A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Glass Bottom Boat - in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[LeoA]

Ack! Love Me or Leave Me is among my top five FAVORITE Doris Day films. Getting the Blu-ray for that was a dream come true, and I have watched it many times since acquiring it. Different strokes, for sure!

Yeah, I don't think my opinion would be the popular one. It was well liked back at its original release (Including an Academy Award) and still receives a lot of respect from classic film fans. If I'm not mistaken, i believe Doris Day has even said it's her favorite.

I wish I'd of enjoyed it similarly.

 

[Matt Hough]

Since I mentioned it, my top five favorite Doris Day films (in order of release):

Calamity Jane
Love Me or Leave Me
The Pajama Game
Pillow Talk
The Thrill of It All

Midnight Lace, Send Me No Flowers, and That Touch of Mink vie to inch into the group at various times.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Agree with your list (except for The Pyjama Game). Would add Teacher's Pet Young at Heart, and The Man Who Knew Too Much.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I did like watching It Happened to Jane with Jack Lemmon & Ernie Kovacs which shows up on TCM once in awhile.

 

[Astairefan]

Besides Calamity Jane, I also like Love Me Or Leave Me, Tea For Two, On Moonlight Bay and By The Light Of The Silvery Moon. I'll admit, though, that I haven't seen all of her early musicals, and, amongst her movies, they are the ones I want the most. Like I said, if it weren't for the long time between releases of her films from WAC, I would otherwise wait for a sale on Glass Bottom Boat, as I'm not so fond of her sixties films. But, I want WAC to see that there is demand for more of her films (hopefully coming more frequently), so I'll live with buying this one full price.

 

[Matt Hough]

I did like watching It Happened to Jane with Jack Lemmon & Ernie Kovacs which shows up on TCM once in awhile.

It was on Amazon Prime free for members some time ago. It may still be there. I like it a lot.

 

[JohnMor]

It was on Amazon Prime free for members some time ago. It may still be there. I like it a lot.

In addition to Doris, it’s another delightful Richard Quine/Jack Lemmon/Ernie Kovacs film from Sony that I was hoping Twilight Time might put out on blu-ray after Bell, Book and Candle.

 

[octobercountry]

I enjoy the film for the most part. Great supporting cast (including the Kravitzes. ) And it is MILES ahead of the awful Day-Taylor film, Do Not Disturb.

Yes, it's a pleasure to see Gladys and Abner in panavision and colour! Alice Pearce and George Tobias are basically playing the precise same married couple here that they played in Bewitched. (Sadly, Alice died before Bewitched switched over to colour.)

 

[octobercountry]

"I read somewhere that she was considered for SOUTH PACIFIC, but somehow ruined her chance to be in it."

Another part of the reason Doris didn't get South Pacific, from what I've heard, is that R&H absolutely despised Martin Melcher, Doris' husband/manager. He inserted himself into every project on which Doris was involved, and they refused to work with him.

 

[octobercountry]

"So then perhaps what you’re really saying is that Joshua Logan & Co loused up the chance to have the incomparable Doris Day grace South Pacific."

That isn't all that Joshua Logan loused up, in regards to South Pacific---ha!

 

[octobercountry]

The Glass Bottom Boat is far from my favourite Day picture, but I've seen it a few times and do get a mild laugh out of it, so I'll probably purchase the blu-ray, though I'll wait for a sale. This isn't a great picture, but it is better than the worst of her late-1960s offerings, which in my opinion include:
Do Not Disturb
Caprice
The Ballad of Josie
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out

Doris herself didn't care for most of the films she made between 1965 and 1968 (With Six You Get Egg Roll, her final film, was an exception; she liked that one). According to her autobiography, her husband signed her on to most of these films against her wishes, or without her even knowing about it.

This string of bad pictures, from 1965-1968, is part of what killed Doris' film career; after many years of her being at the top of her game and much loved by audiences, her popularity plummeted in the mid-to-late 1960s. But that wasn't the only reason. She had by that time reached her mid-forties, and just about every female star of that age was having trouble finding starring roles. Plus, in the mid-to-late 1960s audience tastes, and the types of films that were made, changed DRASTICALLY. Doris wasn't interested in being a part of the tough new gritty Hollywood, and was happy enough to bow out to go and work on television. Her subsequent television series was a popular success (at least, it did well enough in the ratings) and ran for five years.

