Search - Lucky Me on DVD

"Lucky" for Us - Doris Day is in this PIcture!

Oliver Penn | 05/18/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Even though when Doris Day marched into Jack Warner's office to protest the script of "Lucky Me", little did she know that her fans would love this picture and cherish it for decades.I can understand her concern. She had just come off the great success of "Calamity Jane" which had been an Oscar winner and Day had had a tremendous hit record with "Secret Love".After being convinced that she should do the picture, she decided to give her performance 110% even though she was in ill health. And, what a performance it is! With able support from Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Martha Hyer and Eddie Foy, Jr. and a terrific co-star in Robert Cummings, she was delightful as "Candy Williams" a stranded-in-Florida showgirl with dreams of Broadway stardom.Miss Day performed , or was involved in all of the musical numbers in the film, most notably, "Love You Dearly", "Bluebells of Broadway", "I Speak to the Stars" (a Day record hit) and the showstopping, "I Wanna Sing Like an Angel".Phil Silvers was "Sgt. Bilko" and Nancy Walker was "Ida Morgenstern" and Eddie Foy, Jr. was "Hindsey" from "Pajama Game". In short, they were playing their most famous roles.Doris Day's opening number was a true star performance. Only she could get away with singing her head off, bouncing down the Miama streets singing "The Supersitition Song". Truly great.The film moves along nicely and has no lags, thanks to the director, Jack Donahue, who kept things bouncy. The color is bright and the actors work well together.See this one and don't forget the popcorn."

Here's your "Lucky" Day!

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 06/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"LUCKY ME is one of the lesser musicals which Doris Day lent her talents to. It was also one of the last films she made under her Warners contract. The score reunited her with "Calamity Jane" tunesmiths Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster.

Day plays a young actress called Candy Williams, stuck in a second-string touring revue, 'Parisian Pretties'. When the troupe is stranded in Miami after failing to pay a restaurant bill, Candy catches the attention of Broadway composer Dick Carson (Bob Cummings). With the usual premise of mixed identities and comic hijinks, the story bubbles away to the delight of audiences.

The score includes several gems including "The Superstition Song" (a gangbusters opening number for Doris), "High Hopes", "The Bluebells of Broadway", and "I Speak to the Stars". Day shares the screen with some of the most talented musical comedy vets (Nancy Walker, Phil Silvers and Eddie Foy Jr.). A pure joy.

The new DVD includes the vintage short "When the Talkies Were Young", the Oscar-nominated cartoon "Sandy Claws", plus the requisite trailer."

"Lucky" for us, it stars DORIS!!

Paul Brogan | Portsmouth, NH United States | 09/08/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Lucky Me" was the next to last film under Doris Day's Warner Brothers contract. Although she has stated that she didn't believe in the project to the same extent that she'd believed in some of her prior films, you'd not know it while watching her performance.
While far from the best film made during her seven years on the Burbank lot, Miss Day is a delight. In technicolor and wide screen (The first musical to be so filmed), she looks a treat. Her performance is filled with spunk, vitality, exuberance and that unmistakable "Doris Day" glow that never seems forced or contrived. From the first moment we see her bouncing down the street letting loose with "The Superstition Song", we are sold. There's not a false moment in her performance. Her comic skills are given a chance to delight us, even if the script might not be as fresh as we might like. Vocally, she runs the gamut from the lovely "I Speak to the Stars" to "The Bluebells of Broadway". She gives every song the full treatment, again dispelling any displeasure she might have personally felt about this picture.
The cast work well together. Bob Cummings gives the same kind of smooth performance he gave opposite another blonde star, Betty Grable, a decade or so earlier. He seems ageless. Phil Silvers shows he can play more than Sgt. Bilko, and Nancy Walker, years before she started selling paper towels, reminds us of her musical-comedy roots. Eddie Foy, Jr., is amusing and Martha Hyer, who later married famed producer Hal Wallis and wrote (uncredited) the screenplay for the 1975 teaming of John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn, "Rooster Cogburn" is pretty window dressing.
The plot about a troupe of "down on their luck" performers, is not new. Since the inception of talkies it has been done by virtually every performer - male and female. This version doesn't add a lot of new twists. However, the cast play their roles with such conviction, you find yourself smiling at their antics and tapping your feet to the catchy songs.
"Lucky Me" didn't break box-office records when it was released but it deserves a better reputation than it has earned through the years. Thanks to Doris and company, the film is a lucky break for viewers!"

Suffers from Widescreen cropping

Mae East | Brooklyn, NY United States | 04/09/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This film was made in Widescreen and it should be shown in its original format. All the production numbers take advantage of widescreen format and in this "pan-and-scan" video form they are "squeezed" in a way which does not do them justice. I was impressed by the beautiful "I speak to the stars" but the other production numbers were ruined by pan & scan. DVD please..."