The Thrill of it All (1963)

“Call your baby! My wife’s having a husband!” – Gardiner Fraleigh

Number of Times Seen – 1 (24 Mar 2019)

Brief Synopsis – After a homemaker is selected to be a spokesperson for a soap advertisement it causes much trouble between her and her obstetrician husband.

My Take on it – After watching Move Over, Darling (1963) last month, I was actually quite interested in seeing this film since it once again pairs Doris Day and James Garner who were great together in that film.

Surprisingly, the chemistry that they had in that film is lost here and even tho this film came out just a few months later, they just don’t work together as a married couple in this film.

The premise of this film is a bit wacky and unfortunately doesn’t work as well as one would hope.

This movie deals with the early ideas of woman’s liberation and the idea that a woman doesn’t have to just stay home and take care of the children and they actually do a nice job presenting both sides of that discussion.

It’s too bad tho, that they take things a bit too far to the extreme here and that actually hurts the story too much.

I liked the way that they show how commercials and advertising can bring quick success, fame and also quarrels within the household because of the speedy way that things can change.

This idea is still quite relevant nearly 6 decades later.

Bottom Line – A bit of a wacky premise that doesn’t work as well as it could have. They do a nice job dealing with the idea of women’s liberation during the early sixties, but the story goes in extreme directions that hurts things a bit too much. Garner and Day are both fine here but they lack a bit of the chemistry that they have together in Move Over, Darling (1963) just a few months later. They also manage to show how commercials can easily bring success, fame and even quarrels among spouses in circumstances like the ones presented here.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The house front set used as the Boyer family’s suburban home had also served as the Cleaver family’s residence in the classic sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which was also filmed at Universal City Studios. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)