Book review - " Inventing Troy Donahue - The Making of a Movie Star" by Michael Gregg Michaud

 There's a lot of camp fascination for Donahue, who became weirdly popular despite not being able to act - a last-gasp manufactured star from the studios, in his case Warner Bros, who put him in a series of Delmer Daves melodramas as well as those beefcake private eye shows.

I think I guet Donahue's appeal. Handsome, slow eyed, big and blonde. He seemed sincere and soulful. The lack of acting ability meant audiences could project on him.

This book draws heavily on quotes - very heavily, mostly fan magazine interviews, I sense, but also contemporary ones with people like Connie Stevens. It's an interesting approach. I wouldn't have minded a few harder facts, especially background to the famous movies. But I got used to it.

The main problem with the book is Donahue is such a, well, wanker. He was born into privilege, had a bit of a struggle to make it but didn't have to work too hard. He was signed by Henry Wilson, then Universal, who dropped him, but then got A Summer Place and Warners. He was an alcoholic, a problem drinker before fame, and it only got worse. He went into drugs and would drink to "calm his nerves". He hit women - this was reported in the papers and no one seemed to care. He didn't respect his craft and wasn't good at it - the second is forgiveable but not the first. It took him something like ten takes to deliver something useful which is why he struggled on television and why Delmer Daves got sick of him (casting James MacArthur in Spencer's Mountain and James Franciscus in Youngblood Hawk).

He must've had some good qualities. It's good someone wrote a book on him.

Book review - "Born to Be Hurt: The Untold Story of Imitation of Life" by Sam Staggs

 One of Staggs' growing library of works on camp classics (which doesn't mean the films can't be good). This melodrama - race, sex, singing - is beloved by cultists, with its Douglas Sirk direction and Lana Turner recovering from the family stabbing.

The structure was slightly odd -I would've preferred a more straight up chronological approach. And it felt padded in places - I don't mind a long book but a lot of it felt like stretching. There's some original scholarship, but not that much.

I did appreciate profiles of people like Ross Hunter, Douglas Sirk, John Gavin, Troy Donahue, etc.

Sandra Dee Top Ten

1) Gidget (1959) - the perky girl next door and feminist icon - why don't they remake this?
2) A Summer Place (1959) - good tormented melodrama
3) Imitation of Life (1959) - more solid melodrama, with a race angle
4) Portrait in Black (1960) - Dee's role is relatively minor but this is a decent film
5) Take Her She's Mine (1963) - decent comedy with Dee in a role inspired by Nora Ephron - she should've worked with James Stewart more
6) Come September (1961) - perhaps the best of Dee's comedies - definitely the best film she made with Bobby Darin
7) I'd Rather Be Rich (1964) - the material is poor but Dee is very good
8) The Reluctant Debutante (1958) - Dee is a little miscast but at least is surrounded by excellent actors
9) Tammy Tell Me True (1962) - Dee's performance irritated me to be honest but I guess I've got to put a Tammy movie on this list somewhere
10) Until They Sail (1957) - Dee a charming juvenile

Movie review - "A Stranger in My Arms" (1959) **

Jeff Chandler was one of Universal's biggest film stars of the 1950s - it's odd he didn't make more movies with Ross Hunter, whose plush cinematic melodramas and comedies would've suited the granite-jawed Chandler. While Hunter mostly used Chandler types like Rock Hudson and John Gavin, he did work with Chandler on The Spoilers and this.

Chandler plays a test pilot who has PTSD. He's pressured to visit the widow and mother of a fellow pilot who died in Chandler's arms during the Korean War. Mum is Mary Astor in a classic 50s castrating mother performance. Also entirely suitable to the genre is June Allyson's noble, brave widow.

The nub of the plot is that dead man Peter Graves was a useless piece of work - a coward (Graves is good in flashback). Mum Astor wants him to have the Medal of Honour and Jeff is unsure whether to tell the truth That's not a bad idea for a film.

