Cameos

TCM showed Doris Day's It's a Great Feeling this morning. It may be a great feeling, but it's not a particularly great movie; it's got a trite storyline and is thoroughly predictable. The one nice thing about it, though, is that it's loaded with cameos. Stars like Joan Crawford and Ronald Reagan show up; more interestingly, several directors get some screen time as well.

As a movie buff, it's fun to watch a movie like this in order to look for all the stars who pop up. There are, of course, better "all-star" movies out there, although as with movies like Dinner at Eight, the stars have more substantial roles.

I've recommended The Hollywood Revue before; that's a fascinating all-star movie in that the movie was basically a screen test for all of them. Sadly, it's not available on DVD.

Another movie with a lot of cameos (and an all-star cast in the main roles) is It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, with everybody from The Three Stooges to Jack Benny getting brief roles.

And, of course, half the fun of watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie is to see if you can spot his cameo.