DVD Review
For me, the gem of the set is 1949’s It’s a Great Feeling directed by David Butler. Only Doris Day’s third film, this was an attempt to showcase Day, as well as duplicate the success of the Hope/Crosby team with Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson. Hollywood also has a great time spoofing itself, as some of the biggest stars of the era appear in cameos: Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson, Danny Kaye, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman.
The nonsensical but fun plot concerns a “little country girl” hailing from Gurkey’s Corners, Wisconsin, Judy Adams (Doris Day), who works in the commissary as a waitress at Warner Brothers and wants to be in pictures. As it happens, Jack Carson is about to direct himself in a musical called Mademoiselle Fifi, because everyone else refuses to direct him. Believing Mademoiselle Fifi might be her ticket to stardom; Judy arranges to deliver lunch to Jack Carson, then locks the door and launches into a melodramatic monologue and overdone poses. Clearly, the studio hadn’t decided what category Day belonged in just yet; In It’s a Great Feeling she comes across as the young ingénue, which doesn’t quite suite her. Carson decides he can use Judy to his advantage by having her pose as the “secret” Mrs. Carson for Dennis Morgan so he’ll appear in Carson’s picture. It’s a well written scene and Day shows the comedic flair she would later become known for. Carson climbs a tree so he can coach her from the window. When Morgan finds out their game, he demands, “What did you promise her to get her to do this?” and Carson wittily responds, “You know, a part in a picture, usual malarkey.”
Crushed by the insincerity of Carson, Judy decides to take the train back to Gurkey’s Corners, yet a guilty and somewhat amorous Carson and Morgan conspire to get her back. There’s the small matter and running joke that no one wants to be in a Carson picture, you see, so perhaps the “little country girl” would fill the bill as their much-needed leading lady. Hollywood looks pink and tropical and beautiful with sets being pushed around and no garbage or decline. At the train station, there’s a funny bit as the attendant tries to find information about the apparently obscure Gurkey’s Corners for Judy in a series of heavy tomes, only to have Morgan and then Carson seeking their own information on Gurkey’s Corners after he’s put the dusty books away until a minor question from a traveler causes him to have a total meltdown. Carson and Morgan vie for Judy’s attention, so they can subvert her from running home and marrying local sweetheart Jeffrey Bushdinkle and succeed in convincing her to give them another shot.
Meanwhile Judy, in an effort to interest studio bigwig Arthur Trent (Bill Goodwin), is made to be everywhere he is in a variety of guises, always flashing him a toothy Colgate grin and batting her eyelashes until he is dizzy. She becomes so over-exposed that finally they have to disguise her as an exotic French woman Yvonne Amour, with a background dreamed up by the studio publicity department. Trying to read her lines from the back of the fan she holds, she gets confused and flies off the stage, her wig coming off at the same time. It’s absolutely priceless. Its fun to see the alleged workings of the studio system with all the commissary waitresses working the room as the big band plays. Arthur Trent now sees the blonde that was making him nuts and wants nothing to do with her. Will the “little country girl” take the train back to Gurkey’s Corners, Wisconsin, or will she get her chance to join the stars at Warners?
The second film is Tea for Two from 1950, directed again by David Butler and co-starring Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Patrice Wymore, Eve Arden, Billy De Wolfe, and S.Z. Sakall. This one is a musical comedy based on the old play No, No, Nanette. It’s mildly entertaining but nothing notable.
Next up is Starlift, 1951, directed by Roy Del Ruth and co-starring Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson, and Ruth Roman. It’s all about Warner Bros. stars getting together to entertain the troops. Look for cameos by James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Virginia Gibson, Phil Harris, Lucille Norman, Louella Parsons among others.
Fourth is April in Paris, 1953, directed by David Butler and co-starring Ray Bolger and Claude Dauphin. Day plays a chorus girl trying to make it to the top and accidentally becomes a goodwill ambassador to France! Well, she goes there and official Bolger is with her. They make a surprisingly fun team and he steals some scenes. Any Bolger fans out there will appreciate this pairing.
The final film is MGM’s The Tunnel of Love, 1958, directed by Gene Kelly (“On the Town,” “Singin’ in the Rain”) and co-starring Richard Widmark, Gig Young, and Gia Scala. A married couple (Day and Richard Widmark) can’t seem to conceive a child, so they go to the “Rock-A-Bye-Baby” adoption agency and find it is more difficult than they expected. With many themes that are common today, Director Gene Kelly was trying something different and more mature, which Day needed after her Hitchcock turn and the results are interesting, to say the least.
Again, while the TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection doesn’t contain any of Doris Day’s best known films; it does give fans a chance to see the budding star in some of her early work. For you star watchers out there, a couple of these movies give you the chance to catch a glimpse at some of the 20th centuries biggest movie stars in a-typical cameos.
Four of the films come in standard, 1.33:1 screen sizes, and three of them are in color. The odd men out are Starlift, which is in black-and-white, and The Tunnel of Love, which is in 2.35:1 CinemaScope and black-and-white. All five films look good in their respective formats, with The Tunnel of Love looking great in anamorphic widescreen. Its B&W contrasts show up vividly, with deep black levels and no obvious signs of age. These are clean prints, probably touched up by the Warners transfer engineers, and looking as good as one could expect to them look.
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural audio doesn’t do much, but the soundtrack doesn’t call upon it to do much, so it’s all good. The movies are almost entirely dialogue, with a couple of incidental musical numbers that require little more than a midrange response. Fortunately, the midrange is fine and clear.
Each of the movies comes with its own set of extras, ranging from vintage shorts to classic cartoons. It’s a Great Feeling adds a blooper reel, dubbed “Breakdown of 1949.”
