- Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
play "Monsieur Masure" by Claude Magnier [ [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/title.jsp?stid=95563&category=Overview "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out" at Turner Classic Movies] ] .
ynopsis
Margaret Garrison is a stage actress who has spent her career starring in
virgin al roles, although she would relish the opportunity to play someone less savory, such as an Italian prostitute, at least once before she retires. When a blackout shutters her current Broadway play for the night, she returns home unexpectedly and discovers her architect husband Peter being overly attentive to attractive reporter Roberta Lane. Infuriated, she heads to the couple's weekend house inConnecticut and takes a potion to fall asleep.When embezzler Waldo Zane develops car trouble near Margaret's home, he sneaks in, unwittingly takes some of the elixir himself, and falls into a deep sleep beside her. Peter shows up, assumes his wife has been unfaithful, and heads back to Manhattan.
Waldo wakes up and tries to leave but is apprehended by the police when they discover the $2.4 million he stole from his company hidden in his car. He explains he merely took the money for safekeeping during the blackout, is released, and is made chief executive of his firm as a reward for his quick thinking.
Margaret's agent Ladislaus Walichek, anxious because she has announced her plan to retire, keeps her husband's jealousy burning in the hope their marriage will crumble and she'll be forced to continue working to support herself. Margaret and Peter eventually reconcile, but new questions about what really happened when the lights went out arise when she gives birth exactly nine months after that fateful night.
Production notes
The film was the fourteenth starring
Doris Day to premiere atRadio City Music Hall inManhattan .The title tune was written by
Dave Grusin and Kelly Gordon and sung by theLettermen .Morgan Freeman is seen briefly as aGrand Central Station commuter but did not receive on-screen credit.The
MGM release earned $7,988,000 at the box office in the US.The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Assoc of America (MPAA).
Principal cast
*
Doris Day ..... Margaret Garrison
*Patrick O'Neal ..... Peter Garrison
*Robert Morse ..... Waldo Zane
*Terry-Thomas ..... Ladislaus Walichek
*Lola Albright ..... Roberta Lane
*Jim Backus ..... Tru-Blue LouPrincipal production credits
*Producer .....
Martin Melcher
*Original Music ..... Dave Grusin
*Cinematography ..... Ellsworth Fredericks
*Art Direction ..... George W. Davis, Urie McCleary
*Costume Design ..... Glenn ConnellyCritical reception
In her review in the "
New York Times ",Renata Adler said, "a good part of the movie permits Miss Day to play an actress something like herself, and this might be fresh and almost poignant." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E06EEDC1230EF34BC4153DFBE668383679EDE "New York Times" review] ]Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times " stated, "I don't find it funny at all." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680703/REVIEWS/807030301/1023 "Chicago Sun-Times" review] ]"Variety" described it as "an okay Doris Day comedy, well cast with Robert Morse and Terry-Thomas . . . Averback's comedy direction lifts things a bit out of a well-plowed rut, making for an amusing, while never hilarious, film." [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117796321.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 "Variety" review] ]
"
Time Out New York " calls it "a sprightly comedy" and adds, "the performances are superb (Morse, O'Neal and Albright, especially), and Averback's comic timing is spot on." [ [http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/64484/Where_Were_You_When_the_Lights_Went_Out.html "Time Out New York" review] ]"
TV Guide " describes it as "a trifle that starts out funny enough but sinks into predictability, made somewhat better by the adroit acting that triumphs over the lackluster script." [ [http://www.tvguide.com/movies/lights-went/review/122704 "TV Guide" review] ]References
External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063801/ "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?" at the Internet Movie Database]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.