Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Prof. Popinjay

By now you’re probably wondering if I watch anything but Shirley Temple and Doris Day films. I confess, I’m getting kind of sick of them but I’m swallowing the frog here so once I’m through with them maybe I can get on to films pertaining more to my actual interests. But I’m barreling through this old collection of mine which consists primarily of family friendly films and for my family at the time that meant Doris Day, Shirley Temple, Bob Hope, and Hallmark movies. Most have been pleasant enough. Some have been amazing! More than a handful have been unbearable. I’m looking at you “Dimples”.

“It’s a Great Feeling” was actually pretty good. Terrible title. At the time, many films of this sort were titled after a song featured in the film itself which marketing believed would sell records of said song. Unfortunately, in cases like this, it resulted in the film having a bit of a mediocre and seemingly non-descript title. Many Doris Day films suffered this treatment.

This film kind of broke the mold a bit because the whole thing was posited as a project organized by actor Jack Carson who played himself. It was not so much a fictional movie as much as it was a fictional story of Jack Carson trying to get his film project off the ground and get Doris Day’s character to play the lead. She was not playing herself, by the way. The plot laid the foundation for breaking the fourth wall and filming freely around the Warner Brothers lot, encountering cameos galore. To name a few: Joan Crawford, Danny Kaye, Edward G. Robinson, and even Ronald Regan. Yes, kiddies, Rappin’ Ronnie Reagan was an actor once, just like Governor Schwarzenegger.

There were other cameos but I don’t want to spoil them. My favorites were Robinson and Crawford though. Crawford was hilarious! She starts griping at Carson and his cohort about their treatment of Day’s character and her griping gets more and more vehement and she starts saying things that have nothing to do with the situation. Carson, bewildered, asks “Joan, why are you saying these things” and she just smiles and says “Oh I do that in all my films! So long fellas!”

That pretty much sums up this whole film. A bunch of stars making fun of themselves. Great flick.