Warner Brothers. 85 minutes.

US theatrical release:  8/1/49.

VHS release: 7/24/91.

DVD release (Warner Archive): 6/6/2017.

Cast: Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson, Bill Goodwin, Irving Bacon, Claire Carleton, Harlan Warde, Jacqueline de Wit. Guest appearances by Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Crawford, Danny Kaye, Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal.

Credits:  From a story by I.A.L. Diamond. Screenplay: Jack Rose and Mel Shavelson. Producer: Alex Gottlieb. Director: David Butler. Camera: Wilfrid M. Cline. Art Director: Stanley Fleischer. Music: Ray Heindorf. Editor: Irene Morra.

Plot Summary: Billy Wilder's future partner I.A.L. Diamond concocted the storyline for this Dennis Morgan/Jack Carson/Doris Day tunefest. Morgan and Carson, Warner Bros.' answer to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, appear as themselves. Attempting to line up a director for their next picture, the boys find themselves unable to do so due to Carson's gigantic ego. Carson decides to direct their next vehicle himself; the next problem is locating a leading lady who'll be willing to put up with Carson. The boys discover Doris Day, a waitress in the Warner Bros. commissary. Carson and Morgan spend their entire shooting schedule vying over Day's affections; she gets fed up with this, and heads back to her home town in Wisconsin, there to marry her childhood sweetheart Jeffrey Bushdinkel--who is revealed in the final shot to be none other than Errol Flynn! Other guest stars popping in and out of It's a Great Feeling include Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Sidney Greenstreet, Danny Kaye, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman. Also appearing as themselves are such Warner Bros. directors as David Butler (the real director of It's a Great Feeling), Michael Curtiz, King Vidor and Raoul Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Awards: 1950 Oscar nomination for Best Music, Original Song. ("It's a Great Feeling": music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Doris Day.)

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A.W. in the New York Times

August 13, 1949

Gay Story Lampoons Studio

Credit the Warner Brothers with being able to take a joke. For in "It's a Great Feeling," which came to the Strand yesterday, that division of the motion picture industry ruled by the Brothers Warner, is lightly lampooning its stars, directors, producers and publicity men and having a genuinely nice time doing it. And, what is more important, it is a gay and impudent lark which transmits its broad humor to the viewer with a helping of surprises. True, this yarn about the efforts of Jack Carson to direct himself, Dennis Morgan and a movie-struck waitress, Doris Day, in a picture at the Warner Studio, is intentionally pure hokum. But the play in this antic is not the thing. The players and gags are and they are used to full advantage.

In fact, the company's varsity has been trotted out for this Techni-colored frolic. Directors Michael Curtiz, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh and David Butler (who actually directed) appear briefly in scenes in which they are depicted heatedly refusing to direct a hammy Carson in a picture. And the studio's star roster—nine of them including Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Crawford, Danny Kaye, Jane Wyman, Sydney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker and another top luminary for the climax—are worked into the proceedings neatly and naturally.

Edward G. Robinson contributes a travesty on his hard-boiled gangster characterization; Joan Crawford spoofs her own woman-of-the-world roles; Danny Kaye pitches in with a comic turn in a railway station, and Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan and the Misses Neal, Parker and Wyman casually turn up before the cameras. Irving Bacon does the film's most chuck-lesome bit as a beleaguered rail-road information clerk and Bill Goodwin's portrayal of a producer being driven into a psychotic state by Carson's blundering is a fairly funny business too.

As the actual stars of this romp, Jack Carson, Dennis Morgan and Miss Day are busy performers relishing their assignments. Beside cavorting all over the Warner lot, the trio collaborate on a sprightly tune, "There's Nothing Rougher Than Love;" Carson and Miss Day give out with "That Was a Big Fat Lie," and Morgan and Miss Day render "Blame it on My Absent-Minded Heart," airs which may or may not hit the hit parade, but are easy on the ears. And that applies to "It's a Great Feeling." The feeling it leaves may not be great precisely but it is pleasant.

Variety:

Joan Crawford does a pip of a bit in a swank gown shop with the three principals, rating plenty of howls....The guests are brought into the story naturally and this lack of forced use is an aid in spinning the pace along and spotting unexpected comedy.

Nathan Rabin's Happy Place (April 2023): Excerpt below. Click link to see full review.

Stephanie Jones  (January 2024)

Rating: of 5

It's a Great Feeling is a very slight, but also good-natured and mildly witty, musical/comedy Warners spoof of its own stars and the Hollywood system.

The premise... Well, the main idea is to showcase the comedic and musical talents of Doris Day, Jack Carson, and Dennis Morgan, accompanied throughout by often funny cameos by Warners stars of 1949 (including Our Joan---more in a bit!). But there's also an ostensible plot: Doris Day's "Judy" is a Warners commissary waitress trying to get her break in pictures. When no other female on the Warners lot wants to work on a new picture directed by Carson (playing himself), he and his partner Morgan try to convince a Warners exec that the waitress Judy would be perfect for the leading lady. What follows is a series of comic events (and a few songs) in which the Carson/Morgan duo try to both win over and make over Doris Day AND convince a studio bigwig to hire her as their new star.

