Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Blistering performances.

Lover Come Back is directed by Delbert Mann and written by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning. It stars Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. Music is by Frank De Vol and Eastman colour cinematography by Arthur E. Arling. Plot finds Day and Hudson as rival advertisement executives who work for rival companies. Though having never met, both have had enough dealings with each other from afar to have formed less than favourable opinions of each other. When a chance meeting occurs, a case of mistaken identity sees Hudson's Lothario pretend to be a meek and virginal doctor type; which provides interesting results.If it isn't broke, don't fix it. After Pillow Talk, the first and hugely popular pairing of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, Lover Come Back follows a similar filmic trajectory. Pillow Talk's formula is a template well worth following, what is arguably surprising is that this is every bit the first film's equal. There's a bit of satire in the Oscar Nominated screenplay, as plot takes in the world of advertising, but mostly this is about great gags, both visually and orally, and the thrill of watching three lead performers expertly making the material work. The chemistry of the performers is set in stone, the colour appealing and director Mann keeps it brisk. Yes it goes exactly where you think it's going, but to be honest if it didn't end the way it did I would have put my foot through the TV! With purple faces, beards, sly sexual eggings, alcoholic candy and a horny moose! What's not to like here? A delightfully fun and engaging comedy. 8/10

I am a big fan of Doris Day, and Lover Come Back is no exception. It is stylish, with the beautiful production values, lovely music and sophisticated direction. It is witty, with a great story and a funny script, I have to admit those anti-advertising jokes are still amusing. And it is beautifully performed. Rock Hudson is immensely likable and charming and Doris Day hasn't lost her warmth. They are well supported by Tony Randall(in another of his better performances), Edie Adams and Jack Kruschen. My only real criticism is the ending really, I know it is all to do with taste but I do find the ending rather tasteless. Overall though, it is a delight of a film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The second of the three Doris Day - Rock Hudson - Tony Randall romps, LOVER COME BACK actually is a slightly sharper film than it's closer rival PILLOW TALK, with SEND ME NO FLOWERS a bit behind them. The reason for this positioning is that PILLOW TALK did not really spoof anything (Randall is producing a show and needs music composed by Hudson; until the end when Hudson decides to allow Day to decorate his apartment - with horrendous results - Day's interior decorating career really was just a mild peg in the screenplay). SEND ME NO FLOWERS comes closest to satire in the business with Paul Lynde's friendly, helpful cemetery plot salesman. Most of the rest deals with hypochondria and the world of the suburbs. Only in LOVER COME BACK does the center of the script involve itself in the profession of the three leads: Madison Avenue Advertising Agencies.Hudson is the right hand man (one might say the central brain) for an ad agency that is owned (by inheritance, not character or brains) by Randall. Hudson has a formula for getting accounts - find the client's weakness, and play to it, pushing booze and girls at the same time. We see him steal the account of Jack Oakie (his final performance on film, but a nice one) as a Virginian who is still a loyal Confederate, and likes his booze ("jest a tetch" is a mantra of his, with Hudson or anyone else filling up the glass), and likes his fair ladies as well. Unfortunately for Hudson, Day had been scheduled to give a presentation to Oakie, and is really angry by the way Hudson stole the account. She starts asking questions, and finds the chief one of the chorus girls that Oakie was set up with (Edie Adams). When Hudson learns Adams plans to talk he tries to talk his way out by saying he was planning to make Adams the new "girl" for a new product. "Well, what is the product?", Adams asks. Hudson looks at a newspaper headline referring to V.I.P.s and says it is called "Vip". Adams does not testify against Hudson because he has a number of specious and vague, but sexy commercials shot with Adams selling "Vip".All this might have still remained under wraps, but Randall, in his first attempt to show he can make decisions rather than Hudson, tells his assistant (Joe Flynn) to release the commercials and saturate the television airwaves with them. Only later does a horrified Hudson tell him that there is no product called Vip.Day learns of "Vip" from Adams. She starts more of an investigation, and discovers that nobody is quite sure what VIP is. Her boss, Howard St. John, is dubious of any result. Her own job on the line she decides to investigate on her own. Hudson has decided to use an eccentric Nobel Chemistry Laureate (Jack Kruschen - in a fun performance) to concoct a product called Vip. At one point Day shows up at Kruschen's house, and sees Hudson wearing an apron. She jumps to the conclusion he is Kruschen, and starts trying to prevent him from signing with Hudson's agency. Hudson decides to take full advantage of this situation: it preoccupies Day in her snooping, and she is more attractive than he imagined.The plot then follows that of PILLOW TALK with Day not realizing she is dating the man she loathes, not the imagined great man of science with a fragile psyche. Hudson plays it to the hilt (his comic abilities were first brought out by Day in their films, and it possibly enabled his career as a star to last really as long as it did). As for Randall, his desire to show he is worthy of his father "the Commodore" (a forbidding portrait of Randall in yachting costume is above the desk the son sits at) is confronted by his total lack of understanding his business, of making decisions, or taking responsibility. He keeps hoping either Hudson or Flynn will fall on their sword (symbolically will do, but he is open for actual suicide) to save his firm from being wrecked. His only apparent close relationship is with his therapist Dr. Melnick (Richard Deacon - in a sadly wasted single scene with Randall at the end), and even Randall mentions that Deacon has said he finds him boring.So what does the great Kruchen concoct out of chemicals and smoke (multi-colored, as Randall finds to his cost)? Put it this way: It is very possible that that great Vice President of the U.S., Thomas Marshall, would have fully appreciated the perfect companion invented by Kruschen for Marshall's really good five cent cigar!

