Generally, actors at the infancy of their careers are saddled with material that range from grade-F to good, but unremarkable. Easy fluff. Light drama that doesn't quite showcase their talent -- until the right kind of picture comes along and thus, a major force of acting comes into play. Doris Day had the rare luck that even when the movies she was given at the dawn of her cinematography fall into this kind of frame, her presence alone, while tomboyish and maybe even a little off at times, was natural and at her best as such. ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS had her do what Janis Paige was known for -- come and steal the picture right out of everyone's feet. Her allure (there) rose from a completely bare presentation of a lounge singer thrown into a comedy of errors, with no sudden affectation of language, or stiffness in performance, a thing another actress might have done in trying to impersonate Paige's upper crust character.
Here, Day continues on a rapid ascension in playing a rags-to (sort of) riches role which Joan Crawford had, and was still, taking into her own version of perfection. (Crawford has a hilarious, near surreal walk-on role in this picture -- as many actors and directors do here -- where she goes from being outraged at the treatment Day gets from those who want to groom her into the Next Big Thing (Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan) but inexplicably morphs into the impassioned speech Mildred Pierce gave her daughter Veda in MILDRED PIERCE, complete with two neat slaps -- one to each men -- and the quote, "I do that in all my pictures.") But back to Day: she's ideally cast in a role that doesn't demand a sudden speech inflection (although in one song she purposely dons a rather bad French accent) but has her playing a woman who wants to get into show business. It's the type of style that would come to characterize her: bare, earthy, sharply comic (note an early scene where she tries to impress with a dramatic scene), sweet, with occasional bursts of powerful emotion (later explored to full use in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH). It's somewhat ironic that the finale of the movie has Day marrying and living happily ever after in lieu of continuing her pursuit of Hollywood: Day would indeed quit the pictures but not because of a happy marriage (quite the contrary, a bad marriage would be the cause of her undoing). Even so, it's a fitting end to a movie that spends most of its time trying to groom her.
Here, Day continues on a rapid ascension in playing a rags-to (sort of) riches role which Joan Crawford had, and was still, taking into her own version of perfection. (Crawford has a hilarious, near surreal walk-on role in this picture -- as many actors and directors do here -- where she goes from being outraged at the treatment Day gets from those who want to groom her into the Next Big Thing (Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan) but inexplicably morphs into the impassioned speech Mildred Pierce gave her daughter Veda in MILDRED PIERCE, complete with two neat slaps -- one to each men -- and the quote, "I do that in all my pictures.") But back to Day: she's ideally cast in a role that doesn't demand a sudden speech inflection (although in one song she purposely dons a rather bad French accent) but has her playing a woman who wants to get into show business. It's the type of style that would come to characterize her: bare, earthy, sharply comic (note an early scene where she tries to impress with a dramatic scene), sweet, with occasional bursts of powerful emotion (later explored to full use in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH). It's somewhat ironic that the finale of the movie has Day marrying and living happily ever after in lieu of continuing her pursuit of Hollywood: Day would indeed quit the pictures but not because of a happy marriage (quite the contrary, a bad marriage would be the cause of her undoing). Even so, it's a fitting end to a movie that spends most of its time trying to groom her.
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