Other reviewers have been quite scathing about this program's perceived lack of contributors who knew Doris Day, save for James Garner. There has also been a query raised as to why Day herself did not appear. The fact that she has remained out of the public eye for more than four decades seems to have been overlooked. Given the time constraints, this documentary does a more than creditable job of explaining Day's significance in post-war American culture as an on screen icon; someone cast in stereotypical roles as the pliant wife or the perpetual virgin who nonetheless challenged such stereotypes. Likewise in the Sixties her sex-comedy roles in PILLOW TALK had a risquéness that seemed innovative at the time they were made. The fact that the times changed, rendering her screen persona obsolete, was not her fault. The documentary also illuminates her turbulent private life, from her traumatic relationship with her father, her first two failed marriages, her long-standing third marriage to a man who lost all her earnings, and a brief fourth marriage. It is only in retirement - from the screen - that she has discovered some kind of tranquility as a campaigner for animal rights. Contributors to the program such as the director Terence Davies bear witness to her power as a star; someone whom audiences could fall in love with the moment she appeared on screen. Marilyn French considers her shifting roles of womanhood thoughtfully, while Molly Haskell looks critically at her film career. Liberally illustrated with clips from her movies as well as recordings, this is a comprehensive yet sympathetic portrait of an enduring star.
