FILMS… Pillow Talk (1959)

#1950s #AllPosts

 

A surprising undercover romantic has a day…

 

Sparks fly in all directions when Jan Morrow and Brad Allen share a party phone line, they “meet” after her voice rings a bell.

 

With Randall

With Hudson

Pillow Talk Official Trailer #1 – Rock Hudson Movie (1959) HD, Movieclips Classic Trailers and photos © Universal Pictures

 

If you’ve ever been on a date and he suddenly makes you want to sing – in your head – then this is the film for you. I’m reviewing Doris Day in what seems like a one-woman yearly quest to review her with all her leading men.

This year, I watched her with Rock Hudson in the 1950s romantic comedy, Pillow Talk (1959). This is a feel-good romantic comedy from the fifties that ticks all the boxes with romance, split screens, comedy, innuendo, montages and a fun musical duet. (For starters).

The film opens with an opening chirpy shoo-wop, toe-tapping and clapping type tune. This sets the scene with the credits in the middle of a split-screen of two separate nightwear clad people in separate beds throwing pillows at each other.

Then this Doris Day song and those titles lead to that Oscar-winning film script. The storyline is the perfect material for one of the best of Doris Day’s performances and one that she was nominated for as Best Actress.

In this comic, romantic and at times racy (for that time and place) film Doris shines brightly as a comedienne. This is thanks to her undeniable on-screen rapport with Rock Hudson. This is the first – and luckily for us – not their last comedic film outings together.

Making three more a pleasure than a crowd, this pair shares their screen time with support from Tony Randall. Randall appears much later in homage to these three films in Down With Love (2003). 

The film tells of an interior decorator, Jan (Doris Day) who shares a phone party line with a man about town, confirmed bachelor Brad Allen (Rock Hudson). He’s also not of the marrying kind – like those recently reviewed Cary Grant characters -and just as chiselled and good-looking.

As Broadway composer Allen, he hogs the phone to juggle his love life from early in the morning. She, however, works from home for the most part and needs the phone for work. This leads to a few clashes between the pair when they both need the phone.

He’s a bit of a smooth operator as he often gets his girls cooing over him from early in the morning. This character, of course, is made much more convincing as he’s played by the lovely Rock Hudson (the Jon Hamm of his day). Allen’s signature move to get the girls is to woo them with a song that he changes as often as his bed partners. 

This is simply by changing the name of the girl he sings about accordingly.. or in some cases the language. He also has a flat hooked up with that automatic seduction setting with music, dimmed lights and a sofa bed that folds down and all at the flick of a switch.

Jan lives in a sunny, practical apartment with a live-out housekeeper. Jan is getting exasperated with Brad’s constant use of the phone. She complains to her phone company and to Alma, her often hungover housekeeper (an Oscar-nominated, Thelma Ritter). Her phone company sends a woman around to investigate the situation. This woman falters in her mission after meeting the charming Brad.

Alma often listens in to him wooing the ladies and thinks he sounds a bit of a catch. Both these women have fallen under his spell and who can blame them, he really is a honey. Hudson has a voice that could melt butter and that song (sigh)…

Anyway, Jan suggests that Brad and she use alternate times to use the phone. She is single, yet fighting off the charms of serial ex-husband and self-confessed millionaire Jonathan (Tony Randall).

In a wee (convenient) twist, Jonathan’s old college friends with Allen and financing him to compose for his latest Broadway project. What are the chances in New York? (not much, if you are in a movie…). Especially when he mentions all about his unrequited love for Jan to Allen.

Jan attends a customer’s housewarming and is given a lift home by her client’s young son (Nick Adams). He’s drunk, a bit of a lech. and has a bit of a thing for older women. He makes unwanted moves on Jan on their return home. 

To fend him off, she suggests going dancing where her unwanted suitor collapses from too much drink. Allen, who – had been sitting near this couple –  has overheard their conversation and deduced that this attractive woman is Jan, who shares a party line with him.

So after some quick thinking, he ditches his date and pretends to be a Southerner, Rex Stetson. “Stetson” saves Jane from her date from hell, and then offers to take her home. Brad – knowing full well that introducing himself would not be a good thing – also adopts a (splendid) Texan drawl that wouldn’t look out of place in Dallas (1978-91).

Stetson and Jan hit it off in a good way, and he asks her out on a date. He’s very eloquent with those pickup lines – as a Broadway lyricist would be – and his modesty charms her. Stetson’s apparent naivety, gentlemanly ways and charming personality are a winning combination. Jan falls hook, line and sinker for this charming Southerner as the pair start to date.