 

[Thomas T]

and was happy enough to bow out to go and work on television. Her subsequent television series was a popular success (at least, it did well enough in the ratings) and ran for five years.

Well, she might have been happy to bow out from the "new" Hollywood but she wasn't happy working on TV. Her husband signed her up for the TV series without her knowledge and though she didn't want to do the show, she honored her contract.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yes, it's a pleasure to see Gladys and Abner in panavision and colour! Alice Pearce and George Tobias are basically playing the precise same married couple here that they played in Bewitched. (Sadly, Alice died before Bewitched switched over to colour.)

3 "Bewitched" cast members appear in "GBB" - all 3 are dead now. Curse?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Well, she might have been happy to bow out from the "new" Hollywood but she wasn't happy working on TV. Her husband signed her up for the TV series without her knowledge and though she didn't want to do the show, she honored her contract.

Yeah, I was under the impression that Day bailed on movies because she was stuck doing that TV show.

Really does seem abrupt, though - she made 80 skillion movies until 1968 and then never again!

 

[B-ROLL]

Well, she might have been happy to bow out from the "new" Hollywood but she wasn't happy working on TV. Her husband signed her up for the TV series without her knowledge and though she didn't want to do the show, she honored her contract.

As well as two specials including The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special - of which I have fond memories - which is apparently on DVD under the Doris Day Special ...

 

[B-ROLL]

Yeah, I was under the impression that Day bailed on movies because she was stuck doing that TV show.

Really does seem abrupt, though - she made 80 skillion movies until 1968 and then never again!

Even with a full season pick up there would have been time to make films on hiatus ...
The type films she was making (the girl who won't) weren't being made anymore (it was now the girl who did everything ... sometimes for free .. but always with a heart of gold )
Imagine
"Doris Day in Klute!"
I was told as well that a lot of the film producers didn't like to use "TV stars" in films - "People won't pay money to see people they can see for free" - That has changed now, with many top billed stars starting in TV ...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Even with a full season pick up there would have been time to make films on hiatus ...

Sure, but she may not have wanted to work that much at that stage of her career.

I do agree that she became "passe" and audiences in the 70s might not have liked to see her as they did in the 50s/60s.

She probably could've found a home with live-action family films, though! Stuff like Disney pumped out in the 70s...

 

[octobercountry]

"Well, she might have been happy to bow out from the "new" Hollywood but she wasn't happy working on TV. Her husband signed her up for the TV series without her knowledge and though she didn't want to do the show, she honored her contract."

That's true enough---she was kind of blindsided by this television series. But, in her autobiography, she said that in the end it was the best thing that could have happened to her at that point in her life. Her husband had unexpectedly died, and she found that he had squandered her entire fortune---she was broke and had to work.

In complete shock, she began shooting the series, but as the weeks went on the very routine nine-to-five regular work of a television series kept her focused and on track while she sorted out her finances and the personal turmoil she was going through as she processed just what a rat her husband had been.

That first year she just did as she was told, but as the series went on she became more and more interested and started exerting a greater amount of creative control. Which is why the format of the show kept changing---basically, every year it was a new set-up!

 

[octobercountry]

Could Doris have found work in the "new" Hollywood of the late 60s and early 70s? She continuously reinvented herself throughout her career, and I think that---even given the fact that she had reached that age where it's difficult to find good roles---she could have continued working. A discussion about her taking the role of Mrs Robinson HERE ; there are several variations to the story, but she undoubtedly could have been a serious contender.

 

[octobercountry]

"She probably could've found a home with live-action family films, though! Stuff like Disney pumped out in the 70s..."

Yes, even if Doris didn't want to make the grittier films that were popular in that era, she almost certainly could have gone the Disney route and continued to make goofy family comedies on both the large and small screens for another twenty years.

But by the time her series was over, she was simply ready to retire. She was never obsessed with her career and never thrilled about living in LA. And once she had her television money, plus the funds she was able to recover through a lawsuit against her husband's business partner, she was financially secure enough to just leave it all behind and live a quiet life, focusing on her animal charity work.

And it's amazing that she's still with us---just think, 97 years old!