Bella Move On Darling (1963) is a Comedy/Romance starring Doris Day as Ellen Wagstaff Arden and James Garner as Nicolas Arden. Nicholas Arden heads to the courthouse with his fiancé to be married, but before he does so he must get the judge to sign a petition pronouncing his old wife, Ellen Wagstaff Arden as dead. She was lost at sea but was eventually rescued and made her way home just in time for the honeymoon. She follows them to the hotel to ensure that they never consummate it.This flick has it all- great acting, a darling cast, hilarious scenes throughout that will have you rolling on the floor laughing and a superb plot. Doris Day is stunning and classy. I would recommend this film to all lovers of romantic comedies.

JohnHowardReid Producers: Martin Melcher, Aaron Rosenberg. Copyright 19 December 1963 by Melcher/Arcola Productions. Released through 20th Century- Fox. New York opening at the Astor: 25 December 1963. U.S. release: December 1963. U.K. release: 8 March 1964. Sydney opening at the Regent. 9,290 feet. 103 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Successful lawyer Nicholas Arden (James Garner) goes before Judge Bryson (Edgar Buchanan) in Los Angeles with his fiancée, Bianca Steele (Polly Bergen) to: 1) petition the court to declare his former wife, Ellen Arden (Doris Day), legally dead, since she has been missing for five years following an airplane crash in the Pacific; 2) request the court to marry him to Bianca. This done, the newlyweds are happily on their way by car to their honeymoon in Monterey. Meanwhile, at the Naval base at nearby San Pedro, a submarine lands with Ellen, who has been rescued from a desert isle.NOTES: A re-make of "My Favorite Wife" (1940) starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick.The script was originally refurbished for Marilyn Monroe as "Something's Got To Give".COMMENT: A mild comedy, rather flatly directed and rather too enthusiastically played, considering the threadbare and overly familiar nature of the material. Doris Day sings two songs of equally forgettable quality. (I'm told that her son Terry Melcher helped out with the composition of the title tune).OTHER VIEWS: Feeble frolic. — New York Times.Heavy-handed and fundamentally irrelevant farce sequences are attached to an intrinsically surefire premise. — Variety.This one is just awful. Oh, Doris Day is just fine. She has a nice comedic style, mugs real good, and is right in there with the fast and slow burns and the double takes, but there's precious little else in this hokey, pretentious razz-ma-tazz. Garner is, let's not mince words, not the best farce man around... Thelma Ritter, Fred Clark and Don Knotts are wasted, but then so was our time. — Robert Salmaggi in the N.Y. Herald Tribune.A brightly colored mess. Suspense is lost because it would be inconceivable in the Hollywood scheme of things to have the country's No. 1 box office star lose her husband to Polly Bergen (who was unranked in the last exhibitor's poll)... Those with weak stomachs should leave before the scene in which Doris Day and the children admit they belong to each other. — Hollis Alpert in the Saturday Review.

Lawson This movie is a remake of My Favorite Wife, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, which I gave a 10 to. It's been a while since I've watched it the latter though, and at first I was hard-pressed to understand why I felt I liked it better than this remake, but it soon enough came to me.Both movies are vehicles of their leading ladies and tailored to suit their characters. Hence, with Doris Day, there is more slapstick humor and her character comes across as more "cutely" petulant. Irene Dunne is classier and she has an air of benevolence. Now I love Day but with this story, I feel that Dunne's character is more appropriate. And of course Cary Grant is more charismatic than James Garner, even if the latter is pretty hot in this movie.What Move Over has going for it is the queen of wisecracking supporting actresses, Thelma Ritter, who is as fun here as any of her other movies. Also, without the disadvantageous comparison to My Favorite Wife, this movie is a charming enough romantic comedy in itself.

bkoganbing Move Over Darling with James Garner and Doris Day which is a remake of the RKO classic My Favorite Wife is probably better known for being the end result of the disaster known as Something's Gotta Give. That of course is Marilyn Monroe's legendary last film that she never finished.Looking over the cast of the unfinished Something's Gotta Give I have to say though I don't think it would have been Monroe's greatest film, the rest of the cast was pretty good. When 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn, Dean Martin also quit and the whole film was scrapped. At that point it was just decided to redo the whole thing with an entire new cast and apparently no one survived the change.I also imagine that a serious rewrite would have to be done in order that a role originally cast for Marilyn Monroe could fit Doris Day. Seeing Doris on the screen I can't imagine that Chuck Connors or in Marilyn's case, Tom Tryon, would have been unsuccessfully trying to catch her on a desert island for five years.The story as originally written by Sam and Bella Spewack has James Garner going to court to get his first wife, missing for five years after a forced ocean landing, declared legally dead. He wants to marry Polly Bergen. But wouldn't you know it, a Navy submarine rescues Doris Day at just that time and when she hears about Garner's new bride, it's Doris off to spoil that honeymoon.Polly Bergen was just great as the picture of sexual frustration on that honeymoon. Although I can certainly see Cyd Charisse in that same spot with Dean Martin. Edgar Buchanan is great as the crusty judge who declares Doris legally dead the first time and then has all the parties and then some in court to try and untangle things. That role was supposed to go to John McGiver and certainly those two would have been different types.It goes that way up and down the cast list, Don Knotts substituting for Wally Cox as the timid shoe salesman Doris has impersonate Chuck Connors so Garner won't be jealous. And I can't see much difference with Phil Silvers as opposed to John Astin as the smarmy insurance man. One thing I did notice is that there was no equivalent parts in Something's Gotta Give for Fred Clark the hotel manager and Thelma Ritter as Garner's mother. My guess is that whoever was supposed to play those roles may never have got on camera because there was no way to shoot around them.I suppose the best thing to do is not speculate, but enjoy the funny comedy that did come out of all the grief 20th Century Fox had with this film. Certainly only Doris Day could convince you that in five years she never succumbed to Chuck Connors.