Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Prismark10 On Moonlight Bay is a musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth, it is about the Winfield family in the early part of the 20th century. Banker George Winfield and his family move into a new big house in a small town in Indiana.18 year old tomboy Marjorie (Doris Day) falls for William (Gordon MacRae) the young man next door, with the help of her mother she is transformed into a beautiful young woman.Her father does not approve of William with his radical world view that some young students like him have such as disliking bankers and not believing in marriage. Things change when William signs up to fight in the Great War.The film is a nostalgic look at small time America and a comedic take on inter generational differences. However despite the chemistry between the cast, parts of the story just seemed to grate as well as having similarities to Meet Me in St Louis.

Tony Hernandez Roy Del Ruth directed this charming bit of Americana, based on stories by Booth Tarkington. Doris Day plays a tomboy named Marjorie Winfield whose family moves to a new neighborhood in their small town. Hilarity and romance ensue as she meets the boy across the street and he wins her heart after many light-hearted complications. The great Gordon McRae plays Bill Sherman and gets to show off his voice and some comic acting chops. Day and McRae have real chemistry here.Much of the hilarity comes from Marjorie's family, with Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray and Mary Wickes taking turns making the audience laugh. Gray steals every scene he is in and has some great scenes with Ellen Corby as the stuffy (and gossipy) school teacher. His cough alone is worth a dozen laughs.This film is often considered a weak cousin to "Meet Me in St. Louis," one of the truly great Hollywood musicals. That film also centers around a young woman finding love with a neighbor boy ("The Boy Next Door") and features a beleaguered father also played by Ames. Certainly, "On Moonlight Bay" does not have the great score, the perfect art direction, or the magic of Judy Garland. But it does have a true spirit of fun, some great music, and a lot of great comic scenes.This film was an instant hit and inspired a quick sequel ("By the Light of the Silvery Moon") that was not quite as good but is certainly worth a look.

SimonJack "On Moonlight Bay" is another home run comedy musical for Warner Brothers with stars Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. In just three years, Day had proved herself a box office draw with her singing and acting. This film opens with Doris as tomboy Marjorie Winfield getting into a baseball game with boys in her new neighborhood. In her first time at bat, she clobbers a triple, and then steals home on the pitcher. Doris Day always had a certain tomboyish-character about her. I think it was part of her screen persona that gave an image of a healthy, robust, energetic and attractive female. I don't know if Doris was the actual batter and slider in this film, or if she had a stand-in stunt person. My guess is that Doris did the duty. Later in the film, she fires three straight pitches that knock the bottles off a carnival stand. She also co-starred in another film with baseball – "The Winning Team" the next year. It was a fictionalized biography of the great Grover Cleveland Alexander, one of the best pitchers in baseball history. Ronald Reagan played Alexander in that film. In this film, Marjorie soon comes of age and moves into young womanhood when she meets the boy next door, William Sherman, played by MacRae. The film has a wonderful cast all around. Leon Ames is perfect as the father, George Winfield. Longtime comic supporting actress Mary Wickes is Stella, the Winfield's cook and house keeper. Billy Gray is great in the role of Wesley, and the rest of the cast fill out nicely. I suspect that Warner's was banking on the success of this film because its ending is an open-end for a sequel – which did come two years later in "By the Light of the Silvery Moon." Day and MacRae are unbeatable as a singing team – the perfect range of voices that complement one another beautifully. We are treated to some great old tunes. Young brother Wesley is the cause of many of the funny situations. And the script has nice funny lines peppered throughout. One of my favorite is when Marjorie is taking dance lessons on the sly while William is away finishing college. Prof. Barson, the dance instructor (played by Sig Arno) wants to teach her the Viennese Waltz, but Marjorie says that she wants to learn the Turkey Trot, so that she can do all the modern dances with William. Prof. Barson says, "Such dances they play now. The Grizzly Bear! The Bunny Hug! The Kangaroo Dip! Am I a dance teacher or an animal trainer?" For all of her talent, Doris Day quit making movies after just two decades as a star. She was 44 when here second husband, Martin Melcher died in 1968. She quit Hollywood, but soon found that her husband- manager had lost most of her fortune through bad investments. She won a lawsuit that restored $22 million from one person who had defrauded Melcher. But, she honored a contract Melcher had made for a TV show. She did the Doris Day show for five years. During her two decades in Hollywood, Day starred with some of the biggest male stars of the 1950s and 1960s. She received one Academy Award nomination, for "Pillow Talk" in 1959. But she was in films that garnered many nominations and that won a few Oscars for other actors, directors, songwriters and technicians. And, Day could act – well beyond her major fields of music and comedy. She was excellent in two thrillers, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with James Stewart in 1956; and "Midnight Lace," in 1960 with Rex Harrison. Doris was up for Golden Globe awards a dozen times. She won three as the world film favorite female actress – in 1958, 1960 and 1963. This film, and any musical comedy with Doris Day in it, is a sure bet for an evening of family fun and entertainment.

James Hitchcock The decade which gave us the First World War seems an unlikely subject for nostalgia. On Moonlight Bay, however, is a film which approaches the 1910s in a sentimental, nostalgic way, trying to persuade us that, whatever was happening on the battlefields of Europe, it was a time of a kinder, gentler America. The film centres upon the Winfield family, prosperous citizens of an unnamed mid-western town, and especially on the romance between their daughter Marjorie and her boyfriend William Sherman.William is something of a radical, with advanced views about politics and the institution of marriage, but as he is the sort of well-scrubbed middle-class radical who always wears an impeccably-tied bow-tie and calls his girlfriend's father `sir', we know that in the end he will turn out to be a thoroughly respectable young man, eager to do the right thing by Marjorie and his patriotic duty to his country. (The fact that he has the same name as a famous general is perhaps a giveaway). The film deals with America's involvement in World War One in the traditional flagwaving manner; it was made at a time when the Cold War had recently become a hot war in Korea, so there is an obvious political subtext.Set against this romance is a series of sub-plots involving Marjorie's mischievous younger brother Wesley, a sort of American Just William. Wesley is very well played by a young actor named Billy Gray, and his antics provide the film with its most amusing moments.The film is a musical, and the songs are pleasant enough, although the tunes are not particularly memorable and the lyrics are clichéd in the best `Moon-in-June' style. The film as a whole, although it has nothing of any depth to say and even the political themes are dealt with rather superficially, makes agreeable entertainment, especially on a wet Sunday afternoon (which is when I saw it on TV). 6/10.