Following the tremendous success of "Pillow Talk", Universal re-teamed the trio of Hudson, Day and Randall (this time elevated to above-the-title billing) for another go 'round. Day plays a straight-laced ad exec who is mortified to lose a prime account to competitor Hudson, who uses immoral and underhanded tactics to get his accounts for his boss Randall. When Day reports Hudson to the Ad Council, it sparks a game of cat and mouse that involves Hudson luring Day into a romantic relationship in the name of landing a product that doesn't even exist! Day falls for Hudson in his guise of a chemist, not realizing that he's the competitor she loathes so much. The magic present in "Pillow Talk" is only here to a degree. For one thing, save one very brief phone conversation, Day and Hudson don't meet at ALL until 45 minutes into the film. Additionally, Day and Randall do not share one frame of footage in the entire movie, squandering an opportunity to repeat the splendid chemistry they displayed in the prior film. Fortunately, once Day and Hudson finally meet up, their terrific rapport with each other kicks in and the film begins to show some of the comedic and romantic sparkle that this team is known for. Day is in tremendous shape here, looking wonderful in some sharp Irene ensembles (most of which are spoiled by some distinctly unappealing hats, though they're good for a chuckle at any rate!) Unfortunately, she is bathed in soft-focus for even the most remote close-ups and there's a severity in her makeup, mostly in the brows, that detracts from her usual sunny visage. Still, this is Day at her prime and she delivers a lot of great lines and expressions along the way. Hudson is at his most handsome and has quite a few shirtless scenes. He gets to deliver a lot of amusing lines as well and is allowed to play the charming heel he perfected during this time. Randall is given a funny role to play as a rich CEO who lacks the backbone and confidence to do anything whatsoever. He and Hudson play off each other well, as always. Also appearing are Adams as one of Hudson's playthings, Oakie as a southern-fried potential client, Krushen as a dangerous inventor and Davis (pre-"Brady Bunch") as Day's devoted secretary. In much smaller roles, Douglas appears as Randall's secretary, Albertson and Watts are a pair of bemused salesmen visiting the city and Bessell has a bit part as an elevator operator. All the ingredients are here for this to be a smash to at least equal "Pillow Talk", but somehow it never reaches its full potential. Part of the problem is the aforementioned lack of connection between the actors, but also the editing seems to leave room for long laugh pauses, giving the film an awkward sense of timing if things aren't quite as knee-slapping as hoped for. It just lacks the zip and zing and freshness that punctuated the earlier movie (and the one after this.) It also goes a tad overboard with the colored explosions and the product revealed in the resolution. Still, this team is charming in the extreme and they make it worth watching. One casting tidbit: Norris, who plays Hudson's secretary, was the telephone inspector he seduced in "Pillow Talk".