Good story, Not enough for a whole film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' is another Doris Day film that was seen recently as a quest to see all of her films not yet seen. After seeing it, 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' is worth seeing, it is not quite as fresh as a daisy but sticking with it and seeing it grow is worth it.Day has certainly done much better films, as has David Niven and Charles Walters, but Day has also done worse. 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' at its best is delightful and doesn't try to do any more than necessary and be more than it is. Its reputation seems to be mixed to lukewarm, count me in as those who thinks it deserves better. It is certainly not without its faults.Like in 'It Happened to Jane', and almost as badly, the children are badly cast, try far too hard to be cute and end up being so sugary cutesy it'll give one toothache and are at their worst rather obnoxious. The film does drag a little towards the end, as a result of trying to do a little too much, and a couple of scenes at this point are not placed as comfortably as they could have been.Likewise with the otherwise pleasant songs, the title song coming off best. Once again Day sounds beautiful, musically and in an interpretative sense she's spot on and there is a lot of sincerity in her singing.Day is a sheer delight in 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' too. She is perky and charming with a naturally sparkling presence and deft comic timing. David Niven is debonair and urbane and the two gel so well and dazzle together. Niven is particularly good with Janis Paige however, which boast some hilarious moments. Great support from lively Janis Paige, ever scene-stealing Spring Byington and suitably stuffy Richard Haydn.Charles Walters seems comfortable with the material, and handles it and the cast well and mostly handles the various subplots adeptly. There is a lot going on here with five subplots, the story could easily have been bloated but manages not to be and it's all done in a way that's fun and relatable.Much of 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' has a fast, snappy pace, only being bogged down towards the end. The script is easy to relate to, very funny in a light way and has a surprisingly sophisticated edge.Visually it's all very colourful and stylish with exemplary use of CinemaScope, while the music has energy and nuance.In conclusion, not perfect but a nice film that passes the time inoffensively, and is more than a just for completests film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Heard the news that Doris Day might have a comeback in Clint Eastwood's at the age of 93, after her full retirement from showbiz in 1973 (which later have been dismissed as a rumour), timely reminds that I have never watched any of her films, so the introduction piece is this family-friendly comedy inspired by Jean Kerr's 1957 best-selling collection about her mode of living in suburb while raising four boys.Doris Day plays Kate, married to a professor-turned-drama-critic Lawrence Mackay (Niven), they live in a small apartment in NYC with four young boys, their lease is going to expire, so Kate is planning to move to the countryside, where they can afford to buy a larger house, good for their boys too. But Lawrence's new career requires him to be near theatres in the city, and he also enjoys the urban life and what it entails. Basically, the plot perfunctorily resolves around a series of lighthearted marital disagreements with four kids frolicking around and a scare-easy Spinone named Hobo.Day is given the superstar-treatment, apart from a dashing wardrobe, her Kate, is portrayed as a perfect housewife, obliging and graceful, with a good heart, whom one can take to social parties and back at home she can single-handedly manage four mischievous kids. She doesn't need to bother her husband while being in charge of the renovation of a rundown mansion and being maximal understanding when her husband is under stress or in a bad mood. During her leisure time, she volunteers to direct and star in an amateurish play for the local school, which mainly prepares a stage for Day to perform her singing and dancing routines.Niven, stays gentlemanlike in his comfort zone, his Lawrence is Kate's perfect match, as a theatre savant, whose influence is so puissant that he can close an entire play if he badmouths it, he struggles between his professional conscience and obligation for his friend Alfred North (Haydn), and incredibly levelheaded when a seductress Deborah Vaughn (a flashy Janis Paige) proposes an indecent suggestion. Also this film is Spring Byington's silver-screen curtain call, who plays Kate's mother and inculcates some rather olde worlde marital advices.Frankly speaking, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES is a lukewarm comedy, no more than a time- killer in a lackadaisical evening, for die-hard fans of two leads only.

Worth it for the Metrocolor and the interior sets alone. Well-written. Well-acted. The story takes time in developing depth, but the depth is there. They don't force it. People mock Doris Day films mostly because they don't understand the worth of that, and are not accustomed to relaxing.The early part of the movie struggles a little to match the novel in evoking what is happening under the surface. Comedy-drama is not an easy genre, the strain shows a little. But well worth the ride. Relaxing and rewarding viewing, with satisfying (often surprising) laughs.

