The Doris Day Collection

Long out of the public eye (too bad Albert Brooks couldn't lure her out of retirement for Mother), Doris Day is perhaps most popularly remembered as Rock Hudson's costar in a string of sparkling romantic comedies. But this representative eight-film collection (only two of which have been previously released on DVD) offers a more complete portrait of this consummate artist, who was at one point Hollywood's top female box office star. She's sunny as a transplanted suburban housewife in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), serious as a girl singer with a heart of gold in Young Man With a Horn (1950), and game for director Frank Tashlin's animated slapstick in the spy spoof The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). But best of all, Day sublimely sings in three of her essential musicals, portraying--in one of her best dramatic performances--singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955); the eponymous sharp-shooting Western wildcat in Calamity Jane (1953); and, in The Pajama Game (1957), the factory grievance committee head who forms a union with the new foreman. Also included in this set is Rodgers and Hart's three-ring family extravaganza, Jumbo (1962), and an early effort, Lullaby of Broadway (1951). In addition to putting her distinctive stamp on American Songbook standards, Broadway classics, and the Hit Parade (in Calamity Jane, she performs the Oscar-winning "Secret Love"), Day holds her own against some of the most formidable leading men of screen and stage, including Kirk Douglas, James Cagney, David Niven, Jimmy Durante, Howard Keel, and John Raitt. Boasting fine transfers, DVD extras spread across the discs include premiere and award newsreels, vintage shorts and featurettes, a deleted song from The Pajama Game, the Oscar-winning cartoon “The Dot and the Line,” and more. For Doris' devoted fans, this collection heralds a bright new Day. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)