One of Norman Jewison’s commercial but not particularly good comedy, Send Me No Flowers is best known for its cast.
C+ (** out of *****)
The comedy reteams Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall, after the big success of Pillow Talk (the best of the trio) and Lover Come Back.
It is the third (and weakest) and final film in which Hudson, Day and Randall appeared together.
The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein (best-known for co-writing Casablanca) is based on the play by Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore, which ran on Broadway in 1960.
The title tune was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.
George Kimball (Rock Hudson), a hypochondriac, lives with his wife Judy (Doris Day) in the suburbs.
Judy shares with her husband gossip she learns from the milkman that their neighbors, the Bullards, are getting a divorce.
Over lunch, George is appalled as a bachelor acquaintance, Winston Burr (Hal March), gleefully describes how he contacts women who go through divorce by pretending to console them, aiming to seduce them while vulnerable.
Despite the pastel-colored suburban dream world of a setting, the text is rather bland and predictable, and not only because of the expected (and necessary) happy ending.
Credits:
Directed by Norman Jewison
Produced by Harry Keller
Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, based on Send Me No Flowers 1960 play by Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore
Music by Frank De Vol
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by J. Terry Williams
Color process Technicolor
Production company: Martin Melcher Productions, Spinel Entertainment
Distributed by Universal
Release date: October 14, 1964
Running time: 100 minutes
Box office $9,13 million