Joy in the Morning

I remember seeing this movie on TV, probably the 4:30 Movie or The Million Dollar Movie. Being a pre-teen when I saw it for the first time, I was enthralled with the gentle love story. Richard Chamberlain was the most handsome man I had ever seen and I was in love the minute I saw him in this film. Betty Smith has been one of my favorite authors and this film and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn are on the top of my list of my all time best loved films. I had not seen this film since the early 70's, but it always stayed with me. Whenever I would talk to another 'film lover' this film was always mentioned. I am glad that TCM has shown it a few times over the year, and a friend taped it for me. I watch it whenever I want to be transported back to a gentler time and place. I feel like a teen-ager when I watch it. Just the BEST!!!

This was one of my favorite movies & I'd like to see it again. Every week I search TV guides & try to find a copy it but it seems to have disappeared. The young couple's struggle to build a life while he was in college & Annie trying so hard to be all that she felt he deserved could very easily be a modern situation. 1965 was a good year & movies made during that time give us a little insight in case we've forgotten.

I saw this movie in 1965 when I was 7 years old with my dad at the Cameo Movie Theater on South Beach. I remember the beautiful theme song of this wonderfully romantic movie; "Joy....Joy...Joy in the Morning"...sent shivers down my spine. The cast is outstanding and Yvette Mimieux is beautiful. It is her finest role. Maybe some scenes are slightly out-dated in this day and age, and most likely younger film-goers might laugh slightly at some of the interactions, but the theme of falling-in-love is never out-dated.

Great acting. Great sound. Great scenery. Joy in the Morning is a timeless tale of young love. Excellent.

This story about young love is timeless. The acting is superb, the story is very touching and the characters are interesting. Happy endings are always sooo good. I love the fact that Carl sees the real Annie. The Annie behind the circumstances and experiences of her life. He sees the beautiful person that she is. Carl is brave and courageous in his love for her. She shows him that she is more than worthy of that love. The love scenes are beautifully done. Richard and Yvette have a strong screen chemistry. The cast of supporting characters are phenomenal. I think this generation should definitely see this movie. It is uplifting, riveting, with excellent values. Definitely in the genre as the more recent "A Walk To Remember".

It's hard to sit down and enjoy 1965's "Joy in the Morning," a sentimental and melodramatic story about young marriage, without putting the film in context.

If you were a prepubescent girl or teen in the '60s, Richard Chamberlain was one of your dream men in the same way that girls adore Zac Efron now and my mother swooned over Tyrone Power. You had an intern shirt, you had the .45 of "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight" (The Theme from Dr. Kildare" with "Joy in the Morning" on the flip side), and you read fan magazines. And no one who watched "Dr. Kildare" can forget Yvette Mimieux's guest appearance on the show. I can still see her in the final scene of that episode.

So watching "Joy in the Morning," which might be considered a mawkish movie by some, is a trip down memory lane for us. It's about two young people from different social strata who get married and try to make it both financially and as a couple while the man is still in law school. It's actually a sweet story with some good performances - certainly an earnest one from Chamberlain, and from Oscar Homolka, Sidney Blackmer, and Donald Davis (as the "sissy" florist). Petite and beautiful Mimieux was one of the big '60s ingénues, and she does fine, though the character admittedly can get a little annoying. The Bernard Herrmann score, reminiscent of his music in "Vertigo," is instantly recognizable as Herrmann and very good.

Judging this film as if it's supposed to be "Citizen Kane" is like judging "High School Musical" on the same level as "No Country for Old Men." In its day, "Joy in the Morning," with Richard Chamberlain taking off his shirt, making out with Yvette Mimieux and talking about sex was geared toward young girls just learning the facts of life, and hoping that someone like Richard Chamberlain would teach them. Knowing the reality of that dashed hope today doesn't change the innocent memories that it brings back.