THAT CERTAIN FEELING
US, 1956, 103 minutes, Colour.
Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint, George Sanders, Pearl Bailey, Al Capp.
Directed by Melvyn Frank and Norman Panama.
That Certain Feeling is a strong Bob Hope comedy. He plays an almost normal character, a cartoonist in this film rather than the victimised wisecracking character that he ordinarily did. Eva Marie Saint portrays his ex-wife. He is up against George Sanders as a rival cartoonist. A young Pearl Bailey appears as the maid and Al Capp, creator of Li’l Abner, appears as himself.
Melvyn Frank and Norman Panama were a writing duo and directed a number of films. The two films prior to That Certain Feeling were the two excellent Danny Kaye vehicles, Knock on Wood and The Court Jester. During the 70s Melvyn Frank directed some strong comedies including A Touch of Class, for which Glenda Jackson won an Oscar, Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox with Goldie Hawn and George Segal and Lost and Found with Glenda Jackson and George Segal.
This film is an appealing film, an interesting portrayal by Bob Hope with substantial support form Eva Marie Saint and George Sanders.
1. Was this a good American comedy: situations, characters, wise-cracking dialogue, satire? How typically American and how enjoyable as American comedy? Bob Hope comedy? Sentimental American comedy?
2. How good was the film as a Bob Hope vehicle? The type of character Bob Hope portrays? The loser/winner? The wise-cracker? The sentiment and the human feeling?
3. How did the style of George Sanders and Eva Marie Saint contrast with Bob Hope? Did this work for success?
4. How glossy a comedy was this? The use of colour, New York locations, Gussy and Pearl Bailey's style, the songs, Gussy’s confiding in the audience? What was the overall impact of this?
5. Comment on the satire of the world of the cartoonist. How real did it seem? how realistically was it presented? The artificiality, Larkin's TV sessions, the boy scout codes and the grim satire in Larkin's using his ideas and beliefs on Norman? The use of cartoons and the satire contained in those contained in the action of the film?
6. How real did the film seem in terms of the human situations? Dignan's marriage? His relationship to Norman, the effect of the people on Norman, his running away, final reconciliation?
7. How interesting was the psychological background of the film? The psychiatrist and the use of the psychiatrist? His wisdom in helping Dignan? Dignan discovering himself by talking with the psychiatrist? The nature of his fears, his inability to speak, his love for Ethel, the impact of his feelings? Was this a genuine touch to the comedy?
8. What kind of person was Dignan? How likeable? The effect of success on him? His skill as a cartoonist? His ability and inability to understand the truth? The effect of Norman on him? The fact of seeing Larkin proposing to his wife? The encounter with Ethel, the dinner, the night, the aftermath? Was Bob Hope's portrayal a deep character study or was it a humorous caricature? Or something in the middle?
9. How attractive a heroine was Ethel? Her use of the name Dunreath? Forgetting her background, the reason for her marriage to Dignan, her leaving him, her ambition, trying to be more then she was? Her relationship with Larkin, trying to save his face, unwilling to face her love for Dignan? The effect of Dignan and Norman on her? The importance of the night with Dignan and her final choice?
10. How enjoyable was the satire on Larkin? As a phony, hypocritical public statements, his use of politics, and the quietening of the Governor, the final exposure on the television program?
11. How amusing was the satire by the use of television? Larkin and the programme, the fact that the culmination on the farce depended on the fact that it was seen by a TV audience?
12. Which sequences gained the most laughs? Dignan's take-off of Larkin's television programme? which sequences# had the most warmth and human values? What human values do films like this presuppose in the audience and appeal to? How successfully?
