If a Man Answers ** (1962, Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, Cesar Romero, John Lund, Micheline Presle, Stefanie Powers) – Classic Movie Review 11,758

Sandra Dee in 1959.

Director Henry Levin’s 1962 film If a Man Answers is a glossy, fluffy and innocuous, but, alas, mostly unfunny Sixties sex comedy, with newly married rich socialite Chantal Stacy (Sandra Dee) trying to make her photographer husband Eugene Wright (Bobby Darin) jealous in order to train him to be the perfect husband.

Cesar Romero helps to add some sparkle as Darin’s dad, Adam Wright, who is on Sandra’s side, and a young Stephanie Powers scores well as the envious, devious friend Tina friend who tries to break the couple up, though John Lund is less amusing as Sandra’s dad, John Stacy.

If you get bored with the story, you can always bathe the eye in Dee’s Jean Louis haute couture gowns.

Richard Morris’s script is adapted from Winifred Wolfe’s novel.

Dee and Darin were really married in a highly publicised partnership: they wed in 1960 and also made Come September (1961) and That Funny Feeling (1965) together before their divorce in 1967.

Also in the cast are Micheline Presle, Stefanie Powers, Christopher Knight, Ted Thorpe, Roger Bacon, John Bleifer, Pamela Searle, Warrene Ott, Dani Lynn, Charlene Holt (her film debut), Gloria Camacho, Ednay Van Dyke, Roselaee Calvert, and Gladys Thornton.

Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005).

If a Man Answers is directed by Henry Levin, runs 102 minutes, is made by Ross Hunter Productions, is released by Universal, is written by Richard Morris, is shot in Eastmancolor by Russell Metty, is produced by Ross Hunter and Edward Muhl, is scored by Hans J Salter, and is designed by Alexander Golitzen, with music by Bobby Darin.

‘If a Man Answers’ (music and lyrics by Bobby Darin) and ‘A True, True Love’ (music and lyrics by Bobby Darin) are performed by Bobby Darin.

The film ends with the French word ‘Finis’ followed by ‘We hardly think so’.

In 1961 producer Ross Hunter announced this film to star David Niven, Tammy Grimes, Nancy Kwan and Claudette Colbert, but he re-thought it with Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee after their success in Come September (1961).

Dee and Presle are shot with flattering gauze filters, and so is Bobby Darin, whose face, Hunter felt, looked puffy in Come September (1961) and State Fair (1962).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,758

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