Friday, January 8, 2010

Movie Friday: The Glass Bottom Boat



Movie Friday returns today after a holiday break.  Today I have chosen a classic Doris Day movie from 1966, The Glass Bottom Boat.  I apologize for the edge of the video being cut off, I have made it as small as YouTube will allow.

This movie stars Day, Arthur Godfrey, and Rod Taylor.  Doris Day is a widow who has taken a new job for NASA, and becomes suspected of being a Soviet spy.  It is a fun movie that is definitely worth a watch!  Of course, it wouldn't be a Doris Day movie without hearing her sing a song or two.

Here is the description provided with the video on YouTube:

"The Glass Bottom Boat is hardly a high point in the careers of star Doris Day and director Frank Tashlin, though it is a better-than-usual example of that pure-'60s genre, the "spy spoof." Day plays Jennifer Nelson, a PR worker at NASA in Florida. She also doubles as a "mermaid" for her father, Axel (Arthur Godfrey), the skipper of a glass-bottom tourist boat. While garbed in her skimpy mermaid costume, she has a run-in with handsome space technician Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor). Through a series of misunderstandings, Bruce is led to believe that Jennifer is an enemy spy, determined to steal scientific secrets. Several other characters enter into the plot, including bumbling secret agent Julius Pritter (Dom DeLuise) and prissy security chief Homer Cripps (Paul Lynde). Also on hand are TV favorites Dick Martin as Jennifer's erstwhile beau and Eric Fleming as a man of mystery. A few cute celebrity cameos round out this ribtickler, while Doris Day, as always, gets a few opportunities to sing.

Doris Day - Jennifer Nelson
Rod Taylor - Bruce Templeton
Arthur Godfrey - Axel Nordstrom
John McGiver - Ralph Goodwin
Paul Lynde - Homer Cripps
Edward Andrews - Gen. Wallace Bleecker
Dom DeLuise - Julius Pratter
Elisabeth Fraser - Nina Bailey
Dick Martin - Zack Molly
George Tobias - Mr. Fenimore
Alice Pearce - Mrs. Fenimore
Ellen Corby - Anna Miller
Dee J. Thompson - Donna
Eric Fleming - Edgar Hill
Robert Vaughn - Napoleon Solo"

I must disagree with this posting, as I feel it was an excellent movie, and Day did an excellent job in her role.  Doris Day made a number of excellent movies, but I believe that this one is probably my favorite.
Have a great Friday!  I'm sleeping in today, we only had two days of school this week due to inclement weather.

3 comments:

  1. I'm no great fan of the Doris Day comedies, but I watch them almost every time they turn up on Turner Classics, because 75% of the time they have great mid-century set design. For my money, the best (design, that is) of all is in "Pillow Talk", where both Doris and Rock have fantastic New York apartments -- Doris in a girly dreamscape of peach/pink/white, and Rock in a woodsy bachelor pad that looks like it was intended to host Greco-Roman wrestling.

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  2. "Glass Bottom Boat" had so many of my favorite comedians, and what could be better than Dom DeLuise AND Paul Lynde in the same movie! Weren't George Tobias and Alice Pearce Samantha the Witch's neighbors???? I'll have to revisit this one--it's been awhile since I've seen it, so thanks for the reminder.

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  3. Oh cool! I was watching The Man Who Knew Too Much the other day and I thought to myself, "I should really see more movies with Doris Day in them!" So I shall definitely seek this one out!

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