Complete credited cast: | |||
Doris Day | ... | Janet Harper | |
Rod Taylor | ... | Mike Harper | |
Hermione Baddeley | ... | Vanessa Courtwright | |
Sergio Fantoni | ... | Paul | |
Reginald Gardiner | ... | Simmons | |
Maura McGiveney | ... | Claire Hackett | |
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Aram Katcher | ... | Culkos |
Leon Askin | ... | Langsdorf | |
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Lisa Pera | ... | Alicia |
Michael Romanoff | ... | Delegate | |
Albert Carrier | ... | Reynard | |
Barbara Morrison | ... | Mrs. Ordley | |
Dick Winslow | ... | One-Man Band |
American couple Mike (Rod Taylor) and Janet Harper (Doris Day) move to England for Mike's work, his company which deals in wool textiles and wool fashions. Despite Mike's want for them to live in a flat in the heart of London, Janet, who is not a big city girl, ignores his want and instead finds them a house to rent thirty miles outside of London in Kent, which means that Mike has to commute into town by train. This commute is not ideal for Mike, who often for convenience stays in one of the company's flats in town rather than go home. This commuting situation makes Janet feel even more neglected than she already did previously. Janet believes Mike may be taking his neglect to the next level by having an affair with his secretary-quickly-turned-assistant, Claire Hackett (Maura McGiveney). Janet's beliefs are fuelled in part by the Harper's busybody landlady, Vanessa Courtwright (Hermione Baddeley), who thinks Janet can play Mike's game by entering into an affair of her own, whether it... Written by Huggo
DO NOT DISTURB has been hastily conceived as a star vehicle for the ever-frothy Doris Day, playing a wife whose love has gone out of her marriage to hard-working husband Rod Taylor. She decides to try to win his heart back by pretending to embark on a passionate affair, but things don't exactly go according to plan...
The whole film is designed to show off Day at her quick-thinking best, to show off her comedic skills as she goes from one situation to the next. I have to say that, while I like Day (in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, for example), her performance soon started to grate on me here. The absolute pits is the scene where she gets drunk; I hate these old comedies where women get drunk and act stupid, because they're just over the top and embarrassing. There were similar moments in a lot of Audrey Hepburn movies.
Still, DO NOT DISTURB isn't too bad, and as a light-hearted comedy you can enjoy it if you don't expect too much from the premise. Taylor is a delight as the foil to Day's wit, and a supporting cast do their best with the material they're given.