Customer Reviews

It's a Great Feeling [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great trivia question would be, "In what film did Ronald Reagan, his newly divorced first-wife Jane Wyman and their daughter, Maureen, all appear?" The answer would be Warner Brother's 1949 musical, "It's a Great Feeling". The Reagans make guest appearances along with many other Warners stars including Edward G. Robinson, Patricia Neal, Sydney Greenstreet, a hilarious turn by Joan Crawford satirizing, perfectly, her on-screen image, and a great curtain closer by Errol Flynn.

The stars of the film are Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, and in her 3rd film, Doris Day. In her first two films Day had seemed, at times, to be in part cut from a Betty Hutton mold. In "Feeling" she really begins to exude the charm, warmth, and vivacity that made her a superstar for many decades.

She's a waitress in the Warners commissary looking for a big break. Carson is directing the new Dennis Morgan film and cannot find any leading lady who wants to work under Carson. Enter our gal Doris.

The storyline is predictable all the way but the cast is so likeable and seem to be having such a good time that the audience cannot help but get caught up in the merriment.

While the songs by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne are nowehere near the best they've written, they're all listenable and one, "Blame My Absent Minded Heart" is a gem. It's first sung by Day and Morgan while listening to a Wagner performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Day later reprises it, movingly, and while the title tune was nominated for an Oscar as best Song, "Heart" is the song that should have received that honor.

Jack Carson can tend to annoy at times but in this film is less irksome. Morgan has a fine voice and vocalizes effectively. Doris Day is a charmer, all wide-eyed and real, and when she sings you understand why "It's a Great Feeling" leaves you with your own great feeling!!

This is the type of film all the studios were producing in the forties. Just an excuse to show off their stars. Names like Joan Crawford, Ronald Reagan, Danny Kaye, Jane Wyman, Edward G. Robinson, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn plus many more make cameo appearances playing themselves. The actual stars of the film are Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson who try desperately to get Doris Day a career in movies. Once again, Doris Day, in her third film, shines like a pro. There are truly hilarious sequences as she tries many times to get the attention of a big director. Her role requires her to sing and do comedy much in the style of Lucille Ball.The songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn are average with the exception of one titled BLAME MY ABSENT MINDED HEART.Doris sings this early on in the film as a duet with Dennis Morgan and once again as a solo towards the end of the film. Her rendition of this great tune makes up for any shortcomings this film may have. In an interview Rock Hudson once gave, He admitted this was the moment he fell in love with Doris Day.

Made to cash in on the big box-office profit generated by ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS and MY DREAM IS YOURS, Doris Day was re-teamed with Jack Carson for IT'S A GREAT FEELING.

Featuring cameos by some of Warner Bros. biggest stars including Jane Wyman, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan and Edward G. Robinson, its a great big tunefest.

Carson and Dennis Morgan play hotshot producers trying to get Doris Day into a movie career, with hilarious results! Highly recommended.

This is a hilarious film about comic routine, ultimately endorsing a studio system which enabled the perfection of generic roles. The central line belongs to Joan Crawford: 'I do that in all my pictures'. Watch the 'Information' clerk at LA railway station go through an absolutely perfect comic routine all the funnier for its predictability. It's a film about making films in a hothouse where everybody had to establish her or his marketable 'house' style. The film sets about establishing Doris Day's house style--it was an important film for gaining her new exposure--and she is shown discovering it at the end; she's to play an ingenue who finds true love in a domestic setting. So yes, it's a light hearted, good natured film, but don't take your eye of the individual performances; a celebration of the art of conventional Hollywood studio acting.

One of the better WB vehicles for Day. Like Garland at MGM, Doris was frequently saddled with routine scripts and uninspired songs, but she's always wonderful, no matter the material. Here she has some fine Jule Styne tunes, pleasant company from Carson and Morgan, kidding their images, and fun cameos from everyone on the Warners lot. (The Crawford bit, complete with MILDRED PIERCE dialogue, is a particular hoot.) Highlight: Doris does an inspired sendup of every French canary you've ever heard in "Cafe Rendezvous". Like many David Butler flicks, looks like everyone had a great time making this picture. Relaxed, joky, very enjoyable.

Joan Crawford has a very rare cameo (perhaps the only cameo of her professional career, besides "Hollywood Canteen") in this late 40's Warners picture. It's somewhat of a spoof of the grand Hollywood-like movies of the Golden Era. Joan mocks herself in a comical way in her brief scene. She came across as very funny and believable because she was really just being herself in this movie. If you're a Joan Crawford fan or a fan of 40's cinema then I certainly recommend this Technicolor classic.

Capture the unbelievable quality of Doris Day disguised as a French chanteuse singing "At The Cafe Rendevous"...a glimpse, early on, of the kind of acting she was capable of and always underrated for. This is a happy movie, and it features guest appearances by many famous stars from the old Warner Bros films.
It is Doris Day's 3rd film, and the solid beginning of a career in which she entertained millions of people happily throughout most of their lives, mine included. Morgan and Carson were never great co-stars, nor are they the typical handsome leading men Doris would work with in later years, but Doris has said many times that these two showed her how to work the camera! She remembered!
One of the most poignant episodes in the film is the heartfelt rendering by Doris of "Blame My Absent-Minded Heart", a great song that should have been a TOP TEN HIT. But there you have the whole Doris Day story....ALWAYS IGNORED BY THOSE THAT COUNT.
That is why so many of them are now recanting their horrible treatment in the past of the world's ALL TIME TOP FEMALE STAR!!!!

Doris Day plays a new waitress at a Hollywood Resturaunt and when she is hired she gets a call to deliver lunch to Mister Carson nobody else will do it but she decides to! She then meets the down on his luck looser! He falls in love with her the first time he sees her and wants to get her into the movie career but for one thing he is broke and his credit rating looks like Swiss Cheese! So they try to get Dennis Morgan's help by using a sob story that Dennis just doesn't get! He finally gets it and they try to get Mister Goldwynn Mayer to give her a role in the movies! He always gives him this trick with her eyes where her eyes swirl round and round and this really annoys him! This movie stars a mountain of famous stars including. James Cagney, Danny Kaye, Jane Wyman, Ronald Regan and Walter Pidgeon. This also has a cameo by Jane's little girl Muareen! Very nice movie!

Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson play themselves in this film featuring the duo trying to get waitress Doris Day a job as the leading lady in their next film. They're giving the producer a nervous breakdown with their repeated attempts to get his attention on Day. As they make their way around the studio, there are a number of cameos by some of Warner Bros star contract players.

Morgan and Carson are not exactly a great comedy team, but then again, they're not exactly given great comedy material to work with. Day is perky as usual and has a couple of good songs. Most of the cameos aren't particularly noteworthy, despite the presence of Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Sydney Greenstreet, Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, and Edward G. Robinson. Gary Cooper is amusing in a bit as his typical "man of few words" cowboy. The funniest moment in the movie is supplied by, of all people, Joan Crawford, who does a dead-on job of making fun of her tough Warner Bros screen persona.

Were it not for the star cameos, the film would be completely forgettable, and even they aren't that effective. The songs, story, and performances are pretty bland. It's not a horrible way to fill an hour and a half, but I doubt the film will make much of an impression on most viewers.

This film is very much worth seeing always. Doris Day and Jack Carson are teamed up again in it. It has some memorable songs. Also great costumes and a feel good movie. With Doris Day you can't go wrong.