criterionforum.org

I think there will be at least one person on this forum who will be happy to hear about the Doris Day Collection coming from Warner Bros. on April 26.

Like the Elvis collection, this will apparently not be an official "Signature" collection, but the eight (!) films included are:

Young Man With a Horn
Lullaby of Broadway
Love Me or Leave Me
Billy Rose's "Jumbo"
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
The Glass Bottom Boat (featuring Paul Lynde in drag, a young Dom DeLuise doing an excellent riff on Jerry Lewis' style, and a cameo appearance by Robert Vaughan)
Calamity Jane
The Pajama Game

Finally! Besides the fact Love Me or Leave Me could do with a commentary and isolated scores would have been a nice addition, Warner yet again delivers. Quite a few happy campers will be in heaven with this news.

Ohh, we also get another Frank Tashlin out on DVD (Glass Bottom Boat).

Doris Day scares me. It sort of weirds me out that someone so oddly masculine-looking was the woman American turned to as a symbol of pure, (if sexless) femininity.

Not that I don't love Pillow Talk, of course.

Pure feminity is never sexless. Martha, it all starts and ends with the voice. It's no fluke she is one of the recording giants of the 20th century on a par with Sinatra and Crosby. She had the ability, especially her subtle, longing recordings of the 40s to speak and relate one on one with the listener like no other. The fact she had a graceful, joyful screen presence and damn fine acting ability (probably the only actress who ever matched it with Cagney) only added to the allure. Sadly her reputation as the wholesome good girl of 50s USA is so entrenched with the populace however that her due as one of the key figures of Hollywood and the entertainment world in general seems remote as ever.

Well, you've at least sold me on giving her another chance. Like most of the ignorant masses, the only recording of hers with which I am familiar is Que Sera Sera-- what album would you recommend for a Doris Day moron (who totally digs 40s music, I probably won't be too hard to bring around)? What should I watch besides Pillow Talk? And can Rock Hudson be in it?

Her recordings with Les Brown are worth investigating, but her finest album is Duet, recorded in the early 60s with Andre Previn on piano. Films? Love Me or Leave Me (her masterwork), Lullaby of Broadway, The Pajama Game, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Calamity Jane (superior to the similar themed Annie Get Yor Gun) deserve a viewing or three.

I'm looking forward to On Moonlight Bay for early Doris and Gordon McRae and for later Doris, the truly ridiculous Caprice with Richard Harris and a way too old for her part Doris in a ludicrous 60's mod espionage plot.....

This is way off topic but I thought it was amusing:

Sex movie mix-up from the BBC.

Another quiet sort of comedy a couple years before the Rock Hudson films is Teacher's Pet with Clark Gable and Gig Young.

makes me wonder if they are saving Teacher's Pet for a Clark Gable set.....

Paramount is also releasing With Six You Get Eggroll and MPI is releasing The Complete First Season of The Doris Day Show on June 28.

Coming from Warner Bros. on April 10, 2007

The Doris Day Collection Volume 2 Six-disc set with "Romance on the High Seas," "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," "I'll See You in My Dreams," "Lucky Me," "My Dream Is Yours" and "On Moonlight Bay"; $59.92 or $19.97 each. (Warner).

* Romance on the High Seas (1948) Dir.: Michael Curtiz; Doris Day, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Jack Carson. Extras: Classic Warner Bros. musical short "Let's Sing a Song From the Movies," classic Warner Bros. cartoon "I Taw a Putty Tat."

* My Dream Is Yours (1949) Dir.: Michael Curtiz; Doris Day, Jack Carson, Lee Bowman, Extras: Vintage Joe McDoakes comedy short "So You Want to be an Actor," Warner Bros. short "The Grass Is Always Greener," classic Warner Bros. cartoon "A Ham in a Role."

* I'll See You in My Dreams (1952) Dir.: Michael Curtiz; Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Extras: Vintage short "The Screen Director," classic Warner Bros. cartoon "Lovelorn Leghorn."

* On Moonlight Bay (1951) Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary De Camp, Billy Gray. Extras: Vintage Warner Bros. musical short "Let's Sing a Song About the Moonlight," classic Warner Bros. cartoon "A Hound for Trouble."

* By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Rosemary DeCamp, Mary Wickes, Billy Gray. Extras: Vintage Joe McDoakes comedy shorts "So You Want to Learn to Dance" and "So You Want a Television Set," Warner Bros. cartoon "From A to Z-Z-Z-Z."

