It seems to slip in under the radar, so to speak, but Doris Day's rendition of "I Think You're Swell" is a show-stopper. Day seems completely blown off the screen by the star power of Douglas and Bacall, plus Day is costumed in such mousy looking outfits, but there is no denying the power of Day's little ditty. This isn't Day's usual phrasing or style; it is Day doing a perfectly brilliant imitation of the way a 30s or 40s big band "girl singer" WOULD have sung the song. She is so utterly relaxed and real that we think that this isn't "acting" and that this is how Day naturally sounded at the time. Not so. I think that Day was consciously focusing on doing a "girl next door" version of how Peggy Lee would have done the song, a smiley-face version of Lee's velvet-baseball-bat impact.
Review of Young Man with a Horn
