That Certain Feeling

This well-acted mid-nineteen fifties comedy with its star-studded cast is engaging and full of funny lines and situations. In the case of Pearl Bailey, still looking young, slim and attractive in her late thirties, it is also well sung. Her humorous asides to Eva Marie Saint's character ("Are you all right, Honey?") as she serenades Dignan (Bob Hope) and Dunreith after dinner, in the role of their maid, Gussie, are very amusing. The song she sings is "Zing! went the strings of my heart." A very young Jerry Mathers will tug at your heartstrings as a little boy being adopted by a famous cartoonist. George Sanders acted the part of the self-deceiving and self-promoting cartoonist Larry Larkin to the limit and beyond, but it all comes together in this light-hearted and entertaining movie. One memorable scene has Bob Hope, with a ukulele and straw hat, sitting in a canoe on a very long sofa, preparing to sing the title tune. If you missed the film when it came out, it's well worth a look, fifty years later.