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(More customer reviews)"Julie" is an entertaining 1956 black-and-white suspense flick starring Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan, and Frank Lovejoy. This drama has long been one of my favorite Doris Day films.
Doris is "Julie Benton", a woman who suddenly realizes her husband is a murderer. Jourdan plays Day's obsessive spouse, who (it would appear) will go to any lengths to track down and do away with the frightened Mrs. Benton.
Both Day and Jourdan do a nice job in this movie. Jourdan is quite believable and creepy as the seemingly-crazy and very paranoid "Lyle Benton". And Doris Day shows off her very adequate acting skills here as well. In addition to that beautiful singing voice, Doris was a darn good actress in her day too.
Two of Miss Day's better screen performances from the 1950s, in my opinion, are this '56 film and 1958's "Teacher's Pet", in which she co-starred with screen legend Clark Gable (and was every bit Clark's equal, acting-wise, too).
The camera shot that was used for the opening titles in "Julie" is very nicely-composed, as we hear Doris Day singing the ominous-sounding title song while the camera provides a distant wide shot of Doris/"Julie" hurriedly walking a few steps ahead of her husband, who is attempting to catch up with her as they both walk along a lengthy sidewalk in front of Doris' country club.
For some reason, I've always been impressed by this opening sequence for the movie, which has Doris in the far background of the shot when the camera tips down just after displaying the film's title to the audience. By the time the opening credits conclude, Doris has managed to scurry to her car, where Lyle/Louis has caught up to her. And then a wild ride begins in the car, giving the movie audience a forewarning as to just how far off the rails this guy Lyle is.
I liken the film "Julie" to a cross between "Airport 1975" and "Fatal Attraction". There are certainly strong elements of both of those films within "Julie".
Doris plays an airline stewardess in "Julie", and participated in a three-week training course for flight attendants in preparation for making the movie.
The film's climax has Julie being forced to temporarily set aside her hostessing duties while on board her commercial airliner and perform double-duty as the airplane's pilot (after some rather unfortunate events disable the cockpit crew).
It's all a bit far afield from reality, and some of the dialogue is a tad corny, but that doesn't matter to this writer, because I still think this movie is a whole bunch of fun to watch anyway.
"Julie" sports some very nice photography too. Some excellent Northern California scenery can be seen in the movie. The film's original publicity materials, distributed at the time of the movie's release in late 1956, boasted that 120 sets were used on 48 different location sites during production.
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Funny "Julie" Stuff (i.e., Things That Don't Quite Add Up):
The most (unintentionally) hilarious portion of the film comes during the final reel, when we see an air-traffic controller "talking Julie down". The humorous part stems from the fact that this controller is standing right out there on the runway as Julie brings in the Douglas DC-6 propliner for a rocky landing!
The "Controller On The Runway" scene might very well have been technically accurate (circa 1956), but it's a scene that (today) strikes me as hysterical, and certainly "dates" the available aviation technology of the era.
If that situation were to occur today at an international airport, I'm doubting that a person would be required to physically stand on the runway (while tied to an airport vehicle's microphone cord, sans the aid of any radar scope) in order to help the amateur pilot bring the plane in for a safe landing. ~LOL~
Another unintended hunk of "Julie" humor takes place late in the film when Julie is talking to Frank Lovejoy over the airplane's radio. During this scene, the plane's pilot talks to Julie through the two-way radio instead of simply making his comments directly to Mrs. Benton, who was standing just inches from him in the cockpit. (I guess the pilot wanted Lovejoy on the ground to hear his comments to Julie too. That could be an explanation; but I thought this scene was pretty funny anyway.)
Another amusing part of this movie's script probably isn't funny at all to many other people watching the film, but it had me chuckling quite a bit. It occurs right after Julie/Doris takes control of the DC-6 in flight and the ground controller in the San Francisco tower is relaying instructions to the novice female pilot. There's one instruction that comes across as very crass-sounding and unnecessarily demanding in nature -- when the controller tells Julie in a rather high-handed manner: "You didn't stop that left turn promptly enough".
I kept waiting for Doris to bark back: "Well, for God sake! Excuse the heck out of me!" .... Such a response would indeed have been a warranted one IMO. LOL!
Another "This Doesn't Add Up" part of the movie is the time-of-day factor. At one point prior to the in-flight crisis aboard Flight #36, Doris tells a passenger that the current time is 2:20 AM. But just a short time later, when the plane is coming in for a landing at SFO Airport, it's broad daylight outside. Since when does the sun come up in California prior to 3:00 AM? (Oh well, I guess that's just one of those things in a movie that the viewer isn't supposed to pay too much attention to.)
There's also the aspect of "Guns On Planes" that can be looked upon as very "dated" with respect to the script for "Julie". Lyle Benton is able to just waltz on board a commercial airplane with a revolver in his pocket without so much as a single eyebrow of concern being raised by anyone. But, then too, this was 1956, when the airlines didn't feel it necessary to search every passenger head-to-toe for weapons (or butter knives or shoe bombs).
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Some Doris Day/"Julie" Trivia:
>> Doris Day was born "Doris Kappelhoff" on Thursday, April 3rd, 1924. She was 32 when "Julie" premiered in theaters on October 17, 1956.
>> Doris appeared in approximately 40 feature motion pictures during her career (which began in 1948 when she made her film debut at age 24 in "Romance On The High Seas").
>> "Julie" was filmed in between two of Miss Day's other memorable movies -- Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956) and "The Pajama Game" (1957). Doris finished up a busy decade of the 1950s with possibly the best movie role of her career -- as "Jan Morrow" in 1959's "Pillow Talk".
>> Keep an eye open for veteran character actor Barney Phillips in a supporting role as a doctor in "Julie". In fact, Barney helps Doris fly the plane in the final act (as he keeps an eye on the instrument panel while, at the same time, trying to keep the co-pilot alive)! Hopefully both Doris and Barney received time-and-a-half for their efforts in the cockpit. They certainly deserved it. ;)
Most television fans will recognize Phillips from the scores of small parts he has played on TV. Among his hundreds of character parts, Barney was a "Martian" (with a third eyeball) in a memorable episode of "The Twilight Zone", a police detective on "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and an escaped convict on "The Andy Griffith Show".
>> Also watch for Hank Patterson ("Mr. Ziffel" of TV's "Green Acres" fame), who has a small role in "Julie".
>> The name created for the fictional airline that Doris Day works for in "Julie" is "Amalgamated Airlines". The "red-eye" flight in the movie was "Amalgamated Flight 36".
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The color Movie Poster advertised on this Amazon webpage is a very good-looking replica of one of the original pieces of "Julie" artwork that was used to promote the picture, complete with crashing waves in the background, representing some of the waterfront scenery depicted in the film.
To see the lovely Doris Day in a fun and pleasurable drama/thriller (and hear her belt out the haunting title tune as well), then find a copy of "Julie" on home video. Both the movie and Doris are certainly worth a look.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Julie Poster Movie 11x17 Doris Day Louis Jourdan Barry Sullivan Frank Lovejoy
Julie reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm Style A mini poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon's largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, posters and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Culture Graphics,Inc
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