This glossy Doris Day vehicle starts off promisingly, but unfortunately it tends to run out of steam about halfway through, when the screenwriters decide to put all their gags, namely Hudson's impersonation, into the one basket. Admittedly, the film starts off with this strand rather promisingly – Hudson in an outrageous suit – but the plot becomes wearisome in its second half through constant repetition of the same gags. A pity the Jack Oakie character has so small a part. We keep waiting for him to come back, but he doesn't! And even Edie Adams, whose role was even larger than Oakie's and more important, simply disappears! All the really good gags, both visual and aural, are packed into the first half of the movie. Even the clock two minutes gag seems pretty laborious. Tony Randall's part is so heavy handed, it could do with some trimming too. When the movie has pace, it also has wit, but when it slows down for the second half, the wit wilts as well! Another problem for me is that I hate soft focus! If the whole movie is soft focused, no problem. But if soft focus is used just for one character and it's just simply cut into the footage, I find it very distracting. I know it's used here to disguise Doris Day's age, but for me that makes it even more irritating. True, Doris is her usual perky self and she's always stunningly dressed – although I must admit that I found some of her costumes unflattering. And alas, she is handed only two songs, including the title tune! As usual, director Delbert Mann is only as good as all the gloss surrounding him. Without help from music, script, players, sets, photography, editing and costumes, he's nothing special. Make it 6.5!
Review of Lover Come Back