It does lack something extra - some drama playing out in the present day. Written in the Wind, from the same writer as this (the original novel, not the script) had more stuff going on - Robert Stack and Rock Hudson were childhood friends, so there was an element of betrayal when Hudson fell for Stack's wife; Stack kills himself and there's a murder trial; Stack's sister Dorothy Malone loves Hudson.

This doesn't have that. The most interesting character dramatically is Peter Graves who is dead when the film starts. He didn't love Allyson and was a coward. Sandra Dee is on hand as Graves' sister - a bit of a minx, I think meant to be along the lines of Dorothy Malone... but she's too young to be a threat for Allyson/Chandler.

I think Graves had to be alive - or Dee needed to become obsessed with Chandler - or Astor tried to kill him. Or something, anything, that played out more in the present day. There's nothing at stake except Graves' reputation and Astor's feelings and a slight feeling of awkwardness for Chandler. Compare so say Rock Hudson in Written on the Wind who was best friends with Robert Stack and wound up on trial for murder.

It doesn't help that the film is in black and white and lacks production values. Douglas Sirk lite.

Movie review - "Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!" (1967) **

Sandra Dee is once again far better than her material - I write this so often about that actor that I'm beginning to wonder, maybe it's she who brought the movies down. But I'm inclined to think not - there were a lot of mediocre rom coms in the sixties, all trying to cash in on the Doris Day-Debbie Reynolds riches, and poor old Dee got stuck with the dregs.

The movie is all over the shop and never gets it's focus right. It starts off with the finale, Palm Beach Story style as Dee rushes to hospital to give birth, with three men in tow - Dwayne Hickman, Bill Bixby and Dick Kallman. She's unmarried, which is a little risque for Dee in 1967, then we flashback to the events that led her there.

Dee's mum Celeste Holm wants her to be a singer, which Dee doesn't really but she goes along with. She's loved by muso Kallman, actor Hickman and womanising neighbour Bixby but Dee doesn't know what she wants. She goes to work as a secretary for eccentric George Hamilton, and eventually falls for him and they have sex and are about to get married... but he wants her to give up her singing and she's annoyed that he does. Thing is she really doesn't want to sing, and when she can't because she's pregnant, it doesn't bother her.

The singing is used as a device to get Dee to sing and dance a little, which she does quite well - but there's no point to it story wise because she doesn't want to do it, and when she gets pregnant she gives it up and seems to have no desire to go back to it. So it's hollow.

Dee's character is irritatingly passive - she goes along with her mother's dreams, the demands of her fellow band members, the seduction of Hamilton. Sure she fires up when Hamilton bosses her around, but she doesn't even tell him when she's pregnant. I wish they'd given her some goal - move out of home, have a baby, to get married, something.

She looks great and is charming. And once I got what Hamilton's character was meant to be - slightly aspergers stuffed shirt - I quite enjoyed him even if he was sexist. Veteran actor Allen Jenkins pops up in support as does Mort Sahl as a nightclub owner. There are some funny lines and cringy late 60s moments (including a visit to said nightclub) but it's no surprise this did not revive Dee's career.

Movie review - "Tammy and the Doctor" (1963) **

Props to Ross Hunter for ensuring the Tammy series maintained continuity - this one picks up with Tammy still at college looking over the little old lady from the second film. Said old lady gets sick and so a handsome older doctor (Macdonald Carey) suggests she go to the hospital for an operation.  This entails a move to Los Angeles where Tammy charms yet another grumpy old person, annoys some more stuck up bitches (nurses) who eventually sees what a sweetheart she is, encourages another aging woman devoted to her career to find love, is eyed by a lech (Adam West) and finds romance with a handsome young man (Peter Fona).

I normally like Dee but she's irritating for the most part as Tammy, mugging and overacting. In one or two places she pulls back on the hayseed and is a lot more effective.

Peter Fonda is very gawky and young as the doctor with whom she romances; it's not much of a love story - unlike Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Neilsen in the first movie there's no inherent conflict, he's just a anxious young man, not particularly handsome, who is into his career. He doesn't seem that smarter or more wordly than Tammy and they don't have much charisma. I wish more was made of the love triangle between Adam West, Fonda and Dee - but all that really happens is West makes some lecherous eyes at her and Dee figures out he's no good.

