Designing Woman (1957)

 Designing Woman (1957)

After getting his hands on some unexpected cash a reporter