Warner Bros, 1954
Starring Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers, and Nancy Walker
Directed by Jack Donahue
Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Our next vacation was anything but smooth sailing for Day. By 1954, she was suffering from panic attacks and delayed filming several times to rest. Even when she did resume filming, the panic attacks continued, making things difficult for everyone involved. On the upside, this would be the first musical film to make use of the new wide CinemaScope screen and featured a great cast that included later TV favorites Silvers, Walker, and Cummings. How well do they do with the rather strange story of a superstitious singer who falls for a songwriter and tries to help her troupe get in his show? Let's begin in Miami, as Candy Williams (Day) admits just how superstitious she is, and find out...
The Story: Candy and the members of the troupe she belongs to - Flo Needly (Walker), Hap Schneider (Silvers), and Duke McNeely (Eddie Foy Jr) - are stranded in Miami without a penny to their names after their show folds. They end up working off a huge dinner in a lavish hotel. Maid Flo sees songwriter Dick Carson (Cummings) working on songs for a new Broadway show and thinks they might be able to audition. Candy already met him. She thought he was an auto mechanic named Eddie, thanks to the name on the jalopy he was driving when he met her.
She's furious when he does finally admit who he really is, thinking he was just trying to take advantage of her. The others do finally arrange to sing one of Dick's songs so Candy can audition for the show. It works, and though Candy is still skeptical, he does hire them...until Lorraine Thayer (Martha Hyer), the daughter of the show's backer Otis Thayer (Bill Goodwin), walks in and sees them together. She has her own interests in Dick and refuses to let her father back the show with Candy in it. Dick's ready to give up, but Candy and the others finally disguise themselves and enter Otis' birthday party to show him what he's missing if he doesn't give Dick and this shows a chance.
The Song and Dance: For all the trouble during filming, Day is honestly rather charming. She and the three comedians are most of the show and really do carry the day here. Silvers and Foy have their own fun as the conniving head of the group and the more elegant one, while Walker does her best with the material as the other female member. The costumes are lovely, too, with some attractive 50's gowns for Day and Walker and suits for the men.
The Numbers: We open with Candy relating everything she worries about as she wrecks havoc in downtown Miami with "The Superstition Song." "High Hopes and Men" is Silvers and Day's number at the empty show downtown, with the two of them relating how they distrust the opposite sex. "I Speak to the Stars" was a hit at the time, and no wonder with this lovely production. Candy literally "speaks to the stars" as she dreams of singing the number in a silvery landscape, with glittering specs of stars over her. "Bluebells of Broadway" is the troupe's Scottish-themed audition number. The romantic "Take a Memo to the Moon" the ballad Lorraine catches Candy and Dick performing that convinces her Candy is a threat. Candy performs the title song in the end.
What I Don't Like: I'm afraid Day was right. No wonder she had panic attacks while filming this piffle. No amount of CinemaScope or pretty dresses can cover the fact that the story is utterly preposterous and annoyingly silly, even by musical standards. Cummings is more smarmy than charming, and despite some location filming in Miami, most of the movie is incredibly studio-bound. The songs are cute but nothing special as well.
The Big Finale: Definitely not Day's best; recommended mostly for her fans or fans of the three comedians.
Home Media: Can be found on DVD via the Warner Archives and streaming; the latter is currently on Tubi for free with commercials.
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