Do Not Disturb (1965 film)

Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ralph Levy; George Marshall
Screenplay by	Richard L. Breen; Milt Rosen
Based on	Some Other Love; play; by William Fairchild
Produced by	Martin Melcher; Aaron Rosenberg
Starring	Doris Day; Rod Taylor
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Edited by	Robert L. Simpson
Music by	Lionel Newman; Alexander Courage
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	December 22, 1965;
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.89 million
Box office	$8 million

Do Not Disturb is a DeLuxe Color CinemaScope (1965) romantic comedy film directed by Ralph Levy and starring Doris Day and Rod Taylor as a married American couple living in England.^[3]

Plot

American couple Mike and Janet Harper move to England for Mike's work with a company that deals in textiles and fashions. Mike wants to live in a flat in the heart of London, but Janet instead finds a rural estate 30 miles outside London in Kent, and Mike must commute into the city by train. For convenience, Mike often stays in a company's flat in London rather than returning to Kent, but his absence causes Janet to feel lonely and neglected.

Janet believes that Mike may be having an affair with his assistant Claire Hackett, and the Harpers' busybody landlady Vanessa Courtwright encourages Janet to play Mike's game by entering into an affair of her own, even if it is fake. However, the affair may become a reality when the suave Italian antiques dealer Paul Bellari arrives to decorate the house. Bellari whisks Janet off to Paris, where she manages to deflect his advances despite her inebriation after drinking champagne. Eventually, Paul and Janet learn that their suspicions were false and they reconcile with each other.^[4]

Cast

Doris Day as Janet Harper
Rod Taylor as Mike Harper
Hermione Baddeley as Vanessa Courtwright
Sergio Fantoni as Paul Bellari
Reginald Gardiner as George Simmons
Maura McGiveney as Claire Hackett
Aram Katcher as Culkos
Leon Askin as Willie Langsdorf
Lisa Perav as Alicia Petrova
Michael Romanoff as Delegate
Albert Carrier as Claude Reynard
Barbara Morrison as Mrs. Ordley
Dick Winslow as One-Man Band / Accordion Player
Raquel Welch as Woman in lobby
Britt Ekland as Party Girl

Production

George Marshall was recruited to replace original director Ralph Levy, who contracted a viral disease during filming. This change caused the film to finish behind schedule.^[5]

Reception

The film had admissions of 10,730 in France.^[6]

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $7,300,000 in rentals to break even and made $5,275,000, meaning it made a loss.^[7]

In the New York Times, Bosley Crowther described the film as "without wit, in script and direction, which fall back upon such leaden things as Miss Day getting pickled in Paris and joining a bunch of youngsters in a sidewalk soccer game or innocently entering the hotel bedroom of the big wool buyer instead of that of her spouse."^[8]

Novelization

In advance of the film's release, as was the custom of the era, a paperback novelization of the film was published by Dell Books. The author was renowned crime and western novelist Marvin H. Albert, who had written other books related to films to coincide with their releases.^[9]

References

^ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
^ "Do Not Disturb, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
^ "Do Not Disturb (1965) - Ralph Levy | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
^ "Do Not Disturb (1965) - IMDb". Retrieved July 22, 2019 – via www.imdb.com.^{[better source needed]}
^ Vagg, Stephen (2010). Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood. BearManor Media. p. 114. ISBN 978-1629330419.
^ French Box office for 1966 at Box Office Story^{[dead link‍]}
^ Silverman, Stephen M. (1988). The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 324.
^ Bosley Crowther (December 25, 1965). "Do Not Disturb : Doris Day Decorates Home in England". NYTimes.com. The New York Times.
^ "Do Not Disturb book by Marvin H. Albert". ThriftBooks. Retrieved July 30, 2024.

External links

Do Not Disturb at IMDb
Do Not Disturb at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Do Not Disturb at the TCM Movie Database

[1] Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.

[2] "Do Not Disturb, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013.

[3] "Do Not Disturb (1965) - Ralph Levy | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved July 22, 2019.

[4] "Do Not Disturb (1965) - IMDb". Retrieved July 22, 2019 – via www.imdb.com.^{[better source needed]}

[5] Vagg, Stephen (2010). Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood. BearManor Media. p. 114. ISBN 978-1629330419.

[6] French Box office for 1966 at Box Office Story^{[dead link‍]}

[7] Silverman, Stephen M. (1988). The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 324.

[8] Bosley Crowther (December 25, 1965). "Do Not Disturb : Doris Day Decorates Home in England". NYTimes.com. The New York Times.

[9] "Do Not Disturb book by Marvin H. Albert". ThriftBooks. Retrieved July 30, 2024.

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