LOVER COME BACK

US, 1961, 107 minutes, Colour.
Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Jack Oakie, Edie Adams.
Directed by Delbert Mann.

Lover Come Back is the second of the three Rock Hudson-Doris? Day comedies, the first being the successful Pillow Talk. The screenplay is by the same writer, Stanley Shapiro (responsible some years later for A Very Special Favour, with Rock Hudson and Leslie Caron, which basically reworks the plot of this film).

Tony Randall is once again excellent in a daffy supporting role.

The film satirises the advertising industry, plays the battle of the sexes, has a great deal of humorous innuendo - and highlights Doris Day's career as a comedienne, the cold American businesswoman who has to be melted by the American male. Direction is by Delbert Mann, Oscar winner for Marty, maker of a number of serious features and a number of telemovies in the '70s and '80s. He was to direct Doris Day with Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink.

1. An enjoyable sex comedy? The 1960s? Now? Doris Day? comedy? Rock Hudson comedy? Their working well together?

2. The world of blew York, advertising agencies, hotels? Affluent style? Big business? The humorous credits? The songs - and Doris Day's singing? Editing and pace? Background humour - the commentary of the two convention visitors, the fish devouring the other in the aquarium etc.? Jaunty musical score?

3. The battle of the sexes - the establishing of Jerry as a wolf, idol, manipulator, successful on Madison Avenue? The contrast with Carol and her eagerness, busyness, dedication to her work, cold? The interaction of the two, mistaken identity, Carol really being taken in and her type of character being satirised? The satire on the wolf? The mutual falling in love, taming, comeuppance? The conventional happy ending?

4. Jerry Webster as a wolf, successful in his business, relying on his secretaries and briefing, his taking Miller out, Rebel and his promises, the council and his coaching Rebel, his getting away with everything? His relationship with Pete Ramsey? His control over him, the firm? Rebel and his doing the commercials with her? The hunting trip, the joke about the moose, hurrying back? The seeking out of Dr Tyler for a product? The chance encounter with Carol after the telephone call? The innuendo in his relationship with her, the seduction, his wanting to deceive her, humiliate her? The outings, learning how to dance, the suit, the beach? His being found by her in the apartment? His going to her apartment? The seduction scene? His being stranded? His resourcefulness in getting the product, presenting it to the council? The sum of money for the burning of the patent? The irony of his marriage to Carol, her walking out, but giving her the money, the baby and the happy ending? Rock Hudson's comic style?

5. Doris Day and her businesslike glamour as Carol, her ambitions, her failure against Jerry Webster, hiring the detective, the VIP campaign, her using Rebel and losing out? The chance encounter with Webster, her believing he was Dr Tyler, her charm, susceptible to all his stories about his noble family, about his innocence? Her own naivety being satirised? Her plans for the campaign? Falling in love with Dr Tyler, thawing, her enjoying the outings, the apartment, her getting the champagne and preparing to give herself? Her humiliation, taking him in, the hearing, the marriage, her wanting an annulment? The baby and the happy ending?

6. Tony Randall's comic style as Peter Ramsay - and the satire on the wealthy, wanting to be poor, psychoanalysis, blaming everybody else, wanting to make a decision, the moose chasing him, his plans for the firm, fear of his father, Dr Tyler and his purple face? His wanting to get out of everything? Handing over the money to Jerry? Satire on the wealthy executive?

7 Dr Tyler and his scientific background, fraud, his inventions, the mad scientist? His alcoholic invention?

8. Rebel and her glamour, being used by Jerry, the commercials for VIP and the humorous use of sex to sell a non-product? The comedy in the advertisements?,

9. The world of business - bosses, the council, their susceptibility to Rebel’s charms Carol's secretary and her having the ring ready just in case? The travelling convention men who were impressed by Jerry's relationship with women?

10. A sex comedy - jokes about sex, relationships? The icy American woman?, The American wolf? Glamour, nightclubs, strip shows? Seduction? - The ingredients of this kind of comedy from Universal Studios in the 1960s? Doris Day style comedies?