Customer Reviews

Lucky Me [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Even though when Doris Day marched into Jack Warner's office to protest the script of "Lucky Me", little did she know that her fans would love this picture and cherish it for decades.

I can understand her concern. She had just come off the great success of "Calamity Jane" which had been an Oscar winner and Day had had a tremendous hit record with "Secret Love".

After being convinced that she should do the picture, she decided to give her performance 110% even though she was in ill health. And, what a performance it is! With able support from Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Martha Hyer and Eddie Foy, Jr. and a terrific co-star in Robert Cummings, she was delightful as "Candy Williams" a stranded-in-Florida showgirl with dreams of Broadway stardom.

Miss Day performed , or was involved in all of the musical numbers in the film, most notably, "Love You Dearly", "Bluebells of Broadway", "I Speak to the Stars" (a Day record hit) and the showstopping, "I Wanna Sing Like an Angel".

Phil Silvers was "Sgt. Bilko" and Nancy Walker was "Ida Morgenstern" and Eddie Foy, Jr. was "Hindsey" from "Pajama Game". In short, they were playing their most famous roles.

Doris Day's opening number was a true star performance. Only she could get away with singing her head off, bouncing down the Miama streets singing "The Supersitition Song". Truly great.

The film moves along nicely and has no lags, thanks to the director, Jack Donahue, who kept things bouncy. The color is bright and the actors work well together.

See this one and don't forget the popcorn.

LUCKY ME is one of the lesser musicals which Doris Day lent her talents to. It was also one of the last films she made under her Warners contract. The score reunited her with "Calamity Jane" tunesmiths Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster.

Day plays a young actress called Candy Williams, stuck in a second-string touring revue, 'Parisian Pretties'. When the troupe is stranded in Miami after failing to pay a restaurant bill, Candy catches the attention of Broadway composer Dick Carson (Bob Cummings). With the usual premise of mixed identities and comic hijinks, the story bubbles away to the delight of audiences.

The score includes several gems including "The Superstition Song" (a gangbusters opening number for Doris), "High Hopes", "The Bluebells of Broadway", and "I Speak to the Stars". Day shares the screen with some of the most talented musical comedy vets (Nancy Walker, Phil Silvers and Eddie Foy Jr.). A pure joy.

The new DVD includes the vintage short "When the Talkies Were Young", the Oscar-nominated cartoon "Sandy Claws", plus the requisite trailer.

"Lucky Me" was the next to last film under Doris Day's Warner Brothers contract. Although she has stated that she didn't believe in the project to the same extent that she'd believed in some of her prior films, you'd not know it while watching her performance.
While far from the best film made during her seven years on the Burbank lot, Miss Day is a delight. In technicolor and wide screen (The first musical to be so filmed), she looks a treat. Her performance is filled with spunk, vitality, exuberance and that unmistakable "Doris Day" glow that never seems forced or contrived. From the first moment we see her bouncing down the street letting loose with "The Superstition Song", we are sold. There's not a false moment in her performance. Her comic skills are given a chance to delight us, even if the script might not be as fresh as we might like. Vocally, she runs the gamut from the lovely "I Speak to the Stars" to "The Bluebells of Broadway". She gives every song the full treatment, again dispelling any displeasure she might have personally felt about this picture.
The cast work well together. Bob Cummings gives the same kind of smooth performance he gave opposite another blonde star, Betty Grable, a decade or so earlier. He seems ageless. Phil Silvers shows he can play more than Sgt. Bilko, and Nancy Walker, years before she started selling paper towels, reminds us of her musical-comedy roots. Eddie Foy, Jr., is amusing and Martha Hyer, who later married famed producer Hal Wallis and wrote (uncredited) the screenplay for the 1975 teaming of John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn, "Rooster Cogburn" is pretty window dressing.
The plot about a troupe of "down on their luck" performers, is not new. Since the inception of talkies it has been done by virtually every performer - male and female. This version doesn't add a lot of new twists. However, the cast play their roles with such conviction, you find yourself smiling at their antics and tapping your feet to the catchy songs.
"Lucky Me" didn't break box-office records when it was released but it deserves a better reputation than it has earned through the years. Thanks to Doris and company, the film is a lucky break for viewers!

