User reviews

A lot of cute fun with some wonderful moments. Sandra Dee is adorable and Bobby Daren is even better. The actress who plays Dee's mother, Micheline Presle, is the highlight of the film. Just like in Molly Hewitt's contemporary humor book "Men Are Dogs: In the Best Possible Sense!", she advises her daughter that if you think of a man as a completely different species from women (i.e. that they're dogs) then you will understand why they behave very differently from women. But the point of both the movie and the book, it's okay, men and women just aren't the same thing, and it's the little differences that are so funny. And if you haven't seen "Beyond the Sea" check it out. It's the Bobby Darin bio pic that will be in theaters soon.

"If a Man Answers" is a nice comedy-romance that stars two of the most promising new actors from the late 1950s. Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin had each won a Golden Globe as the most promising newcomer to film. She for her role as Evelyn Leslie in "Until They Sail" of 1957, and he for his role as Tony in "Come September" of 1961. Dee also was in the latter film, and the couple was married by then. This is one of three films they made together while married (1960-67).

This film has a very good plot and script. Darin and Dee play newlyweds, Eugene and Chantal. Micheline Presle and John Lund are very good and funny as her parents, John and Germaine Stacy. Cesar Romero is very funny in his short supporting role as Eugene's father, Adam Wright, who poses as Robert Swan, a fictitious love interest of Chantal (and of her mother in days gone by). The plot has a unique aspect, but to tell more would give it away. It's hilarious. Darin sings two songs with the title and credits of this film.

This is a film that most people should enjoy for the plot, the characters and the acting. Darin's songs add some flavor and a touch of nostalgia.

Darin will be remembered much longer for his great musical talent. He composed music, wrote songs and had a voice that made him one of the great male singers of the 20th century. But for his early death in 1973, Darin likely would have given us many more hit songs and memorable tunes. Can anyone hear "Mack the Knife" being sung and not picture Darrin singing the song that topped the charts in 1959? It continues to be played and heard in movie soundtracks, on radio, and in other venues well into the 21st century. Among his other hit songs were, "Beyond the Sea," "Splish Splash," "Dream Lover," "Let's Fall in Love," and "One for My Baby."

Darin and Dee's marriage may have been ideal at the start, but it ended in 1967.

Darin died at age 37 after open-heart surgery on Dec. 20, 1973. He had severe rheumatic fever as a child, and wasn't expected to live beyond his teens. Only late in his life and after his death did much of his background become public. Not even he had known that the woman whom he thought was his older sister, Nina, was actually his mother; and that Polly, whom he thought was his mother was really his grandmother. He learned the truth from Nina just five years before he died.

Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto, May 14, 1936, in East Harlem, New York City. His name was that of his mother and maternal grandparents. Nina became pregnant with him in the summer of 1935 when she was 17. Out of wedlock births in those days were very scandalous, and the family wouldn't consider an illegal abortion. So, they moved a few blocks and Polly passed Bobby off as her new son and brother of her teenage daughter Nina. Bobby's maternal grandfather was a gangster who died of pneumonia in prison a year before Darin's birth. Even after Nina told Bobby the truth about their relationship in 1968, she never revealed to him or anyone else who Darin's biological father was. While the family was poor, they were all close. Bobby's health suffered as a child, but he had a great singing voice, and he taught himself to play several instruments

Sandra Dee had come from a marriage that ended when she was five. She was born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1942. She was abused by her stepfather and was anorexic most of her life. She was driven by her mother who wanted her to become an actress. She was a model at age four and then an actress in TV commercials. She moved to Hollywood in 1957 and made her first film that year. She became well known and liked in her ingénue roles. Her movie career began waning after her marriage to Darin, and when they separated she became a recluse and alcoholic. She died of kidney disease on Feb. 20, 2005, at age 62.

Darin and Dee had one son, Dodd (born in 1961), who wrote a book in 1994 about his parents, "Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee." He also worked on films about his parents and Bobby's music. Kevin Spacey played Darin and Kate Bosworth played Dee in a 2004 biopic, "Beyond the Sea." Before that, PBS aired a 90-minute documentary in 1998, "Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song," and the A&E Biography series ran a 2001 episode, "Bobby Darin: I Want to Be a Legend." Darin had a popular TV show in 1973, "The Bobby Darin Show."

While both of these young stars of the mid-20th century had troubled childhoods and tragic ends, they made good marks on society and American culture. We would be missing something had they not been born.

If A Man Answers was another attempt by Universal to make husband and wife Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee their junior league Rock and Doris. This comedy has Sandra as a rich, but free spirit who marries professional photographer Bobby Darin. It's the story of their early days of marriage.

A girl's best friend is her mother and Sandra has Michelline Presle of France for a mother. Let's say she knows how to keep a man dangling, interested, and wanting more. Sandra was raised in both France and America and her father is Bostonian John Lund. Even raised in Boston Lund's learned a few tricks himself.

Bobby and Sandra had their followings back in the day, both individually and as a couple. Their marriage and divorce was followed as obsessively as those of Liz Taylor for a slightly older set. Neither remarried when the marriage broke up. It was true love apparently but of a combustible kind.

