Happy Anniversary (1959) User Reviews

I laughed out loud a few times

[brackenhe · 7/10 · 25 April 2008]

I'd never seen this film before today, but it was a cute little movie about a NY family in the late 1950's. David Niven plays the husband, who comes home a little tipsy on his anniversary (he's married to Mitzi Gaynor) with his law partner and their client who just got her 4th divorce. When the client finds out it's their 13th wedding anniversary, she laments that she's never been able to have as happy a marriage as the lawyer & his wife.

The thing is, underneath it all, Chris (Niven) is an old fashioned guy and wants his marriage to be like it was in the beginning--all romantic and sexy. Alice (Gaynor) takes a more practical view. They have been married a while and have 2 children (delightfully played by Patty Duke & Kevin Coughlin.) The trouble starts when they receive not 1, not 2 but 3 TV's for their anniversary--which starts trouble every time one of them is delivered. The main reason is because Niven thinks he's being pushed around by everyone--his wife, children, maid, partner & in-laws. Things escalate to the point where the daughter goes on TV and tells a very embarrassing story about what happened when her parents had an anniversary dinner with her grandparents. The story takes a some what serious turn at this point but all ends happily.

Niven blows hard over everything and there are lots of misunderstandings. However, it's not bad for an 83 minute movie. It doesn't require too much from the viewer but it's a pleasant diversion mainly because of the kids & the in-laws. And it's a nice bridge from old fashioned family life to a new type of family life that the 60's brought. The kids may be a little too clever (I don't remember being that clever at 10 & 12) but they bring a lot of humor. The son even drinks 3 glasses of champagne and gets a little tipsy, which would never fly in a movie in this age of "family values." It's not a great movie, but it has some laughs and it's not insulting to the viewers intelligence even when it goes over the top.

Funny 60s sex comedy

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 13 November 2020]

In 1959, there were several precursors to the typical "1960s sex comedy," including Pillow Talk and Happy Anniversary. In this hormone-based comedy, David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor are married with two kids and too busy to focus on each other anymore. Of course, we all know it that means when The Niv comes home from work early, gets into his bathrobe, and calls Mitzi up to the bedroom. Then, with phone calls, kids barging in, and their cook interrupting, they sigh and face the rest of the day without their afternoon diversion. Niv complains and reminds his wife how much fun they had the year before they were married, sneaking off to hotel rooms and going to dive bars.

When Mitzi's parents (whom The Niv naturally hates) come over for dinner, Niv drinks one too many cocktails and lets the cat out of the bag. Mitzi's folks are shocked and disgusted that he sampled the goods before the wedding, and when he reminds them, "Well, I married her, didn't I?" it doesn't go over well. Of course there are fights and humiliations and vows never to forgive, and by the end of the night, The Niv is banished to the couch while Mitzi hides behind her locked bedroom door.

If you like to chuckle about jokes old movies get past the censors, you might like this one. While out to lunch on a date without their family responsibilities, The Niv promises to never lose his temper again. Mitzi is so grateful, she asks if there's anything she can do for him. He smiles and the scene cuts to show the outside of a hotel. When they come home later that afternoon, they're all smiles and giggles. I thought it was entertaining because David Niven's comic timing is wonderful, and it was funny to see him take all his frustrations out on his wife instead of reverting to his playboy ways. I normally can't stand Mitzi Gaynor, but if there's anyone who can make her look good, it's The Niv. Try it out with a bunch of your girlfriends and cocktails this weekend!

Wear and tear on the marriage

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 December 2013]

Happy Anniversary which was known as Anniversary Waltz on Broadway had a good 611 performance run on Broadway in 1954-55 season. Authored by Jerome Chodorov who was having blacklist problems in Hollywood it finally made it to the big screen in 1959 probably for that reason. But the delay knocked the props out of the big gag of the play.

David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor after 13 years of marriage and 14 year of kanoodling with two kids to show for it are having some wear and tear on the marriage. A big issue is Niven's old fashioned views on television, he hates it and won't have it in his house.

In 1954 a lot of people still didn't own a set. But by 1959 when I was 12 years old just about every family did. It was the major medium of entertainment and news and the two hadn't quite blended yet. Niven was not funny, in fact he was downright ludicrous.

And heavens to Betsy he actually admits that he and Gaynor were kanoodling even before it became official. That gets a good row going with her parents.

Gaynor got to sing a song in the film while she and Niven were dancing on their anniversary. Musicals were rapidly disappearing and good thing she got a number in here. But Happy Anniversary will not go down as a great David Niven or Mitzi Gaynor film.

Hilariously funny...an enchanting film!

[Syd-20 · 12 July 1999]

As a young girl, my all-time favorite film star was David Niven. I went to as many of his films as I could. Happy Anniversary was a hilariously funny film. Of course, since television became such an American staple, some might not find the humor in it. I call TV the plug-in drug! So, I have always felt this very funny film was a masterpiece.

You can see the dividing line between two eras in film here

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 11 March 2016]

Mitzi Gaynor and Niven were quite good as a couple celebrating their thirteenth anniversary. I found the children annoying--especially the son. I found the conflict of the film amusing--Niven, after having consumed too much alcohol, lets it be known to Gaynor's parents that he and their daughter had engaged in relations prior to their marriage. This of course scandalizes Gaynor's parents, especially her mother who feels like a fool for having had a deep heart-to-heart conversation with her daughter (presumably about sex) the night before the wedding.

The other conflict in the film is that Gaynor's parents purchase a television set for the family. Niven deems television detrimental to family life and to people's intelligence and does not want one in the house. A running gag is that Niven keeps ruining the television sets. Anyway, the thing I was most surprised about was the amount of language in the film. While I'm used to 1950s films having more colorful words allowed (the word "hell" or "damn" will be heard once or twice in the film), Happy Anniversary seemed to have more of these words than I'm accustomed to in a film that is still technically in the production code era.

