User Reviews

With the end of her Universal cycle of films with Rock Hudson, Doris Day moved on to other partners, and for two films, she had Rod Taylor, who when compared to Hudson, Cary Grant and James Garner, seems perhaps a bit to Macho and not romantic enough. For at least "Do Not Disturb", he's a serious-minded businessman who has moved to England and brought Doris along. The first part of the film seems like the film will focus on the ability of Americans to adapt to foreign customs, but for the second half of the film, it's a sex farcw set in France.

When first seen, Doris is trying to understand the British currency system, and then learns that driving on the American side of the road is not the way to do it in the English countryside. Doris's love of animals has her cuddling a cute fox (rescued from a hunt) and encouraging a hungry goat to nosh elsewhere then on the country home plants within the house. Doris has desire to find an antique dining set takes her to Paris where she ends up being the life of the streets thanks to too much champagne and the attentions of Sergio Fantoni.

She ends up at a swank party thrown by "Hogan's Heroes" actor Leon Askin where, desperate to try to find her husband to explain the situation, ends up stealing the scene thanks to a glittery gold gown, initially covered by a long white coat with a gold lining exactly like the dress. It is obvious that the misunderstandings between husband and wife will be resolved in time, and many amusing situations occur.

As enjoyable as this is, it basically is two plots rolled into one film, wasting Hermione Baddely, decked out in chick fashions as the owner of the house Taylor rents. There's also veteran actor Reginald Gardiner as Taylor's business associate who has warned him that wives aren't welcome at certain business social events. The film tries too hard to capture the mid-60s subculture and in its desperation to look cool reflects on how uncool it really is. Doris hadn't hit the bottom of the barrel in scripts yet, but the dive would soon lead to an empty pool.

Copyright 13 December 1965 by Martin Melcher Productions—Arcola Pictures. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at neighborhood cinemas: 24 December 1965. U.S. release: 22 December 1965. U.K. release: 17 January 1966. Australian release: 23 December 1965. Sydney opening at the Regent. 9,175 feet. 102 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Mike Harper (Rod Taylor), an executive in the firm of Baird Woolens, is sent to England by his company to try to boost its European sales. His wife, Janet (Doris Day), surprises him by renting a rambling house in the country, instead of the apartment he wanted in the vicinity of his office. Mike's work soon causes him to spend considerable time in London, and Janet begins to suspect something fishy between him and his secretary, Claire (Maura McGiveney). Janet's landlady, Vanessa (Hermione Baddeley) advises Janet to make Mike jealous by pretending an interest in someone else. Janet decides that the someone else will be Paul Bellari (Sergio Fantoni), a suave antique dealer.

COMMENT: This second and final film from TV director, Ralph "Bedtime Story" Levy, is even less interesting than his first effort. In fact, to describe "Do Not Disturb" as very mild fun would be to generously overpraise this rather pedestrian picture. Poor Doris Day is forced into shameless mugging to extract even a few half-chuckles out of this very dull script that was obviously derived from a third-rate stage play. Indifferent direction doesn't help. Nor does inept photography. (Hard to believe it's credited to Leon Shamroy, with all that illusion-shattering make-up so patently revealed in incompetent close-ups).

The movie was obviously filmed on the cheap too. And in addition to other shortcomings, only two songs for Miss Day — and one of those over the credit titles. Totally uninspired songs too!

All that can be said in the film's favor is that the players try very hard — though only one, Maura McGiveney's nicely calculating secretary, is worth mentioning.

Fans had a right to feel short-changed by this entertainment-starved and technically below standard offering from TV director Ralph Levy. Miss Day herself describes it as "a terrible script". She was right. Dead right! I should give it "5", but I don't have the heart!

OTHER VIEWS: Doris Day has saved worse productions than this, and she desperately tries to keep the whole thing going, giggling, shrieking and getting delightfully drunk… Yet the material defeats everyone in the end. — Monthly Film Bulletin.

One of the lesser of Doris Day's last dozen years of Hollywood film making: mostly non-musical romantic sitcoms, with various mostly high profile men. I mostly prefer her earlier musical romantic comedies, mostly costarring high profile male singers, such as Gordon McRae, Howard Keel, and Frank Sinatra, perhaps peaking with "Calamity Jane". Of her '60s films, I most enjoyed "Lover Come Back", with Rock Hudson, the musical romantic comedy ""Billie Rose's Jumbo", with help from veterans Jimmy Durante and Martha Raye, and 'The Ballad of Jose", which as I see it, is basically a non-musical, historically relevant remake of "Calamity Jane", which ends with the same basic take home message about the independent woman trying to make it in a traditional male role, which by then was no longer politically correct.

