The Glass Bottom Boat {1966}

Last week I was watching TCM at my grandparents' house (I don't want cable or satellite TV, but goodness, I'd love to get that channel), and I started watching The Glass Bottom Boat. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised! And then we had to leave about 20 minutes before the film ended, so as soon as I got home I added it to my Netflix queue. :)

 

I feel like Doris Day is such an underrated actress. I'll admit that a lot of her comedies from the 60s feel a little too similar. I've seen several of them, and for me they all tend to run together, with the exception of her films with Rock Hudson (Send Me No Flowers was hilarious!) and now this one. But she could do comedy really well. In this movie in particular, she's a quirky girl who's put in all of these absurd situations, but she always keeps a straight face and she's still so sweet and cheerful and girl-next-door. (Until near the end, anyway, but that's another story, ha.)

 

The title and movie posters for this one are pretty misleading. I always thought this was a beach comedy or something, but it's not. The title comes from the fact that her father runs a glass bottom boat for tourists, which comes up in the first 10 minutes but then is completely insignificant to the rest of the film.

In fact, this film is one of those 60s movies that includes spies, Soviets, and secret space plans. Plus a little dose of mistaken identity (think North by Northwest or Never a Dull Moment, both of which I love). Sure, I can appreciate films that are timeless, but I also really love films that are firmly set in the time period in which they were made. Even though this movie is a spy spoof, it came from things that were on the minds of a lot of Americans during that time.

The cast is pretty great. Doris Day is lovely, as always, and Rod Taylor is good. (I don't really have an opinion of him, since this was only the second film I've ever seen him in. The first one was The Birds, which I think is Hitchcock's creepiest film, and one that I don't have much interest in seeing again.) Paul Lynde was funny as a mistaken security officer, but probably my favorite character in the whole film was Dom DeLuise as the bumbling Julius Pritter. He was hilarious in a way that was almost a bit too much, but it ended up working well. Basically every scene with him in it cracked me up. As for the rest of the cast, there are a lot of familiar faces from 60s TV and films.

The Glass Bottom Boat is over-the-top, cheesy, slapstick fluff, so if you're not looking for that, then don't even bother watching this movie. But if you can appreciate it for what it is, then you'll probably love it. :) I thought it was so much fun and I love that it doesn't take itself seriously at all.

{I know this was so vague that it can't really be considered a "review," but I didn't want to give too much away since there are several little twists in the plot.}

Have you ever seen The Glass Bottom Boat? What's your favorite Doris Day film?