Also this is the third time Tammy has fallen in love and she's beginning to feel flippant - the second film they got away with John Gavin being her love interest because we'd think "oh well Leslie Nielsen was just a puppy love" but then when she bats her eyes at Fonda... how are we meant to think about Gavin? It's as if she's not capable of true love, she's just up for whatever handsome man she comes across when she moves to a new place. Which is an interesting character trait but tends to reduce the stakes of their romance.

They're still making jokes about Tammy's father being in gaol for moonshining; Tammy manages to turn around some bitchy nurses and make them feel ashamed of themselves with one (badly written) monologue. There is more religion in this one - Tammy quotes the Bible a lot, prays to God to help her old lady friend recover.

In fairness, the script has some bright lines and at least Tammy has a job, working hard at the hospital. Dee sings "Tammy's in Love".

Movie review - "Tammy Tell Me True" (1961) **

Universal contract darling Sandra Dee steps into the role originated by Debbie Reynolds and handles it well - she's got the perkiness and girl next door factor down to a tee. The material isn't as strong - Dee gets sick of waiting for her boyfriend from the first film, who is off at college, and decides to educate herself at college. Cue snobbish students and a crusty little old lady for Tammy's heart to melt.

The film does get points for continuity with the first movie, though it's not entirely consistent - she made such a lovely difference to that first film's family's life, you would think they would put in some appearance here.

And too many of Tammy II's adventures feel as if by rote: melting the heart of a curmudgeon old lady takes about five minutes (she used to grow up on the river, Tammy takes her out on the river, problem solved), the romance with the public speaking professor (John Gavin doesn't have especially good chemistry with Dee) is perfunctory (I got why Leslie Nielsen's character liked Reynolds in the first - she was deep whereas his crowd was shallow - but why does Gavin like Dee here?), the subplot where Tammy baby sits a horrid little boy is thrown in too late (Billy Mumy is the kid - a role he often played in the 60s), it's never entirely believable that the college let Tammy attend in the first place (would have been easier if she'd just been an employee there who they let attend occasional classes), and there's a horrid subplot where Tammy encourages a college teacher to quit and adopt kids so the teacher's painter husband won't be so threatened that he earns less money. Yuck.

On the bright side, there is a good villain in the niece of the old lady who wants her money and is anti-Tammy, some decent support cast and production values, and Dee sings a song.

Movie review - "Romanoff and Juliet" (1961) **

A Cold War satire in the vein of The Mouse That Roared - in a tiny European country, whose UN vote is being fought over (should have been something more tangible, like the rights for a missile base), the daughter of the US ambassador romances the son of the Russian ambassador. She is played by Sandra Dee and he by John Gavin, both of whom were under contract to Universal, who distributed - but the actual star is Peter Ustinov, who also wrote, produced, directed and wrote the original play.

Ustinov's performance is, as always, excellent and his script has some bright, if occasionally over obvious lines. (It's cute how no one can find the country on the map and forget it exists.) His direction is pedestrian, lacking charm and pace - it's a leaden film, which feels as though it gets slower the longer it goes for.

Dee isn't as likeable as I normally found her - maybe due to the fact her character's so passive. The fact Gavin plays a Russian means his limitations are protected but he's not very interesting either. There's shenanigans involving Ustinov acting as cupid for these two but their romance isn't involving, the two of them are clearly stupid. Despite the fact it was shot in Italy there's not even compensating pretty pictures of Europe, which is inexcusable - the action is dark and murky, DOP Robert Krasker still too much in Third Man mode.

This should be a bright fun little picture but after a while it just became annoying, silly and dull.

Movie review - "A Summer Place" (1959) ***

A lesson to filmmakers - in the late 50s there were a number of popular hit melodrama films which produced teen stars... but the adult characters were prominent as well - Imitation of Life, Peyton Place, this. This one has a great set up: millionaire Richard Egan holidays at the island where he used to life guard when a poor teen, and rekindles a romance with Dorothy McGuire, despite the fact both are married. But it's okay because his wife is a bitch (Constance Ford) and her husband a pathetic drunken failure (Arthur Kennedy). Adding to their complications is the fact their kids fall in love: Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue.