"Lucky Me" stands out as a unique film for two reasons. First, it was the first musical to be filmed in CinemaScope. Second, Doris filmed it while she was on the mend of nervous exhustion. To see Miss Day's breezy and carefree performance, one would never guess that she was having to muster every ounce of available energy just to get through the filming. She so stated in her autobiography, "Doris Day: Her Own Story." Doris is a much underestimated performer who made her work seem so effortless. In this film, Miss Day demonstrates that against all odds, she gives a completely charming and gratifing performance. She is supported by Bob Cummings, Phil Harris and the hilarious Nacy Walker. This film improves with each viewing as you admire Doris Day, a true artist, at work.

This film was made in Widescreen and it should be shown in its original format. All the production numbers take advantage of widescreen format and in this "pan-and-scan" video form they are "squeezed" in a way which does not do them justice. I was impressed by the beautiful "I speak to the stars" but the other production numbers were ruined by pan & scan. DVD please...

My wife and I are fans of Doris Day's and usually find that most of her movies are quality affairs. However, we found this movie to be a complete misfire and unworthy of Doris' talents. It seemed like a rush job in order to get the first cinemascope movie musical into release. The songwriting team that contributed a fine score for Calamity Jane for Doris came up empty in the inspiration department when they penned the tunes for Lucky Me.

The movie plays more like a circa early 1940's musical than a mid 1950's one, and is not nearly as sophisticated as other musicals of the period. All but a few jokes fall flat. The movie starts out quite well with a particularly cute, well-dressed and perky Doris singing the "Superstition Song" as she bops down the sidewalk of a beautiful city street in beautiful color while trying to avoid the things (sidewalk cracks, ladders, etc) that will cause bad luck, all the while creating disasters in her wake. But, after a promising start, it is downhill from there. As we neared the scene of the party near the end, the movie became like a train wreck. We were appalled by what we were seeing, but could not stop until we saw how it worked out.

It is a tribute to Doris, that, as bad as this film is, she remains delightful throughout and tries to sell every song and dance, no matter how banal. Phil Silvers got very few laughs out of me, Nancy Walker was wasted and Eddie Foy, Jr was mildly amusing. Understand that my wife and I mainly watch classic films, so we are not approaching this from a modern "all old films are boring" point of view.

We might never have seen this film if it had not been part of the otherwise excellent Doris day Collection vol.2. I almost wonder if Warners' would have sold any copies had it not been included in the set. I would avoid this one, unless you are a Doris Day completist or want to see what an early cinemascope musical was like.

The DVD cover artwork clearly says, "Doris Day and Cinemascope never had it so good!", and what do Warner Bros give us? A pan-and-scan version of the film, which means we lose exactly HALF (!!!) the film. (Cinemascope is 2.66:1, pan-and-scan is 1.33:1). Shame on you, Warners, shame!

Doris Day stars as Phil Silvers partner in his Broadway show that is a flop called Parisian Pretties a long with 2 other people. Phil is a down and out person who is a looser and a free loader who depends on Doris for the rent and a lot of other things. Doris meets a famous screen wright while working at a HOTEL to pay off their big debt and when Phil finds out he tries to convince her to tell them about him and to try to get him to help them out and get them a chance in the big life. But Doris teaches Phil that the best way to get anywhere is to work for it! So they get into the play and turn from sad people to happy people and Doris finds love.

Doris Day best effort, second only to Calamity Jane. She really shines in this! I could see this again and again.

This is one of those lesser known Doris Day movies, but one that is exceptionally well put together with a stellar cast. It is nicely shot and scripted and worth adding to your Doris Day or any comedy collection. I miss films with the subtle innuendo rather than the "in your face" unrealistic and unbecoming "potty humor" in far too many films today.