We enjoyed this far more than we thought we would, and far more that you might expect to, given the premise and the Doris-Day-ness. The outline of the plot is that he, "Philip Shayne," is a titan of industry (who also gives speeches to what looks like the United Nations about the need to raise up the people of all nations) and she, "Cathy Timberlake," a member of the struggling unemployed, sharing a room with her friend Connie (Audrey Meadows) who works at the automat, and they meet because his limo runs through a puddle and drenches her and he feels bad enough that when he spots her going in to the automat (to cadge a cheap lunch off her friend) across the street from his office, he sends his assistant to pay her off. But his assistant, Roger (Gig Young - very Jack Lemmon-y),
a neurotic economics whiz, who keeps complaining that Shayne lured him from his professorship at Princeton by the underhanded method of paying him a huge salary, decides that it would be good if a member of the underclass cut Shayne (whom he actually likes, even though his relationship is complicated) down to size by throwing his money back in his face. He bustles Cathy out of the automat, which confuses the watching Connie into believing that Roger is a caveman type, out to exploit and abandon her, something that will cause Roger no end of trouble every time he tries to get lunch at the automat from then on, and takes her up to meet Shayne, eager to see him brought low. But what actually happens, of course, is that it's Cary Grant (even if a 58-year-old version) and she is instantly besotted. This is a great disappointment to Roger, who runs off to his analyst, Dr. Gruber. The exchanges between these two are a running subplot. Psychoanalysis really seemed to be taking off in the public consciousness in the fifties onward, and it's clear that the writers don't have much respect for it, as Gruber is exploiting Roger for his stock tips. Gruber also becomes convinced (it's contrived) that Roger believes that he's being pursued by Shayne, and as it goes on, that Shayne is marrying him and finally that they have a child together, and you can see an internal struggle in Gruber to be open-minded about all this. But I digress.
Shayne sweeps Cathy off her feet and flies her around the world, but, in a rather squirm-inducing sequence, she is too virginal (Doris Day was about 40 at the time) to let him consummate their relationship, in the luxurious Bermuda hotel he has flown them to, and comes out in a rash. From that point on, it's on-again, off-again, with both Connie and Roger opposed to the union, until at last they aren't and contrive to force the would-be lovers together,
with the help of the oblivious (and odiously lecherous) Beasley, an unscrupulous employee of the unemployment office played by the wonderful John "Gomez Addams" Astin. There's also a very funny cameo at the end for Piglet,
that is John Fiedler, as well as one for Dick "second Darren in Bewitched" Sargent at the hotel in Bermuda. Notable scenes include Roger getting slapped by the automat, Doris Day getting drunk and falling out of a windo, Cary Grant getting a taxi clad only in a towel,
Roger falling down two flights of stairs, Doris Day getting three actual Yankees hall-of-famers tossed from a game, and John Fiedler calling his mother to come pick him up because she was right, women are no good. Oh, and (as far as I know) the first instance of the joke spoofing the movie trope of a woman taking off her glasses and letting down her hair and becoming beautiful. Roger tries that with his secretary and her hair is a fright and she squints terribly. The film doesn't seem to be very highly regarded, perhaps because it's very similar to (and shares a writer with) the earlier, better-known Pillow Talk, but for all Day's virginal fears of sex, there's some dialogue that has definitely sexual connotations, and a lot of genuinely funny shenanigans. It helps, of course, that every member of the cast is top-shelf and firing on all cylinders (even if Cary Grant has less to do than most). Another good pick-me-up film for when you can't take anything remotely heavy.
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