In this film, she plays the dumb blond kept trophy wife of a wealthy American wool textiles company executive(Rod Taylor, as Mike Harper), who has been assigned to move to England and figure out why their European market has been doing so poorly , and figure out how to fix it. Thus, Doris is playing the ideal stay-at-home '50s wife she became at the end in "Calamity Jane" and "The Ballad of Josie". The problem is that this is the mid-60s world of women's lib political change. Doris has become bored with her very limited scope life and lack of children, and feels her husband has been neglecting her and possible fatherhood in deference to promoting his career. She seems not too bright in adjusting to her new situation, having much trouble figuring out the UK money system of the time, and proving worthless in finding the way to the commuter train station, to get her husband to work. She spends her time figuring out ways to spend her husband's money in often needless home improvement and decoration projects for their new rented mansion, in taking in some rather unusual house pets(red fox, goat, and chickens), and ultimately being convinced by her busybody landlady, Vanessa, that her husband is having an affair with his new secretary: Claire Hackett, hence justifying her countering with an affair of her own. Her tongue lashing of the fox hunters and their hounds is hilarious.

Vanessa arranges for romantic gifts to arrive for Doris, who confesses to her husband what is going on. Vanessa also recommends to Doris a Paul Bellari as a good dealer in exquisite home furnishings. Paul, a married man with several kids, flies Doris to his shop in Paris. He takes her to lunch in a fun café, and she gets drunk on too much champagne. Can't fly home because of a heavy fog, so they return to his shop, get locked in from the metal store front shutter, she passes out from more champagne, and her husband arrives in the morning to punch Paul and leave.

Her husband is also in Paris for a wool textiles exposition. No wives allowed is the rule of dominant textiles buyer Langsdorf. So, Doris decides to pose as her husband's assistant: Miss Hackett. In her stunning yellow-orange sparking gown, she is the hit of the evening party, which includes many young female escorts. She dances with Langsdorf and other textiles buyers. Langsdorf wants her for his personal assistant and bed partner for the night, but she politely declines. She makes up with her husband over the Bellari affair, then dumps a fruit salad on him when Miss Hackett unexpectedly shows up, presumably as his escort. A little later, she overhears Miss Hackett talking to a handsome French buyer, saying that she wants to become his assistant, as Doris's husband doesn't seem much interested in her. Thus, Doris wants to make up with her husband again, but Miss Hackett gives her Langsdorf's room number instead. She puts on her minimal nightie and gets into bed with a sleeping man, only to realize later it's Langsdorf. He chases her all over his large room, until his wife shows up(?). Doris runs into an adjacent room and hides under s sheet on the bed. Her husband arrives and they bounce around on the bed, which collapses. The take home message is that husbands should not neglect romancing their wives sufficiently, in deference to their career ambitions and other interests, especially if their wife doesn't have sufficient other sources of meaningful activities and ego gratification.

This film rests entirely on Doris's intrinsic likability. After the first segment, most of the humor relates to several suspected cases of infidelity, Doris's doings while drunk, and her impersonation of Miss Hackett: none of which are terribly side-spitting, aside from the flying olive down the back of her dress caper, and the terminal bedroom mix-up farce. Aura McGiveney, as Miss Hackett, is hardly credible competition with Doris for her husband's romantic attention. We don't find out whether her husband achieved his goal of increasing European textile sales, nor whether he learned his lesson long term relating to Doris. Doris as a kept woman, and she and her husband being uptight about little infidelities, was out of sync with the then women's lib and youth counterculture movements. As a young woman, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamar was actually in the situation of being a kept trophy wife, by a much older rich European. She rebelled against her cloistered life and escaped to the US.

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

The premise for DO NOT DISTURB sounds like a good one for a Doris Day romp. An All-American newlywed couple in London experience trouble when he spends too much time at the office with his attractive secretary so she flirts with a Continental charmer. Through a series of merry misunderstandings and comical mishaps everything works out and the couple lives happily ever after. If DO NOT DISTURB had the smooth direction of Michael Gordon and the witty screenwriting of Stanley Shapiro(the same team who worked on Miss Day's megahit PILLOW TALK), DO NOT DISTURB would have been a classic.

