it. His escape plan, however, didn't factor in a massive blackout and because of that he winds up at a house in Connecticut trying to get transportation to Boston. In the meantime, an actress on Broadway named "Margaret Garrison" (Doris Day) has had her play cancelled due to the electric shortage and upon heading back to her apartment finds her husband "Peter Garrison" (Robert O'Neal) alone with an attractive journalist by the name of "Roberta Lane" (Lola Albright). Furious at his indiscretion she decides to cancel her planned retirement and heads to her house in Connecticut to consider a divorce. Delighted with this new development her manager "Ladislaus Walichek" (Terry-Thomas) immediately gets in his car and also heads to Connecticut in order to get her to sign a new contract before she changes her mind. Meanwhile, Peter--who is desperate to get back in good graces with his wife--decides to drive to Connecticut to beg for her forgiveness. What he isn't prepared for, however, is the turmoil created when all of the characters show up at his house at around the same time. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay film which had a fairly entertaining plot but was diminished somewhat by rather flat performances by everyone involved. It also didn't help to have the character of Peter Garrison being as unlikeable as he was either. In any case, those interested in a standard comedy from this particular time period might find it amusing to a certain extent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.