This lays it on with a trowel and is gloriously crappy but it at least goes for it. There is some pretty scenery, a catch theme song, colour photography, and intense melodrama, with everyone obsessed by sex, particularly Ford (who has her daughter inspected for virginity after she's stuck out on a yacht with Donahue). It's not hard to see why the kids went for it - the poor things, with hormones throbbing and being misunderstood, and parents who are either neglectful (Kennedy), damaging (Ford) or loving but full of guilt (Egan, McGuire) and premarital sex leading to pregnancy but with the possibility of true love following.

Ford and Kennedy camp it up something chronic - Kennedy practically twirls his moustache. Dee and Donahue play in a totally appropriate manner; Dee is very good, depicting sexual confusion and lust, and having an effective hysteria scene. Donahue is stiff and awkward but has a good intense look and deep speaking voice; he's also got this scene where he makes some dim pronouncement in class about not wanting to follow orders and everyone claps. But he and Dee are an ideal team - it's a shame they didn't work with together more often. They have genuine chemistry.

Egan and McGuire offer sensible support - after act one, when their characters jump into bed (50s Hollywood style) pretty much straight away, they drop out of the action, which then concentrates on the kids. Egan does have some awful dialogue talking about the naturalness of sex and Dee's delightful figure. Good, junky fun.

Movie review - "The Dunwich Horror" (1970) **

Dean Stockwell was a great actor as a child (Kim), teenager (Compulsion), and adult (Blue Velvet, Quantum Leap) but here he's terrible. He plays a mysterious chap who's meant to be charismatic (the script gets characters making several references to his looks and appeal), so much so he cons undergrad Sandra Dee into lending him a copy of the Necronomicon. This is a Bad Thing, apparently, because it enables Stockwell to raise the dead or something. (Peter Fonda was meant to play the lead and he would've been better.)

There are some interesting bits: the novelty of Sandra Dee writhing orgasmically under the thrall of Stockwell; the groovy opening credits (by the same guy who did Three in the Attic); an attack on a friend of Dee's (which results in her clothes being ripped off under way-out visuals).

But there's not nearly enough. Director Dan Haller was an excellent designer for Roger Corman in those Poe films but isn't much as a director (in his defence, this is contemporary not a period story so he doesn't have that to fall back on). It badly lacks atmosphere and there simply aren't the actors to pull it off - not just Stockwell but also Lloyd Bochner and Ed Begley.

The ending hints at Rosemary's Baby but this is nowhere near that league.

Movie review - "The Reluctant Debutante" (1958) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

There is some awkward scripting to cover Sandra Dee's presence in this comedy of manners - she is the daughter of Rex Harrison and an unseen American who goes to visit Harrison and his new wife Kay Kendall. Kendall becomes determined to launch Dee into society, and is worried when she falls for John Saxon who has a reputation as a rake.

Harrison and Kendall can play this sort of material in their sleep - Angela Lansbury is a dab hand, too. Fortunately so, since the material is light as hell - it doesn't really make sense that Kendall would be so obsessed with launching her step daughter into society, or be so uptight about it, or that Dee would care at all (they should've just made Dee their daughter and explained away the accent via American boarding schools or something). And it's a cheat that John Saxon turns out to be actual nobility (which is a spoiler but I thought I'd let you know because it's so dumb - and snobby).

Dee is sweet and tries but simply seems to stick out - there's no reason it couldn't have worked but I think  a little more of her American citizenship could have worked. She's not very convincing as Rex Harrison's daughter, although I did enjoy the scene with them together where Harrison talks about his old conquests. 

Harrison acts with disinterested aplomb which is always enjoyable, Kendall throws some fun tantrums, there are some accomplished support actors, it all feels as though it's set in the 1930s, John Saxon and Dee have an easy chemistry (they were teamed several times) even if Saxon doesn't have much of a role. If you want to see a film about debutantes you're better off checking out Metropolitan but this is amiable, simple fun.

