Lover Come Back (1961)

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This movie takes place in Madison Avenue with a hard-working advertising executive named "Carol Templeton" (Doris Day) trying to land a valuable account. Unfortunately, despite her hard work the account is taken by a rival named "Jerry Webster" (Rock Hudson) who works for a another firm and uses methods that are questionable at best. Because of these unseemly tactics, Carol initiates a formal legal complaint to have Jerry Webster's advertising credentials revoked. Naturally, this worries both Jerry and his boss, "Peter Ramsey" (Tony Randall) and in order to get out of this mess Jerry cleverly invents an advertising scheme for a non-existent product called "VIP" for which the lead witness for the prosecution named "Rebel Davis" (Edie Adams) becomes the main star. However, this doesn't deter Carol in her attempts to reveal the truth and because of this the falsehoods become much larger and more personal than initially intended. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a nice little comedy which contains some good humor here and there along with some decent acting by all of those just mentioned. To be totally fair, however, it is rather dated and as a result it may not appeal to all viewers. In any case, I enjoyed this movie for the most part and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I must say right now I am not a fan of Doris Day, neither of Rock Hudson, and that the only reason I got to watch their three pairings is called Tony Randall. As the overeager, neurotic sidekick, he's just as good as a younger Felix Ungar - and he's got the best lines. Still, the background is not without charm, and while Send Me No Flowers left me totally cold, I found myself thinking this one was pretty cute stuff.The story is terribly similar to Pillow Talk, and reminiscent of Meg Ryan's 90s comedies : a successful working girl with a pretty face, a big mouth and a virginal past gets seduced by her worst enemy, whom she has never seen before, when he pretends to be even more inexperienced than herself- in fact, he's a casual womanizer. Somehow the two fall in love in the process. But here, script is sharper, rhythm quicker and scenes shorter: all in all, a kind of condensed formula with, backing the romantic plot, a silly yet amusing story of commercials for pills that don't exist, but everyone wants them anyway, and it's up to Jack Kruschen, the kind neighbor of The Apartment, to perform the task of creating the stuff.It's New York in the late 50s, so there's a general feeling of happy days around: characters are sophisticated advertisement people with large flats, secretaries, shrinks (for Tony), masseuses (for Rock) and ridiculous hats (for Doris). They drive fancy cars, hunt mooses in Canadian rivers and at night, take a glance at the strip club. So, everyone's out to have a good time, including the viewer, who would not find such a pleasant, yet polished portrayal of city life in the comedies of today.Dialogues are a reflect of this mood, between racy and terribly innocent. Innuendos, misunderstandings and blushed cheeks make the game. Some lines are truly funny, such as Tony Randall complaints about his dictatorial father: "Just once I spoke back to . He gave me me such a whipping in front of the girl...I was 25 and she was my fiancé". or the compassionate reaction of a middle-aged lady, to the no-longer virgin Doris : "It's like olives, dear. It's something you acquire a taste for". Too bad the ending gets a bit ridiculous, with a second wedding in front of the maternity ward. Close, huh?Actors, all in all, are sweet people: I said I'm not usually much impressed by Hudson, but here with a beard, sad eyes and a weird green coat, he looked kinda disarming, as well as casually funny. Still, Doris Day was a bit too old to play such a naive girl: the blame must certainly be put on the script, but her character never seemed anything but annoyed or sarcastic, and in the end she get really annoying. She has sweet close-ups though. As for Randall, he's just a sweetheart with a good deal of psychological problems. And to see him hanging around big, menacing Hudson is always enjoyable. I'll keep it in mind for the rainy days.

Doris Day was and is a tremendous talent, an excellent singer and an excellent actress, but you wouldn't really know it from some of the idiotic stereotypical 'good girl' roles her husband forced her to play. While on a surface level, "Lover Come Back" has a lot of funny lines and good acting from everyone, it simply reminds me of the horrid choices Day made with regard to men. Forcing her to star in movies that were really beneath her was a form of abuse, and then when Marty Melcher (the husband) died, she found out that she was almost bankrupt. Her television situation comedy helped to restore her reputation and her self-esteem, but the damage had already been done. She is still thought of as a virgin-type, when her real life was anything but.It's a real pity that she rarely got to show what she could do as an actress. Yes, "Lover Come Back" is funny, but it is also stupid, very dated and the ending is slap-dash. I'll gladly watch "Love Me Or Leave Me" or "Calamity Jane" over this movie.

Even if I didn't like these kinds of comedies already, how can you not like one with Jack Kruschen as a comical mad scientist? One of the best parts is the sort of self-parody Doris Day does in the strip club scene and afterwards - "Will you please put that away?" And one of the more surprising ones is Rock Hudson's very innocent line about being slipped a "funny" cigarette with "no printing on the paper." It isn't an unheard-of subject in early ' 60s comedies, but you don't exactly expect it in one of THESE - Doris Day and a marijuana joke?! I only have one real problem with it. I don't always like those comedies (or dramas) with characters whose job it is to TELL the audience something, sometimes right to the camera in a "Greek Chorus" way and sometimes not, and sometimes things the audience can see perfectly well for themselves! Nothing against Jack Albertson, but I never see the point of those two tourists who keep popping up to comment on the Jerry character's wild personal life. I mean, you already have Doris Day doing that in one way, and Tony Randall doing it in ANOTHER way, so do you really need these extra characters doing the same thing?