I also found the frank discussion of sex very interesting. At the beginning of the film, Niven and Gaynor's characters clearly sneak off to a hotel for a romantic rendezvous, then there's Niven letting the cat out of the bag about he and Gaynor's pre-marital sex, later, their little girl ends up on television to inquire about her parents' pre-marital sex and how that was negatively affecting their relationship.

There seems to be a recurring problem with films that have one foot in the production code era and one in the budding sexual revolution. They can't really figure out what they are about and wind up having neither the courage nor the quaintness of their convictions on either side. This one is mainly saved by Niven's charm and Gaynor's skill.

Shrill

[marcslope · 3/10 · 27 October 2015]

The real question is how the source material, a play by these screenwriters called "Anniversary Waltz," managed to captivate Broadway audiences for 18 months and tour extensively. (MacDonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle must have helped.) It's a prurient, shrill sex comedy about how a happily married couple with two 1950s-adorable kids endure a domestic crisis involving a) television's entry into their home and b) the revelation to her parents that they enjoyed premarital sex. It's smug and leering, and so's this loud film version, with a rather clueless David Niven and a posturing Mitzi Gaynor, directed by the seldom-reliable David Miller. The stately black-and-white photography (including some sumptuous 1959 NYC locations) helps, as does Carl Reiner in a capable best-friend supporting turn, as does Patty Duke as the daughter. Phyllis Povah and Loring Smith, as the parents, are tedious, as is the rest of the supporting cast, as is a screenplay that seemingly chuckles at how naughty it's being. You get to see Niven smash a bunch of television screens, and Gaynor does attractively croon one song. But it's 1950s sex comedy at its most lascivious and boring, at the same time.

A head-splitting farce

[moonspinner55 · 1/10 · 13 October 2002]

New York family is the last in their neighborhood to get a television set, which nearly ruins David Niven's marriage to Mitzi Gaynor. Bedroom comedy that rarely ventures into the bedroom(and nothing sexy happens there anyway). Gaynor as an actress has about as much range as an oven--she turns on, she turns off. Film's sole compensation is a supporting performance by perky Patty Duke, pre-"Miracle Worker", as Niven's daughter. She's delightful; "Happy Anniversary" is not. * from ****

I thought a comedy was supposed to be funny...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 1 November 2015]

"Happy Anniversary" is a 'modern' comedy that tries to be edgy. It just forgot one thing...to be funny. So, with several curse words and references to premarital sex, it's not enough to make the film interesting. I think the problem is that it tries too much to be hip and not enough time focusing on fun.

The film finds a happy couple who have been married 13 years, Chris and Alice Walters (David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor). But when they receive the gift of a TV for their anniversary, trouble is brewing. Chris prides himself for not having a TV in the house and he doesn't listen to his family--he just demands they remove it. Then, though the course of the film, they bicker about not just the TV but other things...none of which is all that interesting.

I just found this comedy to be a bit tedious AND I really hated the character of Chris. He was supposed to be a modern and permissive dad but was actually a selfish jerk. Not much fun.

Funny family show.

[Carrie_the_Oracle · 9/10 · 20 April 2005]

Here's another one of those funny movies the whole family can enjoy. You can really relate to this one, because the funny things here really happen in real life. My favorite is Niven's toast at dinner that starts a family argument. I can just see my family reacting to it now. As usual in the fifties, family values are squeaky clean, but that doesn't deter from the plot or the humor, which is the kind Niven fans expect.

David Niven is great as usual. Patty Duke is excellent and funny. Mitzi Gaynor is the perfect Barbie send-up, and as always, perfect for the time. If I could find it on tape, I would buy it, since this is a classic for its time, like "The Importance of Being Earnest" was decades earlier.

Happy Anniversary is not very entertaining

[Aleta_Nook · 5/10 · 20 October 2015]

I have caught some of this this morning because the little girl that was playing in it was the same little girl that played Helen Keller on The Miracle Worker (1962). Looking quite different here, she puts on a cutesy nails-on-a-chalkboard Shirley Temple (if I may say so) voice which sometimes disturbed me about her earlier work. She looks a little like Natalie Wood or Margaret O'Brien. But her acting was pretty charming. None of the actors did an exceptional job, everybody had some forced moments.

The girl in there is obnoxious and precocious like her brother, she fights with her brother and I know that that can be that way with siblings, especially when they get older but they were still precociously insolent. Even to their parents, the children disregard the rules. That may not have been clichéd those days but it just didn't age well.

The movie pretty much only manages a chuckle out of me. The romance was just saccharine. And some of the scenes were forced.

CHARMING

[ivan-22 · 10/10 · 9 February 2000]

This kind of innocence and charm has been relegated to the distant past in our overly clever age dominated by blockbusters. We need to stay in touch with it. This flimsy, unpretentious comedy has more substance and structure than many a big budget movie. I am tempted to say "Don't miss it", but television is the only place you can see it. It's not even available on video. Good luck!

Charmless and dated

[graduatedan · 25 October 2011]

David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor, two talented actors, are miscast in this stagy comedy about a married couple whose past catches up to them just before they celebrate their wedding anniversary. The addition of a new to the household television set is the catalyst for a series of not terribly funny mishaps and lots of arguing. The dialogue is trite and stilted, especially coming from the mouths of the child actors, although all concerned sound as though they're reading their lines directly from cue cards. Had the film been shot in colour, it might have livened things up, but as it stands,the black and white photography just adds to the dreary proceedings.Happy Anniversary bubbles like flat champagne.