Harrison's Reports (1960)

50 HARRISON'S REPORTS March 26, 1960 "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" with Doris Day, David Niven and Janis Paige (MGM, April; time, 111 min.) Fashioned from Jean Kerr's hit book — 50 straight weeks on the national best'seller lists — this Metre Color-CinemaScope adventure'eomedy has plenty of appeal for everyone. In this lively account of a cos' mopolitan drama critic, his dutiful home-loving wife and four lively children, there are such wonderful ticket'Selling attractions as: Doris Day, fresh from "Pillow Talk11, David Niven, an ever-popular actor; lovely Janis Paige, and the return to theatrical films of Spring Byington, for the last five years, TV's "December Bride," and Patsy Kelly, back in films after a 16-year hiatus; also four mischievous boys( including one kept in a wooden cage) and a neurotic shaggy dog. Although the humor is usually more of the hearty chuckle than belly laugh variety, there is enough of it to give a merry effect which is delicately balanced against the seriousness of the problems of a professor turned drama critic. Miss Day reaffirms her unusual ability as a comedienne, as well as a singer; David Niven is a natural as a critic, Miss Paige is tremendously effective as a glamorous star, Haydn is very competent, and Baby Gellert, the 18-month-old son, proves a great scene-stealer. In addition to the lively title tune, Miss Day renders a catchy song, "Any Way the Wind Blows.''' The production values are high, the direction is expert and the photography is well above par: — David Niven and Doris Day are still very much in love after 10 years of marriage. They have four healthy and mischievous sons: Charles Herbert, aged nine; twins Stanley Livingston and Flip Mark, seven, and Adam, one-and-a-half. Niven has just left his professorship at Columbia University to become one of New York's seven major drama critics. In his first review, he pans a new musical produced by his best friend, Richard Haydn, noting that the play's leading lady, Janis Paige, is no redeeming factor. Haydn is enraged, and at Sardi's, Janis slaps him twice. The feud makes the papers and Niven is quickly lionised. His new glamour is further extended when he makes up with Janis at a party. Doris is worried. She doesn't care for the cocktail parties they now attend and wonders if Niven isn't a little intoxicated with his own wit. Larger problems loom. Their apartment lease has expired and Doris convinces Niven they should buy a house in the suburbs. They purchase a home 70 miles outside New York in Hooten. With the carpenters and painters creating havoc, Doris sends Niven to the Plaza Hotel in New York so that he may work in peace. Meanwhile, neighborly Doris joins the local amateur dramatic group. She asks Haydn to find a script for the local players, and he digs up a bad play Niven wrote while in college; changes the author's name, and gives it to the unwitting Doris, advising her not to let her over-critical husband look at it. Later Doris catches Niven and Janis being interviewed on TV. They seem too cozy to her. She doesn't realize that Niven has resisted all of Janis' amorous advances. The day of rehearsal, Niven arrives home and, after five minutes at the theatre, recognizes his play. He is furious, but when Doris accuses him of unforgiveable selfishness, he allows the benefit performance to go on. Haydn arrives on opening night with Niven's column. It seems he has reviewed it prematurely, praising Doris' portrayal, but attacking his own play. Back in New York, Niven realizes he is lonely. He heads for the elevator, runs smack into Doris. She reports his play, rewritten as a comedy, is a success. The couple enjoy a kiss-filled reunion. It was produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Charles Walters from Isobel Lennart's screenplay based on the book by Jean Kerr. Family. "13 Fighting Men" with Grant Williams, Brad Dexter and Carole Mathews (20th Century-Fox, April; time 69 min.) A low-budgeted routine programmer with a Civil War background. There are no box-office names to aid in the selling of this independently produced action film, the chief exploitation peg being the Civil War theme, now popular. Story revolves about a Union cavalry patrol's efforts at the war's end to protect a small fortune of gold coins from falling into the hands of a band of Confederate troops led by a fortune-seeking major. In the role of a halfstarved escapee from a prison camp, Rex Holman emerges as the only solid characterization in this grim entry. Grant Williams and Brad Dexter, as the leaders of the Northern and Southern patrols, respectively, and Carol Mathews as the ambitious wife of a farmer are not convincing. There is some confusion in following the plot, which diminishes the suspense. The production value and direction are poor, while the photography is good : — A 13 -man Union cavalry patrol led by a captain, Grant Williams, is protecting a Government treasury agent, Richard Crane, and $50,000 in gold coins, behind the Confederate lines in the closing days of the Civil War. Their only heavy armament is a Gatling gun. At a rendezvous with a Southern spy, Mauritz Hugo, whom they pay $1,000 in gold, they learn the war is over. Later Hugo is captured and hung by a ragged band of Confederate troops led by an unscrupulous major, Brad Dexter, who, before killing Hugo, learns of the large amount of gold William's patrol is guarding. Dexter persuades his men to attempt getting the money for themselves. Dexter 's men surround the Union patrol which takes refuge in an old farmhouse. Dexter shoots one of his men carrying a truce flag, making his soldiers believe it was done by the Union men, and thus inciting them to keep up the gold-grabbing plan. The farm house is occupied by Richard Garland, a pacifistic ex-Confederate soldier, and his embittered wife, Carole Mathews, who plans to leave him because she believes him a coward and because of their poverty. Carole plans to get the gold, as does a Union corporal, John Erwin. Williams, unaware that Dexter knows of the gold and of the war's end, unsuccessfully trys to talk to Dexter. Williams is saved from a trap in the barn, where the ammunition is kept, by Rex Holman, a half-starved escapee from Andersonville, the Confederate prison camp. Carole makes an unsuccessful pass at Williams, proposing they escape together with the gold. She also manages to offer to deliver the Union men to Dexter in return for a split of the money. When Dexter tries to effect a "lives for gold" surrender ultimatum, greedy Erwin turns the Gatling on his own men. Carole knocks him out with a gun, saving him for her own plans. Meanwhile Dexter is able to capture the house. Carole frees Erwin, and the pair, armed, surprise the Union defenders. Just as Dexter