Movie review - "The Wild and the Innocent" (1959) **

Audie Murphy and Sandra Dee aren't one of the most famous screen teams but they go together okay - Murphy is a little too old for the role (and her) really but his Texas drawl shyness is used to good effect here as a trapper innocent in the ways of the world who heads into town to sell some things. He is accompanied by a young woman (Dee) whose no-good dad tried to sell her. Both are overwhelmed by life in the big smoke (well, so it seems to them even though it's only a town), and both are tempted by sexy figures - Murphy to "dance hall" girl Joanne Dru, and Dee to sheriff and owner of the dance hall Gilbert Roland. Roland seems enamoured of Dee but wants her to work in his dance hall.

The jokes aren't much but it does have a charm. It's technically a Western but there's not a lot of action - a little shot out here and there, a brawl. Mostly it's hillbillies looking bug eyed at the fair on a holiday, getting ripped off and being innocent of sex - I kept thinking of Ah, Wilderness, North to Alaska or even Hound Dog Man. Murphy's pursuit of Dru is quite touching - at least he has Dee as a back up. The sexual politics are unsurprisingly dodgy - Murphy has the option of buying Dee who cleans herself up and falls for him, then is determined to nab him; later on he rescues her from the dance hall. Jim Backus is in the support cast.

Movie review - "A Man Could Get Killed" (1966) **

A spy spoof - yawn - about an American businessman who gets mistaken for an agent and is caught up in a diamond smuggling ring. He's played by James Garner, who was presumably thought to be too old to play Sandra Dee's love interest so hooks up with femme fettle-but-good Melinda Mecouri while Dee (investigating agent I think she's supposed to be) romances Tony Franciosa. Neither romantic team works, Garner is uncomfortable, Dee looks hot (tanned and blonde), there are too many British character actors for a film shot in Portugal. Dull.

Movie review – “Take Her She’s Mine” (1963) **1/2

Nora Ephron’s letters from college inspired her parents to write a hit Broadway play, no doubt appealing to it’s middle class Jewish audiences with its theme of “aw gee kids are funny when they go off to college, thinking of sex and wacky political causes”. James Stewart is very WASPY but he’s written in a way familiar from the New York Jewish comedies of the time, fretting over his daughter’s sex life (which feels awkward). The role of the wife is minimised – she’s hardly in the film at all – but the daughter is prominent (Sandra Dee).

Dee looks very sexy here – tousled hair, swimsuits, beatnik outfits, even garters in a French can can fantasty sequence. Guys are constantly pawing her, even her arts lecturer. She’s a lot of fun – I really loved her singing folk songs on a guitar – it’s one of her best performances.

It’s an episodic tale – Dee gets up to adventures, dad goes to investigate, chaos resumes. There are some laughs but much of it is repetitive (another protest, dad gets arrested, dad tries to escape), and the film overstays it’s welcome despite Robert Morley in the support cast. The last third takes place in France, apparently because Daryl Zanuck was a Francophile (the film was the first made by 20th Century Fox after it had been closed down in the wake of the Cleopatra debacle.)

Movie review – “Rosie!” (1967) **

One of the last films Sandra Dee made for Universal and Ross Hunter, who had made her a star. She’s the spunky granddaughter of an eccentric Auntie Mame type, played by Rosalind Russell, who runs around spending money, being wacky and driving fast cars. Her kids worry that their inheritance is being flittered away so they move to have her declared insane. 

There’s a climax reminiscent of Mr Deeds (complete with scene where Russell sulks and doesn’t want to be proved sane, but rallies because of the love of a good woman [well in this case man]). There are also references to King Lear which doesn’t quite work because Lear was a ruthless prat who was dumb because he gave up his money and power – Rosie here married into her money and hasn’t done anything to deserve losing it.

