Shot in CinemaScope, Caprice, a silly comedy thriller, is one of Doris Day’s last and worst vehicles. Reflecting the zeitgeist, her husband-manager Melcher, thought that she should try her hand at a zany spy comedy, a genre that was then in vogue.
Our Grade: D (1 out of *****)
Day plays an industrial agent assigned to work in a cosmetics manufacturing company, whose employees are involved in drug smuggling, and kill any enemies she encounters.
A skiing accident, which turns out to be orchestrated by her foes, brings her face to face with a handsome, enigmatic spy (played by the young Richard Harris).
The duo fall in love, teaming up to find the man who killed her father, who was also an agent.
Eccentric director Frank Tashlin (who co-wrote the script with Jay Jayson) is at the helm, and even he cannot save the film, which is neither effective as romance or thriller. It doesn’t help that Day, who was older than Harris, lacks any rapport with her leading man.
Fox released the picture, which was a box-office bomb, in April 1967. This and other failures convinced Day that perhaps it’s time to quit acting, which she did the following year, in 1968.
Running Time: 97 Minutes