Les travailleurs du chapeau

Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson are again buddies in this one.They are trying to get the lovely Doris Day in movies.There are many cameos by Warner Brothers stars including Joan Crawford,Danny Kaye and Errol Flynn..(He plays Jeffery Bushfinkle!).The best part of this movie in my opinion is when Dennis and Doris sing BLAME MY ABSENT-MINDED HEART together.They both had such beautiful voices it's a joy to hear them sing!! People who love star-filled movies or just like to see Dennis and Jack being funny together should see this film!

How revealing when Joan Crawford goes into her "drama queen" act and then admits she does that in all her movies. Or when Edward G. Robinson does his tough guy routine after persuading the studio guard to please let him act tough or they'll all be out of work. Good for a laugh. But it's also a little unsettling to see these super-stars as just ordinary folks, after all.

I gather (from TMC) the production was rushed through to meet certain obligations. If so, they did a cracker-jack job. Sure, the plot is about as shopworn as they come—provincial girl (Day) breaking into show business, helped (or hindered) by two fast-talking smoothies (Morgan & Carson). But it's done up with great bounce and energy. The youthful Day sparkles with the kind of winning luster that made her a movie star perennial. Carson mugs it up in amusing Carson fashion, while his buddy Morgan sings and looks handsome.

Then, of course, there are the star cameos from the Warners 1940's stable, including a "yup- ified" Gary Cooper sipping a malted through a straw, of all things. (Note how the famously boozy Hollywood suddenly prefers malts and ice cream to scotch and water—perhaps the movie's most amusing fiction.) Personally, though, I like Bill Goodwin's discombobulated producer best. His shtick with Day is a good running gag and I kept hoping he wouldn't get his glasses fixed.

Anyway, the movie's full of amusing bits cleverly woven together, including a behind-the- scenes look at the studio (to save time instead of building sets—TMC). In my book, it's the kind of pleasure that comes as a reward to old movie buffs and should not be missed.

Doris Day became an old hand at comedy by the time her career was over, but this early musical comedy with Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson is one of her funniest jobs. She plays a waitress at the Warner studio who wants to break into movies. Aided and abetted by Carson and Morgan, she gets her chance at stardom but not before a series of misadventures that are really an excuse to trot out some of the big Warner stars for brief cameos. She gets to warble a couple of so-so tunes but it's her comedy scenes with Bill Goodwin (as the studio head she's trying to impress) that display her true comic gifts, batting her lashes and giving him a silly grin. It cracks me up every time! Dennis Morgan has a nice duet with Day and there are some other standard tunes thrown in, but it's an amiable piece of entertainment, nicely packaged in technicolor. Danny Kaye has an unbilled cameo at the train station--and Irving Bacon does a comic turn that's quite amusing. Guest stars include Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Jane Wyman, Sydney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker , Ronald Reagan and Edward G. Robinson. The "surprise" ending is a fun twist. And if that's not enough, there's S.Z. Sakall ("Cuddles") for even more laughs.

So much is made of how Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan were supposed to be Warner Bros. answer to Hope and Crosby that people miss the point that they actually made a rather enjoyable team in their own right. In fact, just keep your eyes on Jack Carson and you'll end up wondering if he stole from Hope or if Hope stole from Carson! Yeah, they weren't as big as their contemporaries, but so what? I really like them together. They teamed in several 1940s comedies at Warners and "It's a Great Feeling" is probably their best film and definitely my personal favorite. Not only are Carson and Morgan in top form here, but there's several cameos of WB stars that really make this a lot of fun. It's nicely directed by David Butler who interestingly enough directed Hope & Crosby in "The Road Morocco" seven years earlier. Butler also has a small cameo along with a few other Warner's directors which is just a nice little addition to the fabric of the film while a young and beautiful Doris Day makes for a great icing on the cake! So when all's said and done this is a really enjoyable little comedy. And at 85 minutes it certainly doesn't overstay its welcome. IMHO, "It's a Great Feeling" is a must for any fan of forties comedy fare. Just because Carson & Morgan won't make you forget Hope & Crosby doesn't mean they can't be memorable. I've always been a big fan of the so called "light musical comedies" of the 40s and this is one of the best. Highly recommended!

This was really a picture to promote new talent Doris Day at the time by her studio, Warner Bros. Dennis Morgan & Jack Carson play themselves, trying to get Day (who plays a studio waitress) into the movies. The story and songs (except Cafe Rendezvous) are totally forgettable. The fun part are cameos from nearly every Warners actor at the time including Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Danny Kaye, Gary Cooper, Sydney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, Joan Crawford, Eleanor Parker, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn and even directors David Butler (who directed this), Raoul Walsh (High Sierra, White Heat), Michael Curtiz (Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca) & King Vidor (Beyond the Forest, The Fountainhead). Tailored for Day fans or classic film buffs. 2 1/2 stars out of 4.