Review of Caprice

Caprice (1967)
9/10
Memories from the SET!
15 August 2001
A SUPER title for a film! Many have slammed this film. Doris Day detests it and will NOT talk about it. Why? It's polished, sexy, and stunningly filmed by Leon Shamroy! I believe this was his last film (although I may be mistaken). I agree that the plot was not exactly 007. But put it up against many of today's films and it's a fine body of work in many ways, albeit not in all ways. I personally do not think that Richard Harris was a good choice as a leading man for Doris Day. In 1966-67, my uncle was a longshoreman in Long Beach. He was also a rough rugged actor/stuntman in action films. He was doing something at Twentieth Century Fox and I asked him about Caprice. Could he get me in to see them film? So he went to the publicity department to get me some stills from the days shooting. Which he did. They were never officially released by Doris nor her husband. I felt fortunate to get both of them. The day came when he was taking me to the set where they were filming what he was working on and we would visit "Caprice". I skipped school and everything! Doris Day had fell filming and pinched a nerve in her back. She was in traction for quite awhile. They told us that they may have to scrap the film if she couldn't get back to work on it soon. I walked all around the sets. Remember the Eiffel Tower? They were really lush and that bed suspended from those big chains really swung(I sat on it inspite of the signs, I couldn't resist!). I, just a kid, was really impressed by it all. Martin Melcher spared nothing. It was lush! The interior of the jet was cool as well. At the end of the day, my uncle was able to get us a peek into Doris' bungalow at TCFox. WOW! They had great houses for their stars on the lot.

She had great clothes in the wardrobe area for the film. I remember how cool they all looked so perfectly maintained for filming. I particularly remember that pink hat she wore(I thought it was ugly). There were two of them as I recall. And several Platinum wigs. She refused to dye her own hair that color so the hair dresser, Barbara, said. I felt like a fly on the wall around there. The sets all said "HOT SET, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING!" I didn't. I felt VERY privileged.

Caprice was also Doris Day's last commercial recording on the Columbia label, for whom she recorded her entire recording career. It was a single that received good airplay on stations around the world that played easy listening stuff back then. It certainly wasn't as good a recording as "Move Over Darling"! For instance, they LOVED it in Portugal and Spain! The single was released with a high quality picture sleeve there! It's nothing to rave about, but lush, and rich just like the film "Caprice".

Hope you enjoy these memories of mine.
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