Not one of Doris Day's best remembered films from the 1960s, Do Not Disturb is the second of three new DVDs released by 20th Century Fox for their Cinema Classics Collection line (Move Over, Darling and Caprice are the other two -- click on the titles to see my reviews). If 1962's expensive flop Jumbo was the first, small negative blip on Doris Day's 1960s radar, buried amid the substantial hits That Touch of Mink and The Thrill of it All, 1965's Do Not Disturb was the first substantial indication that the "Doris Day: America's Sweetheart" bandwagon was beginning to stall out, and that the formulaic, fluffy comedies that husband/agent/manager Marty Melcher was constantly pushing a reluctant Day into, were becoming stale and out of date.

Janet Harper (Doris Day) is married to Mike Harper (Rod Taylor), an American wool executive who has come over to England to overhaul a struggling wool manufacturing company. Desiring a convenient flat near his office in London, Janet instead aggravates Mike by leasing a big house way out in the country. Comic problems arise as Mike finds it difficult to make it into town on time - especially when bad driver Janet is behind the wheel of their cute little MG sports car. With Mike frequently away at the office, Janet soon grows tired of his absence. Not helping matters is the fact that Janet's neighbor, Vanessa Courtwright (Hermione Baddeley) spots Mike in town, having an intimate (yet innocent) drink with his personal secretary, Claire Hackett (Maura McGiveney) - who has designs on an oblivious Mike. Hatching a scheme with Vanessa to make Mike jealous, Janet invents a lover, using the name of Paul Bellari, her decorator whom she's never met, sending flowers to herself in his name.

When Janet gets an unexpected visit from Paul Bellari (Sergio Fantoni), who's been warned off by Mike, through Paul's assistant, to not see Janet, she unwittingly goes along with Paul to Paris for lunch, and ostensibly to see a Queen Anne dining room set that Paul feels is perfect for her house. Naturally, Paul has designs on Janet, and gets her drunk in Paris. Resisting his advances, even though she believes Mike is cheating on her, she passes out with Paul in his Paris storefront, where they accidently locked themselves in for the night. Of course, Mike tracks down Janet and Paul, and sees them in the store front, whereby he promptly socks Paul in the eye.

When Janet finds out through Mike's associate Simmons (Reginald Gardiner), that Mike must attend a fabric convention that's for men only - and their mistresses - Janet pretends to be Mike's secretary Claire (who she believes is sleeping with Mike), to catch Mike in the act. Charming the ski pants manufacturer Willie Langsdorf (Leon Askin), who thinks she's Mike's mistress, Janet confronts Mike at the hotel convention, about his so-called affair, and the usual complications arise.

Shot entirely on the Fox backlot, Do Not Disturb's English and Parisian atmosphere is as fake as the process shots that put Doris on London streets and "English" countrysides (which look awfully similar to the stomping grounds of various Planet of the Apes films). To help get across the feeling that we're in jolly old England, numerous silly cliches of "typical" mad-cap English humor are inserted, including the English's funny money, their bad TV programs, their silly electrical plugs (Rod almost gets electrocuted with one), their confusing road signs, their plethora of bird watchers and fox hunters, and on and on. Even with all of that, I was surprised at how dreary Do Not Disturb came across. Lacking any sense of lightness of tone, or internal comedic rhythm, Do Not Disturb fizzles out early. There's a whole lot of talking in Do Not Disturb, and very little romance or comedy. Based on a bum play to begin with, Do Not Disturb's script is strictly TV fare, not aided by the TV direction of TV veteran Ralph Levy.

The performances don't help lift the generic, I Love Lucy material, either (not surprisingly, Levy had worked with Lucille Ball on her show, directing the pilot episode). Rod Taylor, a solid, dependable dramatic and action-oriented actor, was never particularly well suited to comedy, and he comes across as gruff and forced here. Sergio Fantoni doesn't give off the required romantic allure to convince us that he's a force to be reckoned with (for that matter, neither does distracted Taylor), and Baddeley isn't around long enough to register as anything more than as a brief plot device, akin to Ethel Mertz egging on Lucy Ricardo. Leon Askin is fun, and Reginald Gardiner is his usual sly self, but they have little to do amid the cheerless, almost bleak production.

Day looks tired and drawn here, and it's obvious her heart isn't in the inferior material. In her autobiography, she was already aware at this point in her career that she was agreeing to appear in films that were distinctly sub-par, but that, pro that she was, she still insisted on doing. Do Not Disturb is a good example of that deterioration of her material, and set the stage for the public to be increasingly wary of her films as the 1960s wore on. Trading more and more on her tomboy, up-for-any-kind-of-fun image, Day is made to do some pretty embarrassing turns here, including a dud of a soccer game, her stint as a one-man band, and a drunk scene that goes on forever. The only place she really shines is in the film's climax, where a gorgeously decked out Day, in a sequined, shimmery, skin-tight red dress, gets to show her stuff on the dance floor, shaking her rear end in glorious, close-up CinemaScope (by the way: it's perfection). But even this sequence, and a final last-minute attempt at a save, with some mixed-up bedrooms at the hotel, can't rescue Do Not Disturb from the doldrums. It's a pity that such a talented actress as Day, the Doris Day of Love Me or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Pillow Talk, wound up the 1960s making piffles like Do Not Disturb.

The DVD:

The Video:
As with the other two new Fox Doris Day DVDs, the restoration process for Do Not Disturb is quite good, although the film itself is rather dark and gloomy looking, compared to most of Day's 1960s efforts. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image has been cleaned up, and looks much better than its usual TV panned and scanned presentation.

The Audio:
Do Not Disturb offers a strong Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo option, as well as the original mono track. A Spanish mono track is also available. Subtitles come in English, French and Spanish, and close-captioning is available.

The Extras:
Perhaps sensing that there really wasn't much to discuss concerning Do Not Disturb, the extras on this disc aren't as impressive -- or to the point -- as for Move Over, Darling and Caprice. The Rise of Doris Day is a ten minute featurette looking at the career of Day, with some good insights into her persona and her legacy. Doris Day's Best Friends is a fun, enlightening six minute look at Doris' great passion in life: animal welfare. Anchored by friend Jackie Joseph, it's a nice tribute to the star's good works. The Extra Prince: Michael Romanoff is a fascinating, but irrelevant -- in context to Do Not Disturb -- eleven minute look at the infamous Hollywood personality. The Music Man: Mort Garson is a ten minute treat, looking at the well-respected music composer and arranger. There's the restoration comparison that's found on the other two Day DVDs, as well as a trailer for Do Not Disturb that advertises the "Doris for a Day" contest that invited look-a-likes to enter and win a trip to Hollywood. There's a good photo gallery, as well as trailers for the other two Fox Day DVDs.

Final Thoughts:
I'm a huge Doris Day fan, and I'll watch anything she appears in, but I won't be revisiting Do Not Disturb, and that's saying something for me. Drab and relatively humorless, with forced comedy scenes and too much exposition, Do Not Disturb fails to deliver the goods we expect from a Day romantic comedy. Instead, we get cliched TV sitcom predicaments and an unsteady, unconvincing production design. Fans of Day will want to buy this disc, but I would recommend renting it first.