Early Doris Day movies on DVD
A bevy of movies have arrived on DVD this week, led by the third collection of early Doris Day pictures from her contract years at Warner Bros.
"TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection" (Warner, 1949-58, five discs, color and b/w, $49.92), aka "Doris Day Collection 3," includes four musicals, three starring Day and another in which she is just one of many stars on parade.
"It's a Great Feeling" (1949, color) is a frantic backlot musical lampooning Hollywood, with Day as a young actress tapped by two Warner stars (Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson as themselves) for a new movie. Amusing comic cameos are provided by Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, Sydney Greenstreet, Jane Wyman, Danny Kaye, Joan Crawford, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal and, as the film's punch line, Errol Flynn.
"Tea for Two" (1950, color). Day co-starred with Rock Hudson in three films — but she was paired with Gordon MacRae in five, including this amusing musical based on the play "No, No, Nanette," with Day taking a bet that she can answer "no" to every question over a weekend (sort of the opposite of Jim Carrey's "Yes Man"). Solid comic supporting cast helps — especially S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall as Day's uncle, and as her secretary, the great Eve Arden, whose snappy one-liners nearly steal the show.
"Starlift" (1951, b/w). Day gets top billing in this fluffy fictionalization of star-laden USO shows, but the plot revolves around Ron Hagerthy as a naive corporal and Janice Rule as a young starlet from his hometown in a publicity-contrived romance. Day plays herself and sings several songs. Other guest stars include Ruth Roman, James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Jane Wyman, Randolph Scott, Phil Harris and the comedy team of Noonan & Marshall (Peter Marshall of "Hollywood Squares" as straight man to comic Tommy Noonan).
"April in Paris" (1952, color) is a sprightly musical with buoyant Day and bouncy Ray Bolger — but they have zero chemistry in this song-and-dance yarn about a State Department employee who romances a showgirl.
"The Tunnel of Love" (1958, b/w, widescreen) is an anomaly here, the only nonmusical, and the only non-Warner film (it's from MGM). Day and Richard Widmark (in a rare comedy turn) star in this typically coy sex farce of the late 1950s as a suburban married couple who try to adopt when they are unable to conceive a child. But thanks to sleazy neighbor Gig Young, contrived complications bring stumbling blocks.
Extras: full frame/widescreen, radio shows, short films, cartoons, "breakdowns" (bloopers), trailers
Comments
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