Lucky Me (1954)

'Lucky Me' is very much like another Doris Day film 'The West Point Story' (or 'Fine and Dandy as it's credited here) in that great talent was involved and that it should have been a good film and shouldn't have gone wrong, even if it wasn't an instant classic.Not so luckily, 'Lucky Me' is sadly a misfire, though not an unwatchable one, that somehow did go wrong. It's worth seeing if you're a Doris Day completest, speaking as one right now on a quest to see all her films including the ones that have been watched many times and are favourites, but not much else. Although it actually does not show that Day didn't want to do 'Lucky Me', she did deserve better and it is one of her weaker films. 'The West Point Story' had a lot of faults, was cheaper looking and had no show-stoppers when crying out for them, but it utilised its cast better and had slightly better songs.With that being said, she is the best thing about it. Her singing is delightful, as it always was regardless of the quality of the song (although there are no hits), and she has a bright natural charm and breezy gusto that livens things up when desperately needed.She's not the only good element fortunately. 'Lucky Me' needed Technicolor and gets it with lavish and vibrantly colourful treatment. Didn't think much of the songs overall, but "I Speak to the Stars" and "I Wanna Sing Like an Angel" are sublime, the former the only one deserving of minor hit status though, and "The Superstition Song" is catchy. Phil Silvers is an acquired taste, still don't know what my overall stance is because it is always dependent on the material, but has some amusing and likable moments, though he has been much funnier (as well as more grating).Unfortunately, the rest of the songs are not that memorable and a couple not worth mentioning. Personally myself cringing my way through "Men" despite the presence of Day. The choreography is every bit as uninspired, with the ensembles having an under-directed and indifferent feel, it was crying out for a show-stopper and it never came.Day and Silvers aside, the cast disappoint. Robert Cummings is more than capable in comedy and drama but is completely out of his depth here. Nancy Walker and Eddie Foy are criminally underused, especially Walker, who is a hoot when the material is good (which it wasn't here and there wasn't enough of it). Martha Hyer wildly overplays and comes over as irritating, even in a role that was meant to be on the annoying side (but you can still do that while being funny and charming at the same time, here you want Hyer to shut up and go away).The direction is going through-the-motions-like. The script is as limp as soggy cucumber sandwiches and has humour that is both under-cooked and overdone that it feels bland and grating. Worse is the threadbare, ridiculous and often forced story that lacked focus and kept going off in under-explored tangents.In conclusion, despite being a fan of Day it was a not so lucky experience. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Fairly expensive Warners musical, the then-novelties of which are a) CinemaScope and b) location filming in Miami, which does look '50s-luscious. These are tied to a very tired screenplay about superstitious Doris Day and her pals Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, and Eddie Foy Jr. going from revue work to kitchen work to Broadway, courtesy of songwriter Robert Cummings, whose songs all sound like second-rate Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster. Much talent that had just turned out "Calamity Jane"--Day, Webster, Fain, choreographer (and here director) Jack Donohue, screenwriter James O'Hanlon--worked on this one, but it's nobody's best work, though Doris is as spirited and golden-voiced as ever, and you don't really want to see her end up romantically with someone as uninteresting as Robert Cummings. Silvers and Walker certainly deserved better material, and Donohue doesn't know how to pace a plot, even one as fragile as this. Martha Hyer is another casualty, overplaying Cummings' shrew of a girlfriend, and the other supporting players are no-name. It's worth sitting through once for a couple of nicely staged numbers (especially the opening) and some alluring glimpses of Florida, but it's the Warners musical at its most labored and uninspired.

I knew very little about this movie and only recently saw it for the first time (thankstcm) and thoroughly enjoyed most of it. Whether chirping, going for laffs, or getting into heavy drama, Dodo Day is always a joy to watch.She sure was in this film, portraying a put-upon cutie pie. Her songs, all the Fain-Webster songs in this flick was first rate, but none of them even came close to becoming a hit. The ballads were pretty, and the upbeat tunes were fun.Adding to the delight of this movie was Bob Cummings, underrated as a comic actor. He did some serious stuff for Hitchcock who, reportedly, was not too fond of him).Nancy Walker and Eddie Foy Jr. (one of the 7 littles) were great fun but, for me, the most fun was every time Phil Silvers was on screen. On television his 'Bilko' was funnier than most of today's junk. Every breath, expression and utterance are classic comedy. Incidentally, the second funniest TV show of that blessed decade was "Car 54, Where Are You?" Where will you be when this delightful movie shows up again? In front of your teevee - lucky you.

For the film Lucky Me, Doris Day was reunited with composers Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster who wrote the score for Calamity Jane and gave Doris one of her biggest hits, Secret Love in one of her biggest film successes. Unfortunately none of the songs from Lucky Me was ever any kind of hit for Day and the film is a very ordinary backstage story.With some establishing shots in Miami Beach done in Cinemascope, Lucky Me is also the name of the show composer Robert Cummings is writing the score for. Doris is part of a quartet act that consists of Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy, Jr., and Nancy Walker. Through some of the usual Phil Silvers shenanigans, the group has to work to pay off a debt to restaurant owner Marcel Dalio.Cummings is staying at the hotel that Dalio's restaurant is at and again through shenanigans, Day and Cummings meet. Day thinks he's garage mechanic and Cummings keeps up the pretense as has been done in more movies I can remember. That's because he's romancing daughter of bankroll, Bill Goodwin in the person of Martha Hyer.If you can't tell where this is all going you haven't seen too many films let alone musicals. It would have been nice if Doris and the gang had been given some hit songs from this film, but Fain and Webster who won Academy Awards for Secret Love and Love Is A Many Splendored Thing came up short in the score for Lucky Me. Eddie Foy, Jr. and Nancy Walker came up short in footage as well. Especially Nancy Walker who is one of the funniest people around. I believe there is some moments for her in the Warner Brothers vaults if anyone wants to do a director's cut for Lucky Me. Oddly enough Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker within the next 10 years would co-star on Broadway in Do-Re-Mi which was a big success, but never made it to Hollywood.Doris's fans will like Lucky Me, others can take or leave it and be considered lucky either way.