TAMMY TRIPLE FEATURE (Universal 1957, 61, 63) Universal Home Video

Based on Cid Ricketts Sumner’s heartwarming novel, director Joseph Pevney’s Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) is a charming big screen adaptation whose chief asset is the winsomely angelic, Debbie Reynolds. Oscar-nominated for her role as backwoods babe, Tambey ‘Tammy’ Tyree, Reynolds infuses this character with an unspoiled sincerity and effervescence that positively leaps off the screen. The movie is one of those near-forgotten gems that, today, survives in most movie-goers’ hearts for its Oscar-nominated title tune, sung with solid-gold-record written all over it, by Reynolds, who infuses its simply lyric with such heart-tugging desire to be loved, it is impossible not to draw a few tears of joy from the experience of the moment: Tammy, ever-so-slightly pitched against her window-boxed seat, staring up at the moon and warbling about the impossible pang of unrequited love, right under the nose of our nominal romantic leading man, who still doesn’t even know that she is alive. Tammy and The Bachelor is a marvelous little programmer, given ballast and brains by Reynold’s intelligent performance.

The movie opens with Tammy and Nan’ (her goat) by a babbling brook near the Ellenbee, the shanty riverboat Tammy lives on with her grandfather, John Dinwitty (Walter Brennan). Learning of a plane wreck up the river, Tammy and John come across the bedraggled and unconscious body of wealthy playboy, Peter Brent (Leslie Nielsen). Nursing Peter back to health, Tammy develops an infatuation that Brent is neither anxious to discourage nor eager to promote in its progression. Now, how’s that for a tease? Unfortunately for Tammy, the day arrives when Peter is well enough to return to his family. He does so and all but forgets about Tammy – that is, until she comes up the road with Nan’, looking for what has become of him. Seems John has been sent to prison for selling moonshine corn liquor - a considerable offense. Through a misguided assumption Tammy’s grandfather is dead, Peter’s mother (Fay Wray) and father, Professor Brent (Sidney Blackmer) take the girl under their wing and into their southern colonial home where she proves to be a useful addition. Peter’s aunt, Renie (Mildred Natwick) finds Tammy’s simple freshness invigorating, though Mrs. Brent prefers Tammy should remain silent and preferably upstairs in her guest room. Renie learns of Tammy’s genuine love for Peter and encourages their romance, despite Peter already engaged to snobbish socialite, Barbara Bissle (Mala Powers). It is Barbara’s desire Peter should leave his dream of restoring the family’s honor and estate, instead to work for her father in his textile business.

But Peter’s love of the land is more aligned with Tammy’s desire to see him thrive at whatever passion he would permit. Eventually, Peter comes to his senses about the girl from the bayou – although his revelation comes too late to save his own dream of farming his ancestral lands. Oscar Brodney’s expertly crafted screenplay keeps the story development effortless and fanciful. Debbie Reynolds sings the Oscar-nominated Ray Evans/Jay Livingston song ‘Tammy’ from her moonlit bedroom– an unabashedly sentimental highlight, as is the scene where Tammy revives the ghost of Peter’s great grandmother by dressing in her trousseau and recanting for a crowd of visitors how it was she and the man of this great house came to start the Brent clan so many years before. Tammy and the Bachelor may not be phenomenal entertainment, but it is irresistible as it is poignant; a fable, expertly told, and, a sheer joy to behold.

Encouraged by the movie’s success, Universal sought to turn it into a franchise – short-lived and with disastrous results, starting with director, Harry Keller’s Tammy, Tell Me True (1961). Unfortunately, Tammy is now played by teen sensation, Sandra Dee, never to attain the level of homespun charm that Debbie Reynolds had in spades. In the original, Tammy is merely a fish out of water, inadvertently casting a spell of enchantment on the people she meets by the sheer investment of her unwavering faith in humanity. However, in this first sequel, the character becomes something of a determinist back-wood’s pixie, liberating the modern world from its own self-imposed oppression. This becomes grating fairly quickly, the 'us versus them' scenario having a negative impact on both the folksy and socially mobile elements in the film. The sequel opens with Tammy once again pursuing Peter who has deserted her to attend an out of state agricultural school. Tammy deduces that Peter’s abandonment is directly related to her own lack of culture and education and vows to go to college to better her social standing and win Peter back.