Cesar Romero has a key role in one of Dee's stratagems that Darin turns on her. He's as charming as ever.

Fans of Bobby, Sandra, and both will approve.

This film, adapted from Winifred Wolfe's novel, has its moments and most of them are given to us by a very rare character in fifties comedies: an irresistibly attractive woman in her forties. Micheline Presle plays Sandra Dee's mother, and the dispenser of some delicious advice: Treat your husband like a dog. Sandy's taken aback, like everyone else, until Mother points out that dogs are treated with affection and respect - husbands often get neither. And then wives are surprised when they don't come home.

Oh, there are other pleasures - Dee and Darin are agreeable, and Stefanie Powers gets to be the bitchy girl friend. But Presle is such a joy, she's worth the price of a ticket.

OK, so Henry Levin's "If a Man Answers" has a dated depiction of relations between men and women. But there was a scene early in the movie that informs us of a continuing problem: parents' excessive insistence that their children get married or do whatever. Does the older generation not realize that sometimes the younger one needs to take the time to figure out where it wants to go? There's a reason why large numbers of millennials are still single. Sandra Dee's earlier movie "A Summer Place" also looked at tension between the generations: she and Troy Donahue are in love, but their cold, spiteful, bigoted parents won't hear of it.

Like most of Sandra Dee's movies, this one is real eye candy. Enjoyable eye candy, I should say. The movie even goes so far as to mention sex education (much like how "A Summer Place" used the word sex). It's a safe bet that anyone who scorns it would praise it if it starred the overrated Doris Day. Dee - anorexic for much of her young adulthood due to her treatment by the studio execs - finally got the respect that she deserved when the Castro Theater in San Francisco hosted a retrospective of her movies, and she attended as guest of honor.

The second of three films with sandra dee and bobby darrin. Chantel has the same squeaky clean image as dee's earlier role as gidget. When chantel and eugene get hitched, it's a bumpy road. Chantel's friend gets involved, and in an attempt to untangle things, her own parents are making things even worse. It's the silly, anti-establishment 1960's now, but not quite the flower power days yet. It's okay. A lot of talking, and towards the end, it gets pretty silly. Keep an eye out for cesar romero and stefanie powers in small roles. Directed by henry levin. Story by winifred wolfe. Dee and darin were actually married in life, as well as in the films, for an extra twist. It's okay. It helps to know dee's history and her earlier films!

And this comes from a lifelong feminist.

I saw this film on TV back in 1973, along with "That Funny Feeling". I have just bought both movies on DVD.

They're both cute movies made in the early 1960s. I take them for what they are. They're funny, sweet flicks that leave something to the imagination.

I liked Chantal's mother....yes, an attractive woman over 40. How often do you see that today in youth-obsessed Hollywood? Everyone dressed age-appropriately and not a pair of fake breasts to be seen!

Sandra looked lovely, as always.

There are too many things in this world these days to get bent out of shape about - this movie is not one of them.

This is nothing but a "feel good" movie, and sometimes those are the very best kind to watch. I saw this movie years and years ago but haven't forgotton it. Why haven't they released it for home viewing yet? I want it on DVD...but I'd take it on VHS. I JUST WANT IT!!!!

This lush Ross Hunter film of 1962 which attempts to patch together some BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S New York romantic sex comedy imagery and fashions (and scenes) along with a PILLOW TALK / LOVER COME BACK farce script almost succeeds in being enjoyable in 2011 by the fact it is well made. BUT and it is a massive BUT, it is miscast and relies on twee marriage drivel to put across some risqué (at the time) script and situations. Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin might have been a screen team du jour but are not of the calibre of actual adults. Had this been an Elvis Movie instead of Bobby Darin then we might have been in a soon to be classic 60s movie, as he would have the screen charisma Darrin lacks. Dee is fine fun and well dressed, her father the silly sort of role Eddie Albert plays better, and the art direction and set design terrific. But overall it is trite and sexist and really contrived. It is likable but you really have to be kind to it and accept the mentality of the time. The music has the foghorn sounds of forced farce and the silly xylophone tinkling of sitcoms like Bewitched, a TV show this precedes but points to. It gets some good sex talk across by the dubious method of having a French mother sexually prep her ripe daughter!

Some people seem to have to trash any movie as if that's being a critic. This is a very fun movie to watch. Chantal's (Sandra Dee) marriage has become ho hum and her husband seems to be more interested in work, with models no less, then his new wife so Chantal sets out to renew the spark their relationship once had but she finds no success. Then her mother suggests a book on training a dog to her. At first Chantal is repulsed but having no success any other way why not give it a try. The result is a madcap, whirlwind comedy from the good old days with the tables being turned on Chantal and her mother. This movie isn't on video but if it ever airs on TV again don't miss it! You'll enjoy being entertained and won't even miss the shock content directors add these days. The movie is a film of the play by the same name. Don't miss it and don't let jaded psuedo-critics dissuade you from watching this fun movie with more then one insightful point to ponder.

