The Mating Game (film) The Mating Game (film) The Mating Game (1959) is an MGM Metrocolor film in CinemaScope directed by George Marshall, and starring Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall and Paul Douglas in his final film role. Reynolds sings the title song during the opening credits. The film was written by William Roberts very loosely based on a British novel, "The Darling Buds of May" by H. E. Bates, which was later adapted into a more faithful 1991–93 British miniseries, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role that Debbie Reynolds plays in the film. The film has been featured on Turner Classic Movies, and was
Scott Darling (screenwriter) away from Christie Films with the promise of an opportunity to direct in addition to writing screenplays. While adaptations from other works was Darling's forte, between 1922 and 1928 at Universal he directed 27 silent films and wrote 40 screenplays. With the advent of sound film, he easily adapted to creating dialogue and wrote scripts for early "talkies" such as Fox's "Trent's Last Case" (1929) based on the E. C. Bentley novel and directed by Howard Hawks. Six years after directing his last silent film, Darling tried his hand at directing a sound film in the United Kingdom but was