* Lucky Me (1954) Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy Jr., Nancy Walker, Martha Hyer. Extras: Vintage Warner Bros. short "When the Talkies Were Young," Warner Bros. cartoon "Sandy Claws."

So this just leaves It's a Great Feeling, Tea for Two, April in Paris, Julie, The Tunnel of Love and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?. Volume three collection box set perhaps?

David, the R1 Lucky Me is in scope, and looks a treat (I did warn on the R4 in the Oz thread!) Due to missing out locally on the Curtiz films, I ended up getting the R1 box, where the prints in general are very good. The Curtiz instinct on Day's ability as both star and actress really plays off over the course of these films - Drew Casper should have been bleeding on Warner's doorstep to record a commentary for Love Me or Leave Me.

West Point Story with Ms. Day was recently released in the Cagney box - a film I've never seen. Worth a look? I'm hee-hawing over the complete set, but am currently jaded over US flag-waving jingoism in movies (unless it involves chorus lines of legs, legs and more legs - where is Hit the Deck anyhow?)

Close The Door, Raymond wrote:So this just leaves It's a Great Feeling, Tea for Two, April in Paris, Julie, The Tunnel of Love and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?. Volume three collection box set perhaps?

That makes sense. She's one of the fews classic stars whose film catalog is almost complete along with Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland.

Have a tuneful "day" with this five-disc set of classic Doris Day musicals. First, the Hollywood spoof "It's a Great Feeling" (1949) stars Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson, as themselves, feuding over Warner Bros. studio commissary waitress Doris; with cameos by Danny Kaye, Joan Crawford, Ronald Reagan, and others. Based on "No, No, Nanette," "Tea for Two" (1950) finds heiress Day betting her uncle she can answer "no" to everything she's asked for 24 hours. Gordon MacRae, Eve Arden co-star; songs include "I Want to Be Happy" and the title tune. Made to boost Korean War soldiers' morale, the music- and celebrity-filled revue "Starlift" (1951) features appearances by Day, MacRae, Virginia Mayo, James Cagney, Gary Cooper, and more. Next, it's "April in Paris" (1952) for chorus girl Doris, who is romanced by diplomat Ray Bolger. Songs include "That's What Makes Paris Paree" and "The Place You Hold in My Heart." And Doris and Richard Widmark play a childless couple whose adoption plans run into hilarious complications in the romantic comedy "The Tunnel of Love" (1958), with Gig Young. Soundtrack: English.
Available: 04/07/09

Doris Day Collection - TCM Spotlight
- April in Paris (1952)
- It's a Great Feeling (1949)
- Starlift (1951)
- Tea for Two (1950)
- Tunnel of Love, The (1958)
+ So You Want to Wear the Pants (Short) (1952)
+ Terrier-Stricken (Short) (1952)
+ Sleepy Time Possum (Short) (1951)
+ So You Want to Hold Your Husband (Short) (1950)
+ Tee for Two (Short) (1945)
+ Tot Watchers (Short) (1958)

Martha wrote:Well, you've at least sold me on giving her another chance. Like most of the ignorant masses, the only recording of hers with which I am familiar is Que Sera Sera-- what album would you recommend for a Doris Day moron (who totally digs 40s music, I probably won't be too hard to bring around)? What should I watch besides Pillow Talk? And can Rock Hudson be in it?

I highly recommend LOVER COME BACK (1962), with Day and Hudson. One of the funniest comedies of that era. And Tony Randall's on hand, too! Great spoof of the advertising industry.

SEND ME NO FLOWERS, also with Hudson, isn't bad, but I haven't seen it in years.

THAT TOUCH OF MINK pairs Day with Cary Grant and it's pretty funny, too. It's even got Alice Kramden herself--Audrey Meadows--in a supporting role as Day's wise-cracking workmate behind the food windows at the old Horn & Hardart automat. And the New York Yankees are in it, too!

Vic Pardo wrote:I highly recommend LOVER COME BACK (1962), with Day and Hudson. One of the funniest comedies of that era. And Tony Randall's on hand, too! Great spoof of the advertising industry.

Absolutely, I can't believe it's not generally considered to be the best of the Hudson/Day comedies. Very Tashlin-esque Madison Ave satire with persistent and huge laughs throughout-- would make a great double feature with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?