Happy April, everykitty! Since it is now officially spring, this month's movie review theme will be movies that make a kitty think of springtime! Our first film for the month of April is "Please Don't Eat the Daisies." This movie is a classic, and stars Doris Day and David Niven. (My mommy went through a "Doris Day" phase, so we have lots of her movies at home!)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
Director: Charles Walters
Written by: Jean Kerr (Book)
Isobel Lennart (Writer)
"Please Don't Eat the Daisies" follows the hectic and humorous family life of Lawrence and Kate MacKay, played by David Niven and Doris Day. Lawrence is a drama critic living in a crowded city apartment with his wife, four sons, and large sheepdog. His wife Kate dreams of owning a big house in the country. Convincing her husband to invest in a large and rambling fixer-upper, Kate and Lawrence move their family out into the country, while Lawrence commutes back and forth between their new home in the country and the exciting theatrical life in the city. Tensions begin to build in the marriage as Kate finds herself working alone on the house and dealing with their four rowdy boys, while Lawrence spends increasingly large amounts of time in the city and enters into a flirtation with an actress.
Despite its seemingly dramatic subject matter, "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" is most definitely a comedy. There is no end to the trouble the four young MacKays get into . . . including the youngest, who is still too young to talk well, yet has to be kept in a cage rather than a playpen because of his Houdini-like tendencies. Kate's struggle to make their house into a home and to fit into the new suburban community also has moments of hilarity, while family friend Richard Haydn (Alfred North) is wonderfully amusing in a snarky way . . . especially as he can't see the charm of country family life. I give this movie two paws up . . . and a whisker twitch for having the good taste to put my friend Daisy in the title!