In one of his novels, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli makes a comment about people who make a career as "critics". He says they are people who failed in writing, acting, painting, and the arts in general. And that viewpoint has been the normal one that critics have faced throughout history. Aristophanes makes fun of them in one comedy where he has to have either Euripides or Aeschylus return from the dead to save Greek drama (Sophocles agrees not to get into the contest - he'll remain to take care of drama in the underworld!). So it goes through literature, particularly drama. Possibly the best spoof is Richard Sheridans' under produced comedy THE CRITIC, which is one of the funniest spoofs of playwriting in theater.The movies have not helped the love-hate image of critics. Look at such examples as Addison DeWitt in ALL ABOUT EVE, or Waldo Lydecker in LAURA. One is a cynical snake at times,and the other a killer. But Addison (based somewhat on the great George Jean Nathan) does have a good critical brain, and when you listen to his comments on theater they are enlightening. Moreover, he is the one who brings the really bad Eve Harrington to heel finally. As for Waldo, he does misuse his powers as an all-around critic (note how he attacks an artist named Jacoby when the latter starts dating Laura), but his comments have validity (we even see Laura laughing while reading the column. Waldo (based on Alexander Woolcott) is an intelligent critic, but egocentric, and sexually a mess (he's obviously gay, but deeply attracted to his female friend and protégée). He also is a first rate judge of character - note how he and the detective (MacPherson) end up agreeing about what a weak creep the socialite Shelby is.PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISYS was based on a novel by Jean Kerr, the wife of the critic for the Herald Tribune Walter Kerr (best remembered now for his excellent study THE SILENT CLOWNS about Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Arbuckle, and the rest). Using her own family for the models of the novel, Kerr tells the story of critic Lawrence Mackay (David Niven), his wife Kate (Doris Day), their four sons, and dog, and how they face two momentous events: Lawrence's move to be chief Broadway critic on his newspaper, and their forced move to a suburban house.As another comment on this thread pointed out there is a plot theme borrowed from GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE and MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS IS DREAM HOUSE about the problems about renovating an old house and making it livable again. This problem is compounded by Lawrence letting his new position go to is head. He is constantly returning to New York City either to go to plays, or to give lectures on the drama. Kate, of course, ends up having to watch the boys with her mother (Spring Byington) and her maid (Patsy Kelly), as well as getting the right furnishings for the house. This is not conducive to maintaining good relations between husband and wife.On top of this, Lawrence becomes very self-important. His mother has sent him a young man (Jack Weston) who has just written a play, figuring that Lawrence can give him some tips. In his smuggest way, Niven's Lawrence manages to turn the friendly Weston into a disgusted acquaintance by questioning not the structure or scenes or characters, but the choice of subject for the play (it's a biblical story). Worse, Lawrence treats his old producer friend Alfred North (Richard Haydn) scurvily by giving an "honest" opinion about a new comic review of his, starring a sexually hot actress Deborah Vaughn (Janis Page). The review takes it's author's view of the stage too highly, forgetting that the production was light-hearted, not Ibsen or Becket but Feydeau.Both producer and star want revenge - Vaughn slapping Lawrence in the face in a restaurant, and North thinking of showing off the truth about the critic's abilities. Chance plays into North's hands. Kate gets involved in an amateur acting group in their new community, and North sends her a play that they can do (only altering one detail: Lawrence wrote the play years earlier, and North changes the author's name). So the acting group (with Kate as star) practice and prepare to show the dismal work, which North intends to reveal as the work of Lawrence - but only after all the other leading critics of the other newspapers are on hand to see opening night!Yes it is a nightmare for a real critic - and Niven's Lawrence handles it...well as it should be handled. The production of the film is good, with nice set pieces. The "vampire" like lady shown the Mackays' apartment while they are caught unprepared (the building manager is left only with saying, "Poor Mr. Mackay...Poor Mrs. Mackay"), who is tough enough to not care if she puts everyone else on the street. Or the problems of Lawrence trying to break into his own house when everyone's asleep. It is a fine comedy, and certainly one of Day and Niven's best films (and the only one they ever made together).