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By
FRANK BEHRENS
Who was it that said about
Doris Day, "I knew her before she was a virgin"?
Having read about how troublesome her private life
was (mostly because of rotten choices of
husbands), I wonder how she could have become the
screen personification of joy with a mixture of
goofiness, good sense, and Rock Hudson.
Her films fall into two categories: the musicals
and the non-musicals in which she gets to sing as
part of the plot ("The Man Who Knew Too Much") or
on the soundtrack as an inner monologue. Rarely
does she get a meaty dramatic role as in "Love Me
or Leave Me," but when she does, she can handle it
with professionalism if not the depth it takes to
make the role convincing.
Now there is from Warner Brothers a boxed set of 8
DVDs called "The Doris Day Collection," wherein
are found four musicals ("Calamity Jane," "Jumbo,"
"Lullaby of Broadway," and the best of them all,
"The Pajama Game"), two light comedies ("The Glass
Bottom Boat" and "Please Don't Eat the Daisies"),
and two serious dramas ("Young Man With a Horn"
and "Love Me or Leave Me"). No, not one with Rock.
Most of them can be heard with the English or
dubbed-in French soundtracks and all have
subtitles in at least two languages as well as the
original trailers. "Pajama Game" has a deleted
song (not from the original show) as a bonus;
"Love Me" has three shorts with Ruth Etting (whom
Day plays in this film); "Glass Bottom Boat" has
three shorts with some reference to the absurd
plot of the film and a very famous cartoon; while
"Jumbo" has a short, a Tom and Jerry Cartoon, and
the original overture has been restored at the
start of the film.
"Pajama Game" is surprisingly close to the
original show and even includes many members of
the original cast. This one is a Grabbit for those
who are going to buy some of these sets
individually. "Jumbo" is one of the very few films
on video (and, I think, the one of only two on
DVD) with a Rodgers and Hart score. And of course,
"Calamity Jane" has the song "Secret Love" that
topped the charts back in the 1950s.
They are on sale separately or as a collection. |