Instead, DO NOT DISTURB receives direction from Ralph Levy who served primarily as a TV director of sitcoms such as I LOVE LUCY. Levy does what he can but ultimately he and the cast are let down by the script. DO NOT DISTURB starts out with a fun cartoon title sequence animated by DePatie-Freling(THE PINK PANTHER) accompanied by a memorable title tune warbled by the film's leading lady. The film reasonably amuses for the 1st act but tends to sag during the midsection when Miss Day heads off to Paris(and trouble) with Sergio Fantoni(THE PRIZE, ESTHER AND THE KING). Things do pick up when Miss Day heads off to a wool manufacturers convention at a swanky Paris hotel(the set used for it looks suspiciously like Captain von Trapp's home in THE SOUND OF MUSIC which was made by 20th Century-Fox the same year)where she pretends to be her husband's(Rod Taylor) "secretary". In the process she ends up impressing the host(Leon Askin) by becoming the life of the party. This sequence(including the band abruptly alternating between mid-1960s twisting and Viennese waltzes at the whim of the Austrian wool magnate) is the funniest and most satisfying section of the film.

DO NOT DISTURB is pleasant enough and Rod Taylor(THE BIRDS, 36 HOURS) makes a worthy leading man for Miss Day. Their chemistry is delightful. There is also terrific support from veteran character actors Hermione Baddeley(who was also in Miss Day's 1960 vehicle MIDNIGHT LACE that like DO NOT DISTURB deals with a young wife in London) and Reginald Gardiner. Also, Day fans will like the injokes where children ask her if she knows Cary Grant and Rock Hudson, in reality her 2 most famous co-stars. But it's never as fun, well-crafted, memorable or as inspired as some of her other vehicles such as MOVE OVER DARLING and TEACHER'S PET. She and Taylor would be better served by their next vehicle together, comedy veteran Frank Tashlin's classic THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT.

Bottom line: For diehard Day fans only. Rating: 5 out of 10.

It seems to have been widespread knowledge that Doris Day's third husband, Marty Melcher, lost most of her sizable estate by bad management. And, that as her manager in the mid-1960s until his death, he got her into some lousy films. "Do Not Disturb" surely supports that contention. Only a couple of her late films were very good, and I think this one is the worst film that the wonderfully talented Day ever made.

It's not because of her acting, or even the plot. It was an OK idea for a story. The fault in this turkey lies with the script, the direction and the editing. Who wants to see a film in which Doris Day is on screen for half an hour or more getting tipsy – bar hopping and going from one venue to another? She is supposed to flip out with two drinks, but she goes on and on and on drinking champagne. I kept waiting for her to pass out. There is absolutely no humor here, and it quickly becomes boring and aimless. The story seems pieced together and disconnected. There is very little chemistry between Day and co-star Rod Taylor. Their spats and quick turn-arounds don't come off as believable.

Day plays Janet Harper in a role that is unusually flighty for her. Taylor is her husband, Mike, who doesn't quite seem to fit into his role as a hard-nosed business manager hired to rescue an ailing British woolen company. The cast for most of the other roles seem wooden at times, unconvincing at other times.

Doris Day was one of the most versatile performers of the mid-20th century. She had sung with big bands and had hit tunes on records and the radio. She could dance and act, and was especially good in romantic comedies. She retired from show biz early – at just 51 years of age, when her TV series, "The Doris Day Show" went off the air after six years in 1973. Fans and movie buffs will cherish her best films for decades to come. She deserved much better products than this in her last years of performing.

I tuned into this about halfway through, and judging from the other reviews, that was probably a good thing.

What I saw was so pieced together -- and SO drawn out -- that it's clear the script was lousy (as Doris admitted later) and the direction even worse.

Take for example the scene near the end when Doris shows up at a hotel wearing a long white coat. The director spends at least 15 minutes -- FIFTEEN -- setting up the "joke" where she must shake her hips like mad in order to get an olive that's tickling her back to fall out of the dress. The joke wasn't that funny, and certainly not worth the time.

Then Taylor shows up, they make up, and one would think the movie's over. But no. For some inexplicable reason, they split up again, then end up in separate hotel rooms, where Day mistakenly hops in bed with the creepy Russian guy from Hogan's Heroes. He chases her, she runs, and all this gets the attention of Taylor and others in the hotel-- for another five minutes of UNNECESSARY and UNMOTIVATED nonsense. And not in a funny way.

How anyone rate this over 4 or 5 stars is beyond comprehension. And that's coming from a huge fan of Doris day.

Romantic dud with Rod Taylor and Doris Day, both of whom would do far better the following year in "The Glass Bottom Boat."

In this film they're both married and living in England for his business purposes.

Hermione Baddeley is wasted here briefly appearing as the owner of the place they're living in and seeing Taylor with his secretary, incorrectly assumes the worst and arranges for Day to have a lover. Her comedic talents aren't shown here.

The movie quickly falls apart with erroneous relationships, a drunken Day with a man she had gone off with to purchase furniture, only to get locked in his store with Taylor finding them and assuming the worst.

Then, there is his secretary who has romantic designs of her own only to have Day be her among his business associates. The ending, like the rest of the film, is a complete farce.