If you can catch this classic on TMC or AMC, do so because unfortunately it is not available on video. It is a smart, witty story.

Another great formula comic "misunderstood lover" movie from the 60's.

Chantal Stacy (Sandra Dee) half French and three quarters Bostonian is out to get herself a husband. Her victim is Eugene Wright (Bobby Darin). Once she is attached, she is having a hard time handling different marriage situations. With a little help from her mother and a book on training man's best friend it looks like she will have situation once more in hand.

However, as we suspect you cannot correct problems with the formula and the situation gets out of hand. As with most comedies we go way out into left field; will they be able to recognize each other's problems fixed this and live happily ever after or will Eugene Wright find himself in the doghouse?

Actually, you will find this movie to be quite fun and will want to repeat viewing for the nuances that were missed.

See these two again in "Come September" (1961).

Terminally coy and unsexy sex-farce, even more teasing than the popular Doris Day bedroom comedies from this era, has Sandra Dee married to photographer Bobby Darin, trying to make him jealous to get his mind off the models--later attempting to train him like a dog! Dee never warms up to the camera: she poses instead of acts, her heavily lipsticked mouth always puckered in surprise. Bobby Darin (Sandy's real-life husband) is looser and more involved with the audience, but he plays a stock character, the inattentive husband. Film doesn't even look good: the sets are cumbersome and the décor is tacky. Two Golden Globe nominations: Best Supporting Actor Cesar Romero and Best Motion Picture-Comedy. *1/2 from ****

We have been looking for this movie for a number of years. Such a great and fun movie that beats a lot of the so called popular movies today. It has a great cast and a different storyline. I remember seeing this decades ago and still love it. I would buy a copy if anyone could find it. Surely Amazon could find it and convert it and make a nice chunk of money for a mid-century Rom-Com. It's golden!!

This movie didn't work for me on any level. The script is blatantly silly, corny, and contrived, with no pretensions of any kind of realism. Because of that you can't take it as a drama, and it's not funny enough for a comedy, so it's just amusing silliness. The overtly contrived, corny ending was just way too silly. Overall, this style of movie is over the top and therefore distasteful. It features explicit sexual references, a refreshing change from the Doris Day style goodie-goodie veneer that's really all sexual innuendo, but still falls flat having long since lost any shock value. Darin doesn't come across well, he just has no sizzle. Dee doesn't appeal to me, neither as cute, beautiful, funny, charming, nor talented. I like the wardrobe and the tiny waist. The chemistry between them didn't work for me. I didn't feel that they really liked or loved each other. Partly that's because of the ludicrous script and situations. The mom might have been OK but I couldn't get over the lame, almost not even there French accent. The script is crude, using obviously contrived devices to move so effortless among the plot points. They fall in love, marry, argue, and connive with the silliest motivations. The foghorn was ineffective and incomprehensible. Even on repeated play of the cartoon opening and pausing it to study and discuss it, I still feel that the meaning of the foghorn was not obvious enough. It might have been OK for then, but it's only good for nostalgia now.

If you love the lighthearted, romantic comedies of the 1960s, then you'll consider this one of the all time classics. In the same genre as the wonderful Doris Day movies of the same era, this will provide fun, wholesome viewing. A must-have for movie collectors of this time period!

Okay, so Dee ain't Day, and Darin is hardly Hudson. There's a couple of surprises in this movie. In fact, there's a delicious exception to the rule: a woman in her forties who is wise, glamorous and a successful wife and mother. Micheline Presle plays Dee's mother, and she's the one who advises her daughter to treat her husband like a dog. "Husbands often leave home; pets never do. There must be a reason." And, "Most husbands are not given the affection and consideration of the average dog." She smiles knowingly, and Dee begins to follow instructions: "Never lose your temper with your puppy...Praise him lavishly when he does something right...Make living with you so much fun he never wants to go anywhere else..." And it works. Food for thought.

This movie is so dated! The sole goal of Sandra Dee is to get married, and her mother spends all her energy teaching her how to hook an unsuspecting man by playing hard to get, lying, manipulating, and letting him think the proposal was all his idea. If he needs that much cajoling, maybe he doesn't really want to get married - maybe he'll be a lousy husband!

My prediction proves true. After Sandra Dee marries the womanizing photographer Bobby Darin, she turns into a cooking, cleaning housewife and expects marital bliss. But it isn't long before his head gets turned by a new model, Stefanie Powers. Sandra goes back to her mother for advice. Micheline Presle takes her aside for a gigantic secret: the one book every woman should read in order to have a good marriage forever. How to Train Man's Best Friend. I'm not kidding. The great secret every woman in 1962 should learn is to treat your husband like a puppy to be trained, and you'll be happy for life! Really, folks, avoid this movie unless you really love dated mindsets and still laugh at silly '60s sex jokes. It's not even fun to see Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee together, since they're squabbling the whole time. And if you're waiting for Cesar Romero to show up, since he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance, you'll have an extremely long wait on your hands. He's in the movie for about ten minutes, but they are the best ten minutes of the movie. The ending is quite funny, but you'll have a lot to suffer through to get to it.