It’s based on a play written by Ruth Gordon, who could have played the title role. James Farentino is in the John Gavin part as the young lawyer who falls for Dee and helps Russell. If I’m not mistaken it’s implied they have pre-marital sex – a sign that the 60s were starting to swing in Ross Hunter land. Another sign are comments made about the Youth of Today by Russell that the kids always want everything now, and being young is a state of mind rather than age, and young people can be greedy. It’s sort of trying to have it’s cake and eat it too – say old people aren’t as fogey-ish as you think. Dee is fine in a not-much role (she’s nice and that’s it basically).

Brian Aherne is the elder lawyer who secretly loves Russell; other old timers include Juanita Moore, Margaret Hamilton and Virigina Grey; Leslie Neilson offers smooth villainy as a greedy so in law. It doesn’t look particularly glossy or expensive –a bit TV.

Movie review – “Imitation of Life” (1959) ***

Ross Hunter revived Lana Turner’s career with this glossy remake of the 1934 Claudette Colbert film. It’s a classic mixture of camp, glamour, social commentary. But you can’t dismiss it because few Hollywood films of the time tackled race so head on – silly melodrama can do that. 

 

It’s full of contradictions and complexity – Lana Turner is a selfish career-orientated bitch – but why should she give up her career to marry John Gavin just because he doesn’t want her to work? Susah Kohner is angry and mean – but why sholdn’t she be angry at a society that persecutes blacks? Or embarrassed by her mother, who just wants her to work as a librarian? Juanita Moore is kind, lovely and warm but is an Uncle Tom, with no ambition for her daughter to better herself – or spine to tell Lana Turner (her “friend” who does’nt even realise that Moore has other friends) to stick it. The only really likeable character is Sandra Dee; even she’s a bit patronising to Moore but at least she tries to keep her emotions in check when she falls for Gavin.  

 

Best performances are from Dee and Kohner, who has the standout, showy role. Turner is dreadful, indicating all over the place, Moore is a noble savage (domestic maid version) and John Gavin is exactly like a Ken Doll come to life. 

 

Robert Alda adds some professional zing as a sleazy agent and Troy Donahue gives perhaps his most effective performance as the low life who smacks around Kohner when he finds out she's black.

Movie review – “The Restless Years” (1958) ** (warning: spoilers)

Universal put two of its contract teen stars into their own vehicle – Sandra Dee, all American girl, and swarthy John Saxon. It’s a pleasant enough slice of teen angst, with many of the sort of plots you find on soapies today – small town setting full of gossip, history and class consciousness; no one understands the kids; parents are mean and put pressure on the kids; she auditions for a part in Our Town; the bitchy rich girl wants the part and is mean; false rumours are spread.

The script - from a play and adapted by Edward Anhalt - seems influenced by two plays – Death of a Salesman (Saxon’s father wants to use his son to introduce him to contacts and is desperate for a sale) and Streetcar Named Desire (Dee’s mum [Teresa Wright] is a bit weird and obsessed with the memory of Dee’s father).

Some of this has dated – Dee’s character is illegitimate, a big issue for everyone concerned; there’s a lot of oohing and aahing over sex. Some of it’s high camp – the rich girl has a drunken trampy mother. The happy ending isn’t really happy – we’re meant to buy Wright is cured of her craziness because she stops looking for letters from Dee’s father but that sort of thing doesn’t cure over night; also, no one clears Dee’s name of the allegations she sleep around – and Saxon still moves to another town (he says he loves her and will come back and writes a letter… how long do you think that will last). I did enjoy it though. Shame it isn’t in colour.

Movie review – “That Funny Feeling” (1965) **

It’s a shame Sandra Dee didn’t have a longer career as an adult star, she had looks, perkiness and could act well enough – but her material wasn’t always the best. Nor was her choice of co-stars. Bobby Darin has his fans and the man could definitely sing but he doesn’t seem at home as a New York millionaire who romances Dee; he’s not good looking or charismatic enough in a part that needed a Rock Hudson, Rod Taylor or even Robert Goulet. 

The set up is idiotic, too, and far too slight for a movie – Dee is a maid who pretends to own an apartment so she can impress a new beau (Darin), unaware that he actually owns the apartment. Some lousy complications are offered by Darin’s richer elder friend (Donald O’Connor, doing what he can in the Tony Randall part, but feeling miscast), and some of Dee’s wacky actor mates. 

