My Dream Is Yours [DVD] [1949] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

My Dream Is Yours was designed to be a vehicle for up and coming star Doris Day--and it worked! This fine musical has numerous very well done song and dance numbers and the plot moves along at a good pace. The convincing acting impressed me, too.

The action starts when a snooty crooner named Gary Mitchell (Lee Bowman) refuses to resign a radio contract even though his agent Doug Blake (Jack Carson) worked mighty hard to get that contract for him. Gary even walks out on his agent--and the radio show when the old contract is up, thinking he can do better elsewhere. This leaves Doug is a huge jam as his employer Thomas Hutchins (Adolphe Menjou) and the radio show sponsor Felix Hofer (S.Z. Sakall) have no star for their radio show.

Doug and all are desperate; and Doug goes to New York City to find a new, fresh faced star for the radio show to replace Gary Mitchell. Hutchins and Hofer are so distraught they can only think of trying to get Gary back; but Doug is on a mission and he finds a young singer, Martha Gibson (Doris Day), to come to Hollywood with him.

Look for Eve Arden as Doug's friend Vivian Martin who inevitably gets stuck paying the tab as Doug tries everything to get Martha noticed and hopefully then on the radio show sponsored by Hofer. In addition, Doris Day as Martha Gibson sings a number of songs so beautifully it's obvious why she was a rising star!

What does happen to Martha? Will Doug get her on the show to replace Gary--Hofer doesn't even want to talk with Doug. Hutchins is also very skeptical; and Doug and Martha go everywhere else looking for work as a result. What happens when Doug discovers that Martha is a war widow with a young son to support? Martha also develops feelings for Gary--will she and Gary marry? This could cause complications because Doug develops feelings for Martha. No spoilers here, folks--just watch the movie and find out!

The choreography is excellent in the scenes in the radio station and at The Cocoanut Grove; the cinematography shines in these scenes and the shots of Los Angeles and Hollywood are all very nicely done. The Technicolor works very well.

The DVD comes with a few extras; we get a cute one reel short entitled So You Want To Be An Actor; and there's the theatrical trailer as well.

In short, My Dream Is Yours provides us with quite a few very fine musical numbers--including that amusing dance sequence with Doris Day, Jack Carson and Bugs Bunny! The acting is great and the story holds your interest. I highly recommend this film for fans of classic movie musicals.

Doris Day's second motion picture was entitled "My Dream is Yours" and it was released by the Brothers Warner in 1949. In a market filled with scores of film releases, it quickly found a place as a very popular drama with music. Reportedly it was one of filmmaker Martin Scorcese's favorite film memories and it's easy to see why.
Filmed in brilliant technicolor, "Dream" also boasts a first-rate cast who worked well under director Michael Curtiz who had also helmed Day's film debut the previous year.
Jack Carson, Lee Bowman, in a decidedly unsympathetic role, Eve Arden, Adolphe Menjou, Selena Royale, S.Z. Sakall, and even Franklin Pangborn, the very distinctive character actor whose career went back to early talkies, all leave lasting marks during the telling of this tale.
Carson, fed up with the temperemental shenanigans of his radio headliner Bowman decides to find and create a new star. Miss Day, as Martha Gibson, a newly war-widowed single mother, is the young gal he decides is ripe for stardom. He brings her to Hollywood, with help from friend Arden, auditions her only to find her falling in love with Bowman. Naturally everything comes to a happy and tuneful conclusion by the time the end credits role but not before the audience has had the opportunity to smile, laugh out loud, shed some tears and see evidence anew as to why Day became a major star so quickly. It's almost impossible to fathom that this is only her second film role, so effortless is her ability to switch from sunny smile and effervescent song to moving and heartfelt scenes of dramatic impact.
As Martha, Doris Day manages to sing a variety of songs in assorted styles, whether belting out in a rather Betty Hutton manner with the upbeat "Geiger Counter Song", doing a splendid turn with "Someone Like You" or delighting in a charming animated sequence with Carson called "Wake Up Freddy" set to the tune of "The Hungarian Rhapsody". Her most moving song, however, is the old standard, "I'll String Along With You" which she delivers in a lovely sequence, singing it to her young son. She also look dazzling in this lovingly crafted production.
Jack Carson does a variation of his usual characterization but as in all his films with Day, her warmth seems to tone down some of his occasionally irritating traits. Eve Arden plays her usual wise-cracking and delightful self and in color and a lovely wardrobe, never looked better. Bowman, as noted earlier, plays a basically unsympathetic role but his scenes with Day have an underlying intensity and electricity that make them work very well.
"My Dream is Yours" which captures the magic and excitement of Hollywood in those still magical years right after the war, is much more than a musical bon bon. There are elements of "A Star is Born" and other filmland based dramas that give it a depth far greater than it's sunshine title might suggest.
The film is a lovely step in the evolution that turned Doris Day into America's sweetheart and you'll find yourself having "Day Dreams" by the film's final note.

This is what musical comedies were supposed to be. A young, vivacious (mid 20's) Doris Day sparkles in her acting and, especially, her singing. The performance by Jack Carson shows him to have been more of an actor than he was generally given credit. However, Eve Arden all but steals the film with her sharp and well-delivered one-liners. This is pure enjoyment.