Lover Come Back (1961)

“[Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) enters wearing a woman’s full length mink coat, and passes Fred, again] He’s the last guy in the world I woulda’ figured. ” – Fred

Number of Times Seen – 1 (24 Mar 2019)

Brief Synopsis – An ad executive trying to get ahead of the competition pretends to be a famous chemist in order to outsmart a female colleague.

My Take on it – In my quest to watch more films starring Doris Day, I decided to see if the chemistry that she had with Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk (1959) could be repeated here.

This is quite a fun film from start to finish and that actually has much to do with the way that Day and Hudson work superbly together.

The chemistry that these two actors had with one another is amazing and this film is proof that that success can be duplicated between these two actors when given the right circumstances.

The story itself starts off fine but it reaches proportions that border on the ridiculous in some of the places this film goes.

Despite this, they present a great comedy of errors that is so much fun to watch unfold.

The story moves along at a nice pace and stays enjoyable since the viewer constantly wants to see where these events will eventually take these character along in the journey.

This movie is a nice addition to the genre of screwball comedies and despite being a bit predictable like most films of the genre, it still works extremely well.

They do a wonderful job here showing how the advertising profession dealt with things 6 decades ago since it proves that not much has actually changed in the intervening years since then.

Tony Randall is great in a supporting role here and is able to show his own emerging comic genius with his performance.

Bottom Line – Fun film that works largely due to the amazing chemistry between Day and Hudson who once again show how great they can work off on another. The story borders on the ridiculous yet there is still a feeling of truth in the comedy of errors that they show here. The way that the story moves along is quite enjoyable because one constantly wants to know how things will eventually turn out even if as a screwball comedy, parts are very predictable throughout. This film does a great job showing the way that the advertising profession deals with things and how much things have stayed the same even after nearly 60 years. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Hollywood legend claims that, during the filming of Rock Hudson and Doris Day’s bathing suit scene (set on a soundstage beach) one of Hudson’s testicles kept popping out from his swim trunks. While screening dailies the next afternoon, the crew laughed so hard, they became teary-eyed, especially when the projectionist figured how to roll the film back-and-forth so it looked like Hudson’s testicle was doing a “dance.” (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)