Paramount Studios presents

With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)

"Maxine, when are you going to stop trying to find me a husband?"- Abby (Doris Day)

Stars: Doris Day, Brian Keith
Other Stars: Pat Carroll, Alice Ghostley, Barbara Hershey, Elaine Devry, John Findlater, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, George Carlin, Allan Melvin, Vic Tayback
Director: Howard Morris

MPAA Rating: G for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 01h:34m:45s
Release Date: 2005-05-03
Genre: comedy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	B-	B	B+	D-

 

DVD Review

With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) was Doris Day's last feature film role, and over time it has had to bear the inevitable comparisons to the similar Yours, Mine and Ours (starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda), also from the same year. Both films were about two single-parent families, a second marriage, and the merging two households full of noisy kids, all under one roof. In this film, Day is paired with the likeable Brian Keith, and for my money the two make a more believable couple than Ball and Fonda, who I always had trouble seeing as anyone but their real-life personas.

Directed by perennial cartoon voice talent Howard Morris, With Six You Get Eggroll has Day's independent Abby McClure—a widow with three boys—developing a love/hate/love relationship with Keith's single dad Jake Iverson, as well as his teenaged daughter, played by a young Barbara Hershey. In the years since The Brady Bunch and just about every sit-com plot since then, the blending of two families has often been used as the framework for comedy, and here the usual pitfalls are played out. There's Abby's matchmaking sister Maxine (Pat Carroll), the wacky housekeeper (Alice Ghostley), and even a hippie motorcycle gang (featuring M*A*S*H*'s Jamie Farr and William Christopher), all crossing paths as Abby and Jake eventually realize they were meant for each other.

From a fashion standpoint, Day sports some really bad hair in this film, led by a laughably bad piled-on flip that makes her look like she's trying to hide a stack of waffles on her head. Even with the bad 'do, Day and Keith coo and bicker nicely, have a familiar split-screen Pillow Talk moment, building to a wonderfully loud argument, a wacky chase scene (with cameos by the cinematic odd coupling of George Carlin and Vic Tayback), and even a hint that maybe the pure and demure Abby and gruff and raspy Jake may have knocked boots, pre-marriage.

I've always had a thing for Day, so I don't mind saying that I always find her breezy, natural line reads rather refreshing, making her seem less like a screen star, something that Lucille Ball just could never do in my eyes. Ball was always "Lucy", whereas Day, who admittedly played variations of the same character throughout the 1960s, seemed to radiate a genuine warmth that I have always found to be immensely watchable. This may not be her best work, and as a swan song to her film career it can't even hold a candle to Pillow Talk or The Man Who Knew Too Much. It is, however, a pleasant precursor (maybe not the original, but certainly one of the more memorable) to the flood of "combined family" storylines that would get reworked over the following decades.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	2.35:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Review: The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer from Paramount is very pleasant, with colors and black levels looking quite good throughout; fleshtones, however, occasionally appear a bit too red. The print is remarkably clean, with no visible traces of specking or debris to be found.

Image Transfer Grade: B
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: Audio is handled by a pair of recently remastered tracks, available in either 2.0 or (oddly enough) 5.1 surround. The 2.0 track is not particularly showy, offering the dynamic range of a cleaned-up mono recording of the period. Dialogue is presentable, with no hiss or noise. Normally a 5.1 remix on a light 1968 comedy might seem like an unnecessary waste of technology, but when comparing it to the 2.0 surround track there is a noticeable improvement in spatial movement, with voices appearing to move across the front channels. This isn't a showcase mix for your system, but the small directional accents are nicely done, considering the film's age.

Audio Transfer Grade: B+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 16 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extras Review: No extras, not even a trailer to be found. The disc is cut into 16 chapters, with optional English subtitles.

Extras Grade: D-
 

Final Comments

This 1968 comedy with Doris Day and Brian Keith has some fun moments, mostly layered around the banter between the two leads. A large number of familiar faces play supporting roles, including an adorably headstrong Barbara Hershey, making this a watchable bit of predictable family fare.

Rich Rosell 2005-05-18