However, after hearing about the Stetson from a lovelorn Jan, a jealous Jonathan sets some private detectives on Stetson’s trail. However, seeing their incriminating photos knows exactly who he is. He seeks out and confronts Allen.  Allen, however, has got himself into a corner, as he’s just discovered he’s fallen in love with Jan…

On watching this movie I was surprised to learn this was the first of Rock Hudson’s comic roles. He gives a natural performance in his duel performance. Convincing us in this story as both the soft-spoken cad, Allen and the Texan charmer, Stetson.

He juggles both these roles with ease and you can tell he’s having fun in both roles. This dual performance is seen at its best in one scene where he switches between both his characters while on the phone to Jan.

His comic reactions to those awkward situations are perfectly timed. He gives it his all with his obvious strong rapport and relationship with Doris Day. I loved Hudson’s believable Texan accent which made me smile.  His on-screen bromance with Randall was a joy to watch.

In one scene, Hudson and Randall bounce off each other in a fun comic volley, where Allen compares himself to a tree and this theme is elaborated on to comic heights. Hudson’s joy in this role was also felt as he showed off his singing talents, especially in his impromptu duet with Day.

The film is in a nice touch had Hudson as the musical one, but a film which also showcased Day’s singing talents. These musical numbers are seen in two unexpected – and delightful – singing numbers. Both were seen while Jan was on dates with Hudson’s Stetson.

I loved Day’s most unpredictable romantic moment as Jan sang in her head on her way to a weekend away with her new love. This random singing, I’m sure maybe a few of us have done… or is it just me (and possibly Doris?). 

I also liked the other uses for music with this couple.. some of which I won’t mention for spoiler sake. Although one use was possibly the most contrived way of getting Doris to sing in a non-musical movie. It was a lovely touch, as it made clear (as Day) how much fun Hudson and Day were having. This is seen in their eye contact and the shared warm feelings I observed between them in that musical duet. 

This film was one where the producer Ross Hunter and Day’s then-husband Martin Melcher changed the public perception of Day. She easily made this transition from the nice girl next door type to a sex symbol. This was reinforced by some implied sexual moments with the pair in their own bed or in their own bath but in family-friendly split screens.

These innuendo filmed scenes were more outrageously homaged by Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor in Down With Love. These subtle yet more daring split-screen moments were considered daring for the time and mirrored the opening credits.

Montages were added which also reminded me of movies of this time. These beautifully filmed montages remind me of moments in La La Land (2016). I also loved when we were privy to their characters’ contrasting thoughts on a situation.

Day showed herself as a fabulous versatile actress with her expressive facial reactions. Jan’s exasperation showed so comically towards Allen, that I expected steam to come out of her ears. I loved watching her eyes narrow and see her stomp about and complain bitterly about him in an over-exaggerated comic way to her housekeeper. Likewise, I adored how her eyes filled with love for Stetson which contrasted starkly with that animosity with Allen. 

With her encouragement and support for Rock in his first comic role, you could tell this pair were both having fun in their roles and had a great off-screen friendship. This on-screen romantic coupling leads the way for some fabulous and inspiring montages and split-screen moments. Day also wears a fabulously flattering on-screen wardrobe for this film designed by the much Oscar-nominated Jean Louis.   

This film was nominated for five Oscars and rightly so after its unique and then daring casting and the delivery of this sparkling script. This was the first of three movies with Rock Hudson and Doris Day in an on-screen romance. The audiences clamoured for more movies between these two firm-acting friends. They didn’t have long to wait with Doris making our Day with Hudson answering her call for an on-screen Lover Come Back in 1961…

 

Weeper Rating:   😦 😦 😦 😦😦 😦/10

Handsqueeze Rating:  🙂 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂/10

Hulk Rating: ‎  ‎ ‎  ‎  ‎  ‎ ‎   /10

 

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The Fourth Doris Day Blogathon 2020 No 8

This blog post was added to Love Letters to Old Hollywood‘s Fourth Doris Day Blogathon. Other reviews with this cast include,

• Doris Day in Move Over Darling,  With Six You Get Egg Roll, The Thrill of it All, Young at Heart and more.
• Rock Hudson also stars in McMillan and Wife, McMillan, Dynasty, Avalanche and more.
• Thelma Ritter in Move Over Darling and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
• Tony Randall in Down with Love, Happy Days and more.
• Nick Adams starred in Teacher’s Pet. 

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