Just think that if Doris Day had not for some reason named her dog, Vladimir there might have been no plot at all for this Frank Tashlin comedy.
That might have been bad because this was the best of Doris Day's films in the late sixties as she was beginning a downward drop in her box office appeal. The Glass Bottom Boat was the second film she did with Rod Taylor as co-star and the first of two she did with Frank Tashlin as director. And this one was the best product in both associations.
Doris works in public relations at a space lab in California where scientist Rod Taylor is developing new stuff for the Defense Department and NASA. She also doubles and helps her dad Arthur Godfrey on his glass bottom boat tourist vehicle. One of the things I like best about The Glass Bottom Boat is Doris sings again on screen, once in a nice duet with Arthur Godfrey on his ever present ukulele. She also sings her most famous song, Que Sera Sera once again for a new generations of film fans.
One thing about Doris's later films, she always had excellent supporting casts and this one is loaded with some very funny people like, Edward Andrews, John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Dom DeLuise, Dick Martin, George Tobias, and Alice Pearce. They all fill roles that you would expect from them.
The Glass Bottom Boat has Rod Taylor concerned with plant security in regard to his top secret work. An overzealous security guard played by Paul Lynde overhears Doris call her dog on the phone. What she does is that in order to give the pooch some exercise during the day she calls her own number, counts the rings and then says something to the unanswered phone. It's for the dog to get exercise because he runs around like a maniac when the phone rings.
From that we deduce that Doris is a Soviet spy and the real CIA in the person of Eric Fleming is called in. This was Fleming's last big screen appearance before he was drowned on location in Peru. A very sad end to a career that might have been the equal of his Rawhide co-star, Clint Eastwood.
Seeing Paul Lynde in drag, questioning an inept spy played by Dom DeLuise is worth seeing this film alone.
