“He Was the Man I Used to Work for a Long, Long Time Ago. Day Before Yesterday.”
Diane Vallere has a new book in her Madison Night series coming later this month. As always, in order to prepare, I watched the similarly titled Doris Day movie. In this case, that lead me to My Dream is Yours, her second movie from 1949.
This movie opens in Hollywood, where we meet agent Doug Blake (Jack Carson). His star client (his only client) is singing sensation Gary Mitchell (Lee Bowman), who is set to renew his contract for the radio show he is on. But Gary doesn’t want to do it. He’s negotiated his own contract with a different show, in fact.
So Doug sets off for New York City to find a replacement for Gary. And he does when he stumbles on Martha Gibson (Doris Day). But can he land her a job back in Los Angeles?
Given that two of the three lead characters are singers, there is lots of singing, mostly from Doris Day. And most of the songs are in the context of their jobs. With one exception, I enjoyed the songs. Doris has a fantastic voice, and I loved listening to it. Hal Derwin, who was the singing voice of Gary, was just as great. So, which song didn’t I enjoy? Sadly, it was the title track. Which, naturally, means we heard it the most.
Oh, and there’s that dream sequence. I don’t see how anyone thought it was good to put into the film. It was more something out of a cheesy sitcom.
As is often the case with Doris Day movies, I was entertained while watching, but I didn’t feel like it was that good. We get lots of time spent on Doug trying to find a job for Martha. I liked the fact that it didn’t come easy, but it also felt a little drawn out. Yeah, I know. I’m hard to please.
There is also supposed to be a love triangle. I say supposed to be because they only hint at this storyline before the last 20 minutes or so of the movie, when we suddenly focus on that. Honestly, if they had given that a little more time while not spending as much time on the repetition of Martha not getting a job, I think it would have been better. As it is, the romance feels forced when we start focusing on it.
I suspect most of that is just because of the age of the film. We look for something different in the storytelling now vs. what they did back then. I’m sure the focus on the pacing the story would be better if it were made today.
Overall, this does represent something we don’t see from the major studios any more – a light romantic movie. I wish we would see more of that.
None of this criticism is directed at the actors. They are all great at bringing the story to life for us. Those involved in the dream sequences even commit fully to it.
For me, My Dream is Yours is another mixed bag. It’s entertaining enough when you sit down to watch it, but it isn’t worth going out of your way for.
Looking for the DVD? Looks like it is part of this Doris Day collection.
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