Doris Day, in only her third film, is sincere in the straight sequences and beautiful in her singing; the best part, though, is her comedic talent, especially in the ongoing bits in which she torments the studio producer all over town with her freakishly fluttering eyelashes and "sickening smile." She's really odd-ballishly funny here and her visage ultimately drives the poor producer to a mental breakdown! (She's also funny in one of the final segments, as the Hollywood import "Yvonne Amour," who can't actually speak or sing French very well.)

I also always enjoy Carson in his usually stereotypical cad roles, sometimes glib but always entertaining. (He co-starred with Joan in Mildred, and also co-starred as the stuffy brother in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.) One highlight here is his over-the-top "French" version of the "Big Fat Lie" song that competes with the straight Doris version (the whole thing to be funnily mashed up in the final film cut watched by the studio exec).

The cameos by Warners stars are also self-spoofing and entertaining: Gary Cooper as a cowboy who says nothing but "Yep" at the soda counter. Edward G. Robinson, who wrangles a studio cop into pretending that he's scared of the alleged "tough-guy" Robinson. Sydney Greenstreet, who comments that young ladies often run AWAY from Carson's dressing room. Jane Wyman (along with her young daughter Maureen), who faints when she hears she has to appear in a Carson picture.

And then there's JOAN CRAWFORD! Joan appears about 30 minutes into the film, for only about a total of 2 minutes. She's first seen in a swank dress shop with her back to the camera, on the opposite side of the couch as Carson/Morgan debate outfits for their new protegee Judy/Doris. Joan, while knitting, is horrified as she overhears the men debating an outfit of Judy's: "Tomorrow---off comes that dress!" She then marches around the couch and gives them a version of the "Get out!" speech from Mildred, followed by hearty slaps for both men. When Carson asks in bewilderment, "What's that for?" she replies with a smile and casual shrug: "I do that in all my pictures!" before walking away with a final jaunty salute. This is one of the most actually clever moments of the film. (Joan appears two other times in the film, but only in displayed photographs: The first, above the couch of Jack Carson's dressing room [see the photo below in Tom's review], and later as one of many stars on the wall of the studio Publicity office.)

I briefly teetered between 2-1/2 and 3 stars for this film (there's a bit of filler), but the intentionally obnoxious charms of Jack Carson and the bizarrely batting eyelashes of Doris Day---plus the surprise guest appearance at the very end by Errol Flynn as "Jeffrey Bushdinkle, the Boy Back Home"---definitely won me over to the higher rating.

Tom C. (August 2023)

Rating: of 5

o
It’s a Great Feeling is a 1949 comedy/musical starring Jack Carson---Joan’s co-star in Mildred Pierce (1945)---and Dennis Morgan, who co-starred in 1952’s This Woman is Dangerous. It also features Doris Day in only her third picture, showing light comedy skills a decade before her famous rom-coms with Rock Hudson. Having just watched IAGF in its entirety for the first time, I was reminded what a beautiful singing voice Ms. Day had. Ditto for Mr. Morgan.

The movie is a behind-the-scenes look at the Hollywood star factory, but in a much more light-hearted fashion than, for example, Sunset Boulevard (1950). This affords a myriad of cameos by Warner Bros. stars, including Joan. Other notable cameos include stoic Gary Cooper, tough guy Edward G. Robinson, and dashing Errol Flynn.

In Joan’s scene---a minute long and 30 minutes in---she does a send-up of her “pack your stuff and get out” speech from Mildred Pierce, then slaps Morgan and Carson before cheesing it. Why? Because “I do that in all my pictures!” It’s funny, and although I’m biased, I think it’s the best cameo. If you look quickly, you'll see Joan is knitting when the cameo opens. (We know Joanie loved her needlework.)

By the way, there appears to be another brief Joan cameo. Approximately 15 minutes in, Doris and Jack have a scene, and to my eye that looks like a painting of Joan on the wall (screen grab below):

Now, is it worth sitting through an 85-minute movie for a minute of Joan? After her earliest silents, there are very few Joan movies with a low concentration of our film goddess---all ensemble pieces. The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is 2 hours of dated song-and-dance skits for 6 minutes of Joan being a triplet threat; to be honest, I have never watched Revue in its entirety. Likewise for 1944’s Hollywood Canteen: I enjoy the bits with stars I like---e.g., Stanwyck, Crawford---but I've not yet had sufficient motivation to sit through 2 hours for 60 seconds of Joan. Stolen Jools (1931) has a limited dose of Joan, but it’s a one-reel short, and she’s hamming it up with Billie Haines for a good cause, tuberculosis research. Unlike the aforementioned films with a small island of Joan in a sea of celluloid, IAGF has a good story, great singing, and cameos weaved in cleverly.

Two more reasons to watch? First, Joan in color. By my recollection, before IAGF, in only the "Singin' in the Rain” bit from Revue and the Cinderella sequence in Ice Follies (1939) did fans see Joan in color on the big screen. In IAGF you can especially enjoy her rich auburn hair and those gorgeous blue eyes! Second, we know JC was fanatical about her image, so it’s nice to see her poke fun at her screen persona. Joan singled out this movie as a favorite in “Conversations with Joan,” relishing a rare opportunity to do comedy.