Some really bad comedy set pieces such as bartenders misinterpreting a conversation between Darin and Dee to think it's about hookers, a dull one with a pawnbroker, and flat party scenes – it was directed by old MGM veteran Richard Thorpe. The support cast, including Leo G Carroll, Robert Strauss and Nita Talbot, doesn’t save the day. Not written by Norman Krasna or produced by Ross Hunter - the film could have done with both men.

Movie review – “Portrait in Black” (1960) **1/2

The success of Imitation of Life saw producer Ross Hunter come up with another Lana Turner-Sandra Dee melodrama, although this one is more of a thriller. It's based on a Broadway play by Ben Roberts and Aussie Ivan Goff, which only had a short run in the late 1940s but was highly regarded enough to launch those two as a team of writers. 

The story is a twist on Double Indemnity, wasn’t too original in the first place – Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn are illicit lovers to conspire to kill Turner’s shipping tycoon husband (Lloyd Nolan); she has a step-daughter (Dee) who hates her and is in love with a hot headed young man (John Saxon) who provides the third act suspect when the net closes in around Turner. Further complicating things are a nasty lawyer (Richard Basehart) in love with Turner, a drunken chauffeur (Ray Walston) and sneaky housekeeper (Anna May Wong!). That’s a bunch of juicy support roles, so it’s no surprise to see Hunter attracted an all star cast (they also get to appear during the credits).

There are some changes from the play, where we never saw the husband (the murder had already happened), and John Saxon character was a unionist (which made for more logical drama as the whole thing takes place to the background of an industrial dispute – but that would have been too much for Hollywood to have a unionist heartthrob so instead he’s the son of a disgraced businessman trying to rebuild his family company. I suppose this change does personalise the conflict a bit more.)

It’s enjoyable enough in a silly way – there’s plenty of story but it does feel as though the leads are miscast: someone like Joan Crawford or Barbra Stanwyck could have done the emoting better than Turner, who is a blank slate; Quinn is too strong an actor to be believable as a nervy, neurotic, tormented doctor, which is how he plays it. Dee’s role isn’t much, she’s just a love interest, but she adds some star power; Basehart and Walston are excellent, Saxon glowers well (this was the third of three teamings he had with Dee), and Wong’s casting has definite novelty appeal.

Movie review - “If a Man Answers” (1962) **

Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin’s teaming in Come September was a hit with audiences, and garnered great publicity when they fell in love and married, so it’s no surprise Universal were keen to re-team them in their own vehicle. Ross Hunter produced and Henry Levin directed and they’ve given Dee the glamour treatment – flashier clothes, a more glamorous background (French mother, rich American father, Boston upbringing) – but she’s still basically a good girl who won’t screw without a ring. 

Dee’s a good rom com heroine, pretty and bright, with that girl next door factor; she’s a good actor too (even if her anorexia is apparent at times, especially in the arms). Darin isn’t as conventionally handsome as most Hollywood stars, but he’s okay and plays well with Dee. The story lets them down, though.

Come September had a very easy to understand, clear set up. This one takes ages to get going, and when it starts, it's just stupid. Dee has men throwing themselves at her all the time, her parents want her to get married; she meets photographer Darin and traps him into marriage, basically. She gets jealous when he photographs sexy Stefanie Powers, so she borrows a book from her mother to treat Darin like a dog. 

Now that’s a decent enough topic for a fun article in a magazine or subplot in an episode of a weekly TV series but not a whole feature. They pad it out by having Dee pretend she’s having an affair to keep Darin on his toes; he tries to trip her up by having the guy actually turn up – his dad (Cesare Romero). It’s a really, really lame idea for a comedy. They shouldn’t have made this film. Surely there were better ideas out there.

Dee battles gamely and is the best thing about the movie apart from it's cute Mad Men era decor – it’s not her fault the film is crap. John Lund plays her dad and Michele Presle her mother. Why not have Bobby Darin sing?