IT”S A GREAT FEELING
(director: David Butler; screenwriters: Jack Rose/Melville Shavelson/from a story by I. A. L. Diamond; cinematographer: Wilfrid M. Cline; editor: Irene Morra; music: Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn; cast: Dennis Morgan (Himself), Doris Day (Judy Adams), Jack Carson (Himself), Bill Goodwin (Arthur Trent, producer), Irving Bacon (RR Information Clerk). Uncredited Guest Appearances: David Butler, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Michael Curtiz, Sydney Greenstreet, Ray Heindorf, Danny Kaye, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh, Jane Wyman; Runtime: 85; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Alex Gottlieb; Warner Bros.; 1949)
“Never delivers a great feeling–settling instead for a pleasant one.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A good-natured rom-com spoof (the Warner Bros. stars lampoon themselves) that’s fluffy but never delivers a great feeling–settling instead for a pleasant one. Director David Butler (“Tea for Two”/”Jump Into Hell”/”Calamity Jane “) keeps it sitcom friendly. Writers Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson adapt it to screen from a story by I. A. L. Diamond (Billy Wilder’s soon to be writing partner). Since the film is mainly set on the back lot of Warner Brothers, it gives it the excuse of bringing out for a cameo many of the studio’s stars and Hollywood personalities such as Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Michael Curtiz, David Butler, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh, Sydney Greenstreet, Danny Kaye, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman.
Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson appear as themselves. It was future superstar Doris Day’s third film and the story line comes close to mimicking her real life story of how she got started in films. Day plays aspiring movie actress Judy Adams. She left her boyfriend in their small hometown of Gurkey’s Corners, Wisconsin, to jump-start her film career.
The film’s conceit is that the egotistical Carson can’t get a director or leading lady to work with him on the actor’s next film, in which he tricks Dennis Morgan to star in. Unable to get a director, Carson decides to direct the vehicle himself; the boys then recruit star-gazing commissary waitress Judy Adams to be the leading lady.
The movie’s highlight has Judy growing weary of Morgan and Carson’s fighting to win her over and returning home to marry ole reliable Jeffrey Bushfinkle — who is the spitting image of Errol Flynn.
Day’s songs include “At the Cafe Rendezvous,” “That Was a Big Fat Lie,” “Blame My Absent-Minded Heart” and the title tune, which garnered an Oscar nomination as Best Song.
REVIEWED ON 12/8/2009 GRADE: C+