The late Doris Day is her cute-as-a-button self in this 1966 comic spy caper directed by Frank Tashlin. Day stars as Jennifer Nelson, part-time mermaid for her father’s (Arthur Godfrey) Catalina Island area glass-bottomed boat tourist ride and the new hire for an aeronautics research lab headed up by Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor). After a bumpy initial encounter—while fishing where he shouldn’t be, Bruce accidentally snags Jennifer’s mermaid tail—the suave Bruce discovers that Jennifer is an employee and sets in motion Project Venus to win her over, while she thinks that she is simply taking notes. But when a security guard (Paul Lynde) overhears Jennifer calling "Vladimir" on the phone (her dog—she routinely lets it ring to drive him nuts and get some exercise), everyone except Bruce—the company, the military, and the CIA—becomes suspicious that Jennifer is a Russian spy trying to steal Bruce’s hush-hush "GISMO" anti-gravity formula. Will Jennifer be able to turn the tables on these men who seem more than willing to seduce as well as spy-bust their suspect? The strong supporting cast includes Dom DeLuise, Dick Martin, and John McGiver, although the scene-stealer here is Bruce’s aggressive Roomba-style robot vacuum in his bizarre designer kitchen of tomorrow. Buoyed by the eminently hummable (if also overlong) title song, The Glass Bottom Boat is still a seaworthy rom-com that will appeal to fans of Day and classic comedies. Extras include vintage featurettes and the Oscar-winning 1965 cartoon short "The Dot and the Line." Recommended. (R. Pitman)
The Glass Bottom Boat
Warner, 110 min., not rated, Blu-ray: $21.99 Volume 34, Issue 4
The Glass Bottom Boat
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