I’ll See You in My Dreams *** (1951, Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy) – Classic Movie Review 7689

The life of song lyric writer Gus Kahn (1886–1941) is seen through Hollywood’s typically rose-coloured glasses in the 1951 Warner Bros black and white musical biopic I’ll See You in My Dreams.

Director Curtiz Michael turns in a beautifully crafted, delightful, old-style feel-good film, with deliciously smiley playing by Danny Thomas as Kahn, who has great success but also suffers the usual slings and arrows of showbiz’s outrageous fortune, and Doris Day as his loyal, loving wife, Grace, who sticks by him.

I’ll See You in My Dreams is based on her story, The Gus Kahn Story, co-written with the producer Louis F Edelman, with the screenplay by Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose.

Kahn’s evergreen tunes ‘Ain’t We Got Fun’, ‘It Had to Be You’, ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ and ‘Yes Sir That’s My Baby’, as well as ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams’ of course, keep the tone swinging and the film undemandingly pleasing.

Also in the cast are Frank Lovejoy, Patrice Wymore, James Gleason, Mary Wickes, Julie Oshins, Jim Backus, Minna Gombell, Harry Antrim, William Forrest, Bunny Lewbel, Robert Lyden, Mimi Gibson, Christy Olsen, Vince Barnett, Dan Barton, Hans Conried, Wade Crosby, Ray Kellogg, Clarence Landry, Elsie Neft, George N Neise, Dick Simmons, Jack Williams and Tom Wilson.

Career-wise, Gus Kahn was nominated for two Oscars – for ‘Waltzing in the Clouds’ in Spring Parade (1940) and ‘Carioca’ in Flying Down to Rio (1933).

Michael Curtiz and Doris Day worked together on the 1949 musical comedy My Dream Is Yours.

Day and Thomas recorded a Columbia 10-inch LP with eight songs from the film that topped the Billboard pop albums chart.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7689

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