Between the Pages

This is quite a nice little comedy.  Made in 1968, it stars the lovely Doris Day – who raises it from being mediocre to being sweet if ultimately forgettable.

Day plays Abby McClure, a widow with three sons (two young and one who has just graduated college).  She meets and falls in love with Jake Iverson (Brian Keith), a widower with one daughter, who has also just graduated.  However, the path of true love does not run smooth as Abby and Jake encounter hostility from their families, especially the two older children.  Unable to decide whose house they should live in, the two end up switching their lives between both of their houses, and the only place where Abby and Jake can get any time alone is at a drive-in coffee place (Herbie, the man who serves them their coffee, is played by the late great George Carlin in his first movie role).

There are some funny moments; Day has a terrific aptitude for comedy, and Keith is also excellent as the man who is surprised to find himself falling in love again, and at a loss as to how to make his family and his new wife happy.

However, there were a few cringeworthy moments – possibly due to what are now outmoded ideas.  For example at one stage, one of Abby’s younger sons asks Jake if he (Jake) is his father now, and Jake just tells him that yes he is.  This seemed odd, as the better course of action to take would surely have been to say that the boy already had a father – or at least to mention the boy’s late father!

The ending of the film is also somewhat contrived (but by the ending I do mean only the last couple of minutes; the scenes leading up to the events of the last few minutes are really very amusing), and other reviewers have criticised it, although I accept that it would have been difficult to have it end up any other way.

All in all, it’s certainly not an offensive film, and it’s a pleasant enough way to pass a couple of hours, due to the two main stars and Doris Day in particular.  However it’s fair to say that this was one of the less well received films of Day’s career (and was in fact the last feature film she has made to date); nonetheless, fans could do worse than watch this.

Year of release: 1968

Director: Howard Morris

Writers: Gwen Bagni, Paul Dubov, Harvey Bullock, R.S. Allen

Main cast: Doris Day, Brian Keith, Pat Carroll, Barbara Hershey, George Carlin, Alice Ghostley, John Findlater