At the behest of Professor Thomas Freeman (John Gavin), Tammy enrolls in college as a ‘special student.’ However, from the moment classes begin, the students – all white-bred snobs – find Tammy a figure of fun. To help pay for her education the school’s administrator, Miss Jenks (Virginia Grey) suggests Tammy become a live-in companion to Mrs. Annie Call (Beulah Bondi), a bitter old woman who has her faith in humanity and health restored after she runs away with Tammy to live on the Ellenbee. The pieces are all in place and Sandra Dee does her best to live up to Debbie Reynolds’ galvanic heroine in rags. But this second visit to the same well of simple sincerity never comes together as it should. Instead, there are sparks and fragments of genuineness that come and go. The movie even makes a vane and pointless attempt to have Dee warble another Evans/Livingston tune that, in no way, rivals the original song for either genuine warmth or charm. Worse, Oscar Brodney’s retread screenplay shatters our expectations from the first movie by having Tammy fall out of love with Peter, making her new and burgeoning romance with Prof. Freeman seem either foolhardy or fickle at best.

Apparently, very few of these imperfections in narrative construction seemed to matter to film audiences in 1961 because in 1963 Keller tried the formula again – this time, for Tammy and the Doctor – an abysmal final act to this failed trilogy, garishly misappropriated by an ineffectual performance from Peter Fonda, cast as the goony love interest/physician on whom Tammy’s latest infatuation is thrust. Beulah Bondi returned as Annie Call, stricken with a heart ailment that sends her to the hospital, predictably, to be placed in the kindly care of Dr. Wayne Bentley (Macdonald Carey). To be near Annie, Tammy becomes a nurse and quickly establishes herself as the most indispensable staffer on the ward. There, Tammy meets Dr. Mark Cheswick (Fonda) who takes a passing interest in more than her healing skills that gradually blossoms into love. He also introduces her to highbrow culture and the arts. It’s easy to see why no more films were forthcoming after Tammy and the Doctor. Oscar Brodney’s screenplay is in desperate need of something to say and regrettably discovers nothing by way of either character motivation or plot entanglements, even remotely to amuse, freshen or refine the series. Tammy and the Doctor was already on life support before its opening credits, and, in hindsight, in vital need of a transfusion of originality by its final reel.

Universal Home Video’s 2-disc/3-film ‘DVD collection’ needs some revisiting. The original feature has been released to Blu-ray, but with Uni’s usual slap-dash efforts applied. While that Blu-ray is suggested over this collection, it is hardly perfect.  Now, on DVD in this set, shot in Cinemascope, Tammy and the Bachelor suffers from muddy colors and a considerable amount of digitized film grain, especially during fades and dissolves. At times, the image can appear rather nicely put together with somewhat pasty flesh tones, but enough fine detail to make for a passably pleasing presentation. Unfortunately, the entire camera negative is on the verge of vinegar syndrome disintegration: colors, not only faded, but clumpy – resulting in a very blurry and somewhat distorted image. The last two features are both shot in 1:75:1. To varying degrees, the aforementioned shortcomings plague these last two installments as well. Universal Home Video has reserved a single disc for Tammy and the Bachelor, but compressed the latter two features on a single-sided second disc with minor compression artifacts noticed throughout. In all cases, the audio is Dolby Digital 1.0 mono and adequately represented. There are no extra features and NO chapter listings. While I cannot fault Universal for not taking the high road on the last 2 movies, the original is a time capsule definitely worth preserving for posterity. Although an improvement over this DVD incarnation, the current Blu-ray of Tammy and the Bachelor does not to the movie justice.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

Tammy and the Bachelor 3.5

Tammy Tell Me True 2.5

Tammy and the Doctor 1

VIDEO/AUDIO

Overall 2.5

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