I remember seeing a film years ago (possibly black and white) about a
man whose wife / friend comes back as a man / woman (I can't remember
which). The man takes some convincing but ends up realising the person
in front of him was someone he knew.  I don't remember many details
but I think they live near the beach and the film ends with the person
coming back as a dog. Any idea what the film was?  I know there was a
similar film more recently where a womanising man comes back as a
woman but the one I remember is much older.

Hello.

The film was "Goodbye Charlie" (1964).


From a newsgroup message archived by Google Groups:

"What's that movie with the guy living in the beach house (Tony
Curtis?) whose best friend (and roommate?) is reincarnated as a woman
(Doris Day?) and then she dies and comes back as a dog?  It's not
SWITCHED with Ellen Barkin (which I thought was cute) but WHAT'S UP
CHARLIE or GOODBYE CHARLIE or something like that.  Great movie."
http://groups.google.com/group/bit.listserv.cinema-l/msg/d3c02024efebc360?hl=en&

"Movie:
GOODBYE CHARLIE
Year: 1964
A chauvinistic womanizer is murdered and comes back to earth as a
woman (Debbie Reynolds).
Near the end of the film, the woman is killed and comes back as a
Harlequin Great Dane."
http://www.6stardanes.com/hwddan3.html


"Shot by a jealous husband, Charley falls out a porthole and is lost
at sea only to find himself returned as an attractive blond woman. His
best friend is staying at his house as he puts Charlie's affairs in
order and after being convinced, finds himself an unwilling helper in
Charlie's new plan to marry into money."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058154/plotsummary

VHS at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IBMF/

------
search strategy:
"comes back as a woman" movie

I hope this helps.

Clear answer and other references which confirmed this was the answer I requried

Thank you for the tip.
-juggler