This movie seems at first to be almost feminist for the time. Doris Day's character is a housewife who has always wanted to be an actress. When she finally gets a role in a soap commercial, her husband (played by James Garner) can't stand it. He believes that she should be perfectly contented with being a housewife. He gives her a tough time about not being at home constantly and she goes out of her way to try to be home. Even going to the extreme of taking photoshoots in their bedroom. James Garner's character is a doctor who delivers babies (this is important later on) and is not home very often so he is even more frustrated when she isnt there. While at the hospital he hears a woman say "there's nothing more fulfilling to a woman than having a baby. He decides he wants to get his wife pregnant but gets frustrated when he drives his car into the new pool that the wife got from her soap company. As the story progresses, the husband tries to make Doris Day's character have a break down at work but pretending to have an affair and going to great lengths to portray it as such. The wife does have a breakdown on live television and makes a fool of herself. She starts to doubt herself even more. In the end Doris helps James deliver a baby and the baby "fulfills her". She has never felt this close to her husband (because he does this every day). She decides that she wants to be a doctor's wife again (apperantly she was no longer his wife when she got a job) and leaves acting behind her.

Filmed in living color, The Thrill Of It All is a very dumb, contrived and, generally, a very, very unfunny movie "Sit-Com" from 1963.This naive suburban/family-life story tries with all of its ever-loving might to be adorably cute and highly sophisticated both at the same time. And, unfortunately, it falls flat on its face on both counts, big time.Actress Doris Day is particularly annoying (as usual) as the suburban housewife who suddenly gets her 15 minutes of fame when she becomes the national advertising spokeswoman for "Happy Soap" products.There are definitely much better Comedies from the 1960s out there. I'd certainly pass on this preposterous nonsense if I were you.

Cute comedy that is hampered by outdated attitudes to a woman's place in the world. However if you can ignore the admittedly terribly sexist attitudes this has amusing situations and some wry observations about advertising and the gullibility of the public. It also has Doris Day at her most engaging looking beautiful in one gorgeous gown after another, the matching beaded dress and coat in the restaurant scene is amazing, as the Happy girl. James Garner's character is an almost unbelievably sexist jerk and it's a tribute to the actor's charisma and likability that he comes across so well. On the supporting end of the film Arlene Francis is dignity and grace personified as the late in life expectant mother with Edward Arnold as her sweetly befuddled spouse. Reginald Owen is a stitch as the crusty old head of Happy Soap and Elliott Reid adds a touch of normalcy as the level headed ad exec. Alice Pearce, Herbie Faye and the marvelous ZaSu Pitts also stand out in small roles, the kind that would be meaningless if not filled by a distinctive and capable character actor or actress.A frothy, silly and dated film but the talented cast makes it worth checking out.

Watching "The Thrill of It All" is one of those childhood memories that has some actual societal impact in retrospect. My sister and I knew this one as the "I Am a Pig" movie, and loved it. We left suburban Long Island, NY and our parents started a new life in rural New Hampshire in the mid-1960s. We laughed at the ranch houses and tiny yards that we saw in the movie, because we were reminded of what we left on Long Island, and enjoying the rural spaces of New Hampshire.While Doris Day and James Garner seem happy and carefree, there is a frightening subtext. Doris Day will be punished for her ambitions to be something more than a housewife, and her accidental quest fame as a TV spokesperson will punish James Garner, her husband as well. This for film marks the beginning of the end for suburban bliss and the candy-coated haus frau. The film does a great job of showing the hypocrisy of suburban life and the nosy neighbors and all that comes with 1963's idea of "having it all." The film is a great artifact of a bygone era: One that died with live television, the milk man's home delivery, and the one-income family.