Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Hy Averback

Writers:

Claude Magnier (play)
Everett Freeman (writer) ...

Release Date:

19 June 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Oh, the liberties that were taken the night New York flipped its fuse... and became "Fun City"!

Plot:

When the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965 hit, millions of people were left in the dark, including Waldo Zane...

Plot Keywords:

Blackout | Question In Title | Based On Play

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Doris Day	...	Margaret Garrison
Robert Morse	...	Waldo Zirrer
Terry-Thomas	...	Ladislaus Walichek
Patrick O'Neal	...	Peter Garrison
Lola Albright	...	Roberta Lane
Steve Allen	...	Radio Announcer
Jim Backus	...	Tru-Blue Lou
Ben Blue	...	Man with a razor
Pat Paulsen	...	Conductor
Dale Malone	...	Otis J. Hendershot Jr
Robert Emhardt	...	Otis J. Hendershot Sr
Harry Hickox	...	Detective Captain
Parley Baer	...	Dr. Dudley Caldwell
Randy Whipple	...	Marvin Reinholtz
Earl Wilson	...	Himself

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Loosely based on the actual New York City blackout of November 1965

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the beginning, when the man walks past the subway station, there is a noticeable jump in the film, before the tiger emerges from the subway.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lionpower from MGM (1967)

Soundtrack:

Where Were You When The Lights Went Out

One of Doris Day's worst comedies uses thin material...

Only the most ardent DORIS DAY fan could find this one even bearable to watch. When one thinks of the wealth of material available for a story about New York City's most famous blackout, a film that could have dealt with numerous real-life stories of what people had to cope with, this scrapes the bottom of the barrel for lack of story-telling originality.

Once again Doris is indignant because she suspects she may have been compromised on the night of the blackout when she returned to her Connecticut lodgings, took a sleeping potion and woke up in the morning with a man who had done the same, wandering into the house by mistake.

Nobody is able to salvage this mess--not Doris, not ROBERT MORSE, TERRY-THOMAS, PATRICK O'NEAL or LOLA ALBRIGHT. As directed by Hy Averback, it's the weakest vehicle Day found herself in, committed to do the film because of her husband's machinations and unable to get out of it. Too bad.