The TCM Spotlight Doris Day Collection, with its pretty in pink packaging, is not a bad start for those wanting to get familiar with one of America’s favorite sweethearts of the studio days. This is the fourth Doris Day box set released by Warner Home Video after two collections and a Doris Day/Rock Hudson set in 2007. To see Day’s best and more famous pictures like Pillow Talk (which earned her an Academy Award nod) and Teacher’s Pet, one must seek those earlier sets, but the advantage of this particular set is that it contains five of Doris Day’s earlier films, from within the first five years of her debut (save for The Tunnel of Love), so you’ll be able to follow her blooming success.
It’s a Great Feeling is the earliest film on the set. It was Day’s third film and her breakout role. Quite appropriate that Day plays a country girl looking to break into the acting business. Aided by Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan (playing themselves), the trio create hijinks in the Warner Bros backlot trying to convince a producer into casting her. It’s a fun film with a ridiculous amount of goofy and pointless cameos from then-WB stars, including Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper and Errol Flynn.
Another celebrity-studded film is Starlift, which flips the situation in Doris Day’s favor as she plays herself, now a celebrity worthy of ogling. It was only a year before that Day finally received top billing as a movie star, in Tea for Two (also included in this set). Starlift isn’t much—it’s practically a pro-troops USO show where the studio’s biggest stars drop by to entertain the injured soldiers coming home from war—and more than a little vain, but it does have James Cagney explaining why he always pulls his pants up before he shoots somebody in his gangster films, so hey.
April in Paris, about an improbable romance developed on a cruise to Paris, and The Tunnel of Love, the story of a sterile suburban couple bumbling their way to adopt a child, fall into her witty but disposable works. The latter, however, was notably directed by Gene Kelly and earned Day a Golden Globe nomination.
The highlight of the set is the aforementioned Tea for Two, which not only contains the best songs (including, of course, the very famous title song from the No, No, Nanette musical) but also some incredible choreography. It interprets the name No, No, Nanette into a comedic romp where a woman named Nanette has to say “no” to everything to win a bet. Day is radiant as always in her role, but particularly notable are Gordon MacRae’s fantastic numbers and Billy De Wolfe’s absolutely hilarious performance as a greedy fool of a producer.
DVD Bonus Features
Unfortunately, given how old these films are, there aren’t much in the way of related features. The bonuses on these discs are literally bonuses—things that have nothing to do with the movies, such as comedy shorts, bloopers of other films, and classic cartoons of that era. Even the cartoons have no real relations, save for the Tom & Jerry cartoon included in Tea for Two called Tee for Two, which is about golfing rather than the movie (oy!).
The only extra of note is an audio-only feature: a radio show starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, which could be a treat to those who adore their voices.
Final Word
Not the best heap of Doris Day films, perhaps, but a necessary addition to complete a collection. Here, Day is not quite as seasoned as she is in her best, but her enthusiasm is affecting and her personality shines—it’s no wonder that she came out of these earlier films a bigger brighter star.
"TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection" is on sale April 7, 2009 and is rated NR. Comedy, Musical, Romance. Directed by David Butler, Gene Kelly, Roy Del Ruth. Written by Jack Rose and Mel Shavelson (It's a Great Feeling, April in Paris), Harry Clork (Tea for Two), John Klorer and Karl Lamb (Starlift), Joseph Fields (The Tunnel of Love). Starring Doris Day.
