Movie #3099 ........................."Move Over Darling" (TCM)

 Movie #3099 "Move Over Darling" (TCM)  Now I get to write  a blog on one of my all-time favorite films ---  "Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner ---  and with a story  based on an old piece of literature ("Enoch Arden"), a poem by Tennyson, The poem lends its name to a principle in law that after being missing for a certain number of years (typically seven) a person may be declared dead for purposes of remarriage and inheritance of their survivors.          Enoch comes back after 11 years in the poem, and finds his wife has remarried and had a child with his childhood friend; he never tells her he is still alive because of how much he loves her, and he dies a brokenhearted man.  Doesn't seem like a good storyline  for a bunch of comedies, yet it is --- made a number of times, but the most famous is Cary Grant's "My Favorite Wife," and this movie "Move Over Darling" is a remake of that famous one. (one can even say  Tom Hanks' "The Castaway" is loosely based on this poem, as well)  I esp. like this one because it has such a great  cast:  It is reversed with Doris Day playing the missing wife, and James Garner playing the abandoned husband with two little girls, and a very funny mother ,   Thelma Ritter.   Polly Bergen is Garner's fiancé waiting for Doris Day to be pronounced dead after the 7 years, so she can marry him!  When Day returns (seven years and a DAY after she is declared missing, , all hell breaks loose --- esp. when we find out the guy she was on an island with for all those years was the hunky Chuck Connors (and I have to give a shout out to the wonderfully funny Edgar Buchanan, who plays the befuddled judge and has the best lines in he film!).  Garner said that when he worked with Doris Day , all he had to do is sit back and enjoy because she was so much fun to work with --- and you can tell the chemistry here .  This is definitely a 5 out of 5 for me and always a delight to re-watch whenever it is on --- and that's a big deal for me to re-watch anything.   

"MOVE OVER, DARLING"      1963      1 hr and 43 mins

After being lost at sea for several years, a missing wife thought long dead returns just after her husband has remarried.

Director:  Michael Gordon

Writers:  Hal Kanter, Jack Sher, Bella Spewack

Actors:  Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Chuck Connors, Edgar Buchanan, Don Knotts