Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker play two rather eccentric teenage girls (is there any other kind?) who find fascination in the comings and goings of Henry Orient (Peter Sellers), a world renowned pianist they come upon kissing his married mistress (Paula Prentiss) in the Ramble in Central Park. Like Doris Day's victim (a perplexed movie producer) in "It's a Great Feeling", Sellers gets paranoid every time he sees these two girls. In real life, having someone appearing in comical ways out of the blue rather frequently would drive a person to become unglued, and the publicity shy Sellers is truly put off by their childish pranks. Walker, the neglected daughter of wealthy but unhappily married Tom Bosley and Angela Lansbury, likes to play "fantasy" games of acting like somebody totally different. Today, we just call it a desperate cry for attention. At one point, she feigns a medical crisis; At another point, she claims to shopkeeper Al Lewis ("Grandpa Munster") that she's waiting for her mother, Jayne Mansfield! Each time gets the two girls into trouble. When mama Lansbury and papa Bosley come back from a trip, the two girls are separated, but when they get back together for one last visit to the shy Sellers, mama Lansbury gets involved which brings a show-down over the neglect Walker feels.
Some people may not find these two girl's antics amusing, but there are a few moments that are truly funny. The film drags here and there, and finally settles into domestic drama that unleashes the reasons for the wealthy girl's strange behavior. Spaeth and Walker aren't your Patty Duke/Sally Field 60's teen; They reminded me of Hayley Mills' two "Parent Trap" characters needing a good dosage of Ritalin. Other than perhaps being raised without a father, there's no explanation for Spaeth's character's willingness to follow in Walker's footsteps. Phyllis Thaxter is Spaeth's sensible mother, and that wonderful rather obscure character actress Bibi Osterwald is hysterically funny as her eccentric pal. Lansbury plays one of her typically typecast harridan mothers, although in her Christmas party scene, she looks a lot like how she would just a few years later in "Mame". Her future "Murder She Wrote" co-star Tom Bosley adds a lot of heart as her unhappy husband. This is a comedy that will require the viewer to think a bit more psychologically than normal in movies. A good usage of Manhattan scenery is another one of the film's pluses. I do not see how this could be musicalized, as it was for the 1967 Broadway flop "Henry Sweet Henry". As for Peter Sellers, he is always hysterically funny, and especially so when he is expressing exasperation at the girls' constant sudden appearances during awkward moments. But basically his character is a cad, sort of a continuation of his role in "Lolita" minus the desire for "jail bait".
Some people may not find these two girl's antics amusing, but there are a few moments that are truly funny. The film drags here and there, and finally settles into domestic drama that unleashes the reasons for the wealthy girl's strange behavior. Spaeth and Walker aren't your Patty Duke/Sally Field 60's teen; They reminded me of Hayley Mills' two "Parent Trap" characters needing a good dosage of Ritalin. Other than perhaps being raised without a father, there's no explanation for Spaeth's character's willingness to follow in Walker's footsteps. Phyllis Thaxter is Spaeth's sensible mother, and that wonderful rather obscure character actress Bibi Osterwald is hysterically funny as her eccentric pal. Lansbury plays one of her typically typecast harridan mothers, although in her Christmas party scene, she looks a lot like how she would just a few years later in "Mame". Her future "Murder She Wrote" co-star Tom Bosley adds a lot of heart as her unhappy husband. This is a comedy that will require the viewer to think a bit more psychologically than normal in movies. A good usage of Manhattan scenery is another one of the film's pluses. I do not see how this could be musicalized, as it was for the 1967 Broadway flop "Henry Sweet Henry". As for Peter Sellers, he is always hysterically funny, and especially so when he is expressing exasperation at the girls' constant sudden appearances during awkward moments. But basically his character is a cad, sort of a continuation of his role in "Lolita" minus the desire for "jail bait".