Oh my golly gosh, another squeaky romance…perky Doris Day does her best Doris Day impression; Jack Lemmon tries to stay afloat and a host of cutesy elements battle for supremacy. The story is so so…widowed Jane Osgood (Day) is raising children and lobsters in Maine, when her business is derailed by an abrupt decision by a railway boss. With the help of her longtime friend George (Lemmon), her neighbours and the press, she takes on the railway.Jack Lemmon is such a good actor, he seems a bit wasted here. I never saw less chemistry between two leads (except maybe when real-life couples appear on screen!). Maybe it was just me, but I found their single, anti-climactic kiss as sexless as Doris Day's screen persona. This feels like a real shame, since no one does pathos like Lemmon, and his kindness to Jane – looking after her kids, supporting her in his way – seems to deserve a proper love scene, not one in which the train takes the applause. Yes, I get that it's funny – but it could have been funny and sweet and foolish too, no? – instead of just rushed? The best comedy has a bit of sadness to it.I can't help but feel that George/Lemmon is emasculated – and that this isn't resolved at all in the film, despite the powerhouse speech he gives, despite his eventually taking action, and despite Jane's finally choosing him. When she shrills out "George!" for the umpteenth time, Lemmon's scowl is straight out of his drag gig in "Some Like It Hot" which doesn't help his position as the 'love' interest. Even the woodenness of his square-jawed journalist 'rival' doesn't make poor old George look more interesting or masculine. If I was George I'd have taken up with the lobsters (he'd get more lovin').So generally this left me a bit cold, and I find I very much prefer the slightly darker Doris that you can see in "Love Me or Leave Me" with James Cagney. (If even that Doris doesn't work for you, try any 50's Douglas Sirk melodrama.) And as for Jack Lemmon, I'll seek him out in any great tragicomedy, since that was clearly his great gift.

I lived in Centerbrook(Essex) when this movie was filmed. I was 10 or 11 years old at the time. For many years I knew of the movie but never took time to see it until this past weekend. Some 25 years ago I moved to Chester Connecticut which is where a good deal if not the majority of the town of Cape Anne was filmed. I noted in another post Essex, Deep River and Hartford mentioned and seemed to leave out Chester. Chester residents were involved and played minor and support roles as residents. The local scouts were in the lobster bake scene and sang as a group and did some solos. I have been contacting some of my childhood friends to see if they can identify any of the scouts or adults who were part of the cast of residents. Despite the local flavor influencing me this film had a great story line and Doris Day and Jack Lemmon were at their best.

This is a fun period movie. It's a great snap shot of rural New England in the late 1950's. I remember watching this movie when I was a young boy growing up in the Hartford area of Connecticut. Thought the story is about the fictitious town, Cape Anne, Maine, the story was actually filmed in Connecticut. I remember everyone being excited about the movie because they had filmed scenes at the Hartford Railroad Station, one being where George kisses Jane. Back then we all had traveled someplace from the Hartford Station. The movie's vivid color gives us great views of the landscape, the old New England houses, stores, churches, and court house. The "Town Meeting" as it was, and still is, in some ways still in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The various types of cars of the time, and of course the different trains. It's a great story of the little guy (gal in this case) against the big corporation. Doris Day and Jack Lemmmon are at their best as well as the supporting cast. This is a movie the whole family can sit down to and have a great time, especially if you are from New England.

Viewing this as a baby boomer today and remembering watching as a near teenager in 1960 or there about; I found this to be refreshingly warm, funny, and filled with some very beautiful scenery of America the beautiful. When I originally viewed this movie it was more of a good guy or girl versus a bad guy. Today on a cable movie network I watched it and was in awe of the beauty I missed as a young lad. Watch the movie for content, for Jack Lemon, Ernie Kovacks, or just because of Doris; but take a moment to observe the buildings, the towns, the scenery featured during the train ride, or just to see the townspeople in the parade at the end and maybe you will find yourself asking these same questions.Where did the filming of this movie actually take place? Was the parade the actual city's population and band? Why did the movie industry abandon a wholesome Americana for such violent and explicit movies? It Happened to Jane; is a wonderful movie that should be a real life experience that happens to all of us. This today was more like a journey back to my childhood than just watching a movie. Perhaps if we as movie goers supported this venue of entertainment, then we might get back to being America the Beautiful as beautiful as she once was. Yes, she is still the best place in the world, but wouldn't it be grand to return to those happy glorious Doris Day(s) of yesteryear. R. John a fan of America the Beautiful