Bella Move On Darling (1963) is a Comedy/Romance starring Doris Day as Ellen Wagstaff Arden and James Garner as Nicolas Arden. Nicholas Arden heads to the courthouse with his fiancé to be married, but before he does so he must get the judge to sign a petition pronouncing his old wife, Ellen Wagstaff Arden as dead. She was lost at sea but was eventually rescued and made her way home just in time for the honeymoon. She follows them to the hotel to ensure that they never consummate it.This flick has it all- great acting, a darling cast, hilarious scenes throughout that will have you rolling on the floor laughing and a superb plot. Doris Day is stunning and classy. I would recommend this film to all lovers of romantic comedies.

DKosty123 Comedy Writer/Director Leo McCarey originally filmed this as My Favorite Wife with Carey Grant starring. The original is better. This one while it has a talented cast has several things that handicapped it's success.There was a shadow over the production as it originally started filming with Marilyn Monroe in 1962 as Somethings Got To Give. Marilyn died before it could be completed so it was re-shot with Doris Day replacing Marilyn.This redo relies too much on tung-in-cheek comedy trading on the Doris Day clean & pure image while not enough on the comedy. The film does not take enough advantage of James Garner who is in peak form but not given enough to do in this version of the film. Even in the 1960's this formula story is wearing out as social changes had already happened making the plot seem trivial. Hetrosexuals in the 1960's were trying to cast off the bonds of marriage so they could swing and be more free. This movie still acts like the values which are being replaced are still in place. That is even a bigger problem with My Favorite Wife now, but this one, while planted firmly tung-in-cheek for comedy, doesn't hit the bullseye often enough.If your a Day or Garner fan this is good. If your interested, the incomplete Monroe version of this from 1962 is available too as well as the Grant version from 1940.

bkoganbing Move Over Darling with James Garner and Doris Day which is a remake of the RKO classic My Favorite Wife is probably better known for being the end result of the disaster known as Something's Gotta Give. That of course is Marilyn Monroe's legendary last film that she never finished.Looking over the cast of the unfinished Something's Gotta Give I have to say though I don't think it would have been Monroe's greatest film, the rest of the cast was pretty good. When 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn, Dean Martin also quit and the whole film was scrapped. At that point it was just decided to redo the whole thing with an entire new cast and apparently no one survived the change.I also imagine that a serious rewrite would have to be done in order that a role originally cast for Marilyn Monroe could fit Doris Day. Seeing Doris on the screen I can't imagine that Chuck Connors or in Marilyn's case, Tom Tryon, would have been unsuccessfully trying to catch her on a desert island for five years.The story as originally written by Sam and Bella Spewack has James Garner going to court to get his first wife, missing for five years after a forced ocean landing, declared legally dead. He wants to marry Polly Bergen. But wouldn't you know it, a Navy submarine rescues Doris Day at just that time and when she hears about Garner's new bride, it's Doris off to spoil that honeymoon.Polly Bergen was just great as the picture of sexual frustration on that honeymoon. Although I can certainly see Cyd Charisse in that same spot with Dean Martin. Edgar Buchanan is great as the crusty judge who declares Doris legally dead the first time and then has all the parties and then some in court to try and untangle things. That role was supposed to go to John McGiver and certainly those two would have been different types.It goes that way up and down the cast list, Don Knotts substituting for Wally Cox as the timid shoe salesman Doris has impersonate Chuck Connors so Garner won't be jealous. And I can't see much difference with Phil Silvers as opposed to John Astin as the smarmy insurance man. One thing I did notice is that there was no equivalent parts in Something's Gotta Give for Fred Clark the hotel manager and Thelma Ritter as Garner's mother. My guess is that whoever was supposed to play those roles may never have got on camera because there was no way to shoot around them.I suppose the best thing to do is not speculate, but enjoy the funny comedy that did come out of all the grief 20th Century Fox had with this film. Certainly only Doris Day could convince you that in five years she never succumbed to Chuck Connors.

Isaac5855 The final film project of Marilyn Monroe, SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE, was shelved after months of dealing with the temperamental and troublesome Monroe, 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn, the film was shelved, and Marilyn was dead a few months later. The project was later revived and revamped as a vehicle for Doris Day and the result was MOVE OVER DARLING, a predictable but watchable comedy in which Doris plays Ellen Arden, a woman who has been stranded on a deserted island for five years and is finally rescued, only to return home and find that her husband has had her declared legally dead and is preparing to marry someone else. This story is as old as the hills, dating back to the old Irene Dunne comedy MY FAVORITE WIFE, but Day is always watchable and works extremely well with James Garner, who is sexy and charismatic as Ellen's husband, Nicholas. Polly Bergen is very funny as Nicholas' new fiancée, the self-absorbed Bianca and the always reliable Thelma Ritter steals every scene she is in as Nicholas'mother. The film is tamer than the original Monroe vehicle, but the material has been perfectly revamped for Doris Day and she works hard at making the film worth watching.