Happy Anniversary (1959 film)
| Happy Anniversary | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | David Miller |
| Produced by | Ralph Fields |
| Screenplay by | Jerome Chodorov Joseph Fields |
| Based on |
Anniversary Waltz 1954 play by Jerome Chodorov Joseph Fields |
| Starring |
David Niven Mitzi Gaynor Carl Reiner Loring Smith Monique Van Vooren |
| Music by |
Robert Allen Sol Kaplan Al Stillman |
| Cinematography | Lee Garmes |
| Edited by | Richard Meyer |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,800,000 (US/ Canada) |
Happy Anniversary is a 1959 comedy film starring David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor. Directed by David Miller, the movie's cast also included Carl Reiner and a young Patty Duke. Duke's next film, The Miracle Worker, would earn her an Academy Award.
Chris Walters (David Niven) is a happily married father of two. For his 13th wedding anniversary, he sneaks home with a gift for wife Alice (Mitzi Gaynor), a diamond brooch, and with a desire to have a romantic interlude.
Interruptions ensue. If it isn't their children, Debbie *Patty Duke) and Okkie (Kevin Coughlin), needing something, it's their maid, Millie (Elizabeth Wilson), or it's Alice's mother Lilly (Phyllis Povah) on the phone. And then two delivery men arrive with a new television set. It's a gift from Alice's parents, Lilly and Arthur (Loring Smith).
Chris is not pleased. He hates television. He thinks the whole idea of TV is a needless distraction and corrupting influence on today's youth.
At work, Chris has a partner, Bud (Carl Reiner), who is trying to woo a new client, Jeanette Revere (Monique Van Vooren), a woman who has been divorced four times. Jeanette is amazed in this day and age that a couple can remain happily married as long as the Walterses have.
Over a celebration dinner, Chris lets it slip that he and Alice had sexual relations a year before they got married. Lilly and Arthur are offended, having been under the impression that Alice didn't have relations with Chris until they were wed. They storm out. Chris is so angry, he kicks in the screen of the new TV. He argues with Alice and has to spend his anniversary night sleeping on the sofa.
A gift arrives from Bud—it's another TV. Chris is irritated again but promises not to cause a scene this time. When they turn it on, however, a show called "Kids Kouncil" has his daughter Debbie as a guest. And the child blurts out for all to hear that her parents are having marital difficulties and had been intimate prior to their wedding. Chris again kicks in the TV.
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Wikipedia