Caprice (1967)

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writers:

Martin Hale (story)
Jay Jayson (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 May 1967 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

Where do you run when there's no place to run? Where do you hide when there's no place to hide?

Plot:

In this comedy-thriller, Patricia Foster is an industrial designer who gets herself into a whole heap...

Plot Keywords:

Fall From Height | One Word Title | Gun | Scissors | Hair

Cast

Doris Day	...	Patricia Foster
Richard Harris	...	Christopher White
Ray Walston	...	Stuart Clancy
Jack Kruschen	...	Matthew Cutter
Edward Mulhare	...	Sir Jason Fox
Lilia Skala	...	Madame Piasco
Irene Tsu	...	Su Ling
Larry D. Mann	...	Inspector Kapinsky
Maurice Marsac	...	Auber
Michael Romanoff	...	Butler
Lisa Seagram	...	Mandy
Michael J. Pollard	...	Barney

Runtime:

UK:95 min | USA:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (as De Luxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:U

Company:

Arcola Pictures

Trivia:

The last film ever released in Cinemascope by 20th Century-Fox. (The first released was The Robe (1953).)

Movie Connections:

Features "Batman" (1966)

Soundtrack:

Caprice

A rather sad farewell for Twentieth's famous CinemaScope logo.

The talents of Frank Tashlin and Doris Day would seem to be a Hollywood combination made in heaven but, with "The Glass Bottom Boat" (made at M-G-M a year earlier than "Caprice') and this one, their fans were doomed to a certain degree of disappointment. The main trouble with this film is its impossibly convoluted and ridiculous script, giving little opportunity for anyone to shine, except, perhaps, the set and clothes designers, though one must appreciate that their efforts look very, VERY much of the dreaded "Mod" period when this one was conceived.

Technical credits are, for the most part, top-notch, especially that old pro Leon Shamroy's lush cinematography (although I do recall that the back projections were very obvious when I saw this on a 40-foot wide CinemaScope screen when it was first released).

I've never been a particular fan of Richard Harris and he was most definitely miscast opposite Doris. His too-clipped delivery of some of his lines can be attributed, I suspect, to Mr. Tashlin's rather slack direction (unusual for that comic master).

All in all, when one considers that producer Martin Melcher, Doris's husband, was, at the time, squandering her hefty paychecks in unwise investments, it's easy to understand why Ms. Day has since been content to retire form the screen and allow us to remember her better, earlier efforts.