Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)

A drama critic, his wife, and four sons move from sophisticated New York digs to community-centered suburbia. Naturally adjustment problems ensue.All in all, this A-film is a disappointment. Drama critics are just not the stuff of comedies, nor does Niven get help in lightening the mood. Then too, since both stars were at career peaks, the screenplay expands their screen time with a lot of draggy exposition that doesn't help the amusement factor. And since the plight of Broadway critics is not exactly grist for popular audiences, I expect Day was added to provide the needed appeal. Trouble is she doesn't get to do her usual sparkle. It's a subdued role a dozen lesser names could have handled, and even her meager musical numbers are not exactly show stoppers. Moreover, director Walters seems unsure what to do with the bratty boys, who could have been milked for some laughs instead of too many groans. Still, the near two-hours does have its moments, especially with a cowardly canine, and Janis Paige (Deborah) whose ambitious vixen hits just the right notes. Anyhow, the chemistry never really gels and Day fans should stick with Rock who at least gets an honorable mention from the screenplay.

Heard the news that Doris Day might have a comeback in Clint Eastwood's at the age of 93, after her full retirement from showbiz in 1973 (which later have been dismissed as a rumour), timely reminds that I have never watched any of her films, so the introduction piece is this family-friendly comedy inspired by Jean Kerr's 1957 best-selling collection about her mode of living in suburb while raising four boys.Doris Day plays Kate, married to a professor-turned-drama-critic Lawrence Mackay (Niven), they live in a small apartment in NYC with four young boys, their lease is going to expire, so Kate is planning to move to the countryside, where they can afford to buy a larger house, good for their boys too. But Lawrence's new career requires him to be near theatres in the city, and he also enjoys the urban life and what it entails. Basically, the plot perfunctorily resolves around a series of lighthearted marital disagreements with four kids frolicking around and a scare-easy Spinone named Hobo.Day is given the superstar-treatment, apart from a dashing wardrobe, her Kate, is portrayed as a perfect housewife, obliging and graceful, with a good heart, whom one can take to social parties and back at home she can single-handedly manage four mischievous kids. She doesn't need to bother her husband while being in charge of the renovation of a rundown mansion and being maximal understanding when her husband is under stress or in a bad mood. During her leisure time, she volunteers to direct and star in an amateurish play for the local school, which mainly prepares a stage for Day to perform her singing and dancing routines.Niven, stays gentlemanlike in his comfort zone, his Lawrence is Kate's perfect match, as a theatre savant, whose influence is so puissant that he can close an entire play if he badmouths it, he struggles between his professional conscience and obligation for his friend Alfred North (Haydn), and incredibly levelheaded when a seductress Deborah Vaughn (a flashy Janis Paige) proposes an indecent suggestion. Also this film is Spring Byington's silver-screen curtain call, who plays Kate's mother and inculcates some rather olde worlde marital advices.Frankly speaking, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES is a lukewarm comedy, no more than a time- killer in a lackadaisical evening, for die-hard fans of two leads only.

Worth it for the Metrocolor and the interior sets alone. Well-written. Well-acted. The story takes time in developing depth, but the depth is there. They don't force it. People mock Doris Day films mostly because they don't understand the worth of that, and are not accustomed to relaxing.The early part of the movie struggles a little to match the novel in evoking what is happening under the surface. Comedy-drama is not an easy genre, the strain shows a little. But well worth the ride. Relaxing and rewarding viewing, with satisfying (often surprising) laughs.

Please Don't Eat The Daisies (1960) is a little comedy study that is one year too late in celebrating the 50s sexual stereotype of 'the little woman'. It stars David Niven and Doris Day as Lawrence and Kay McKay. He's a Drama critic. She just wants to be a housewife. Their happy, if cramped, in a Manhattan apartment with four sons, David (Charles Herbert), Gabriel (Stanley Livingston), George (Flip Mark) and Adam (Baby Gellert). However, at the behest of Kay, the family departs the elegance of New York for suburbia and clean living. Well, almost.Seems Lawrence can't or won't entirely leave the Big Apple behind. That his work precludes a complete departure from the social depravity of Broadway stage door Johnnies and scheming starlets is an angle played up when it appears as though Lawrence has decided to sack Kay and family for the lovely and flirtatious Deborah Vaughn (Janis Paige). Complications ensue as long time friends Suzie Robinson (Spring Byington) and Alfred North (Richard Haydn) get involved though only manage to make a simple case of mistaken judgment develop into a full blown comedy of errors. And then, of course, there's the whole mix up with Reverend McQuarry (John Harding) that begs to be reconsidered.Based on Jean Kerr's humorous novel, ably adapted by Isobel Lennart, director Charles Walters directs with his usual panache, but is decidedly saddled with, and forced to do damage control over, Niven's central performance as the blundering Lawrence. Honestly, the poor man's made to look ridiculous around every corner – an ill fit for one of the most accomplished and adroit British actors of his time. Day manages to come up with some winning moments, but she too has seem better days and far better material. This film perhaps foreshadows the sort of 'reluctant domestic' role that the rest of her tenure with Rock Hudson would carry over. Apparently, and despite its overall entertainment value shortcomings, there is something to be said for timing. 'Please Don't Eat The Daisies' played to solid box office and even found renewed life as a television sitcom starring Brian Keith. Go figure.The anamorphic transfer from Warner Bros. is just average. Colors are dated and sometimes even muddy. Blacks are not very deep or solid. Whites are generally clean but slightly yellow. Shadow and contrast levels are disappointing. Save Day's rendition of the title song, the audio sounds rather unnatural and strident. Dialogue is decidedly forward sounding with no spread across the channels. The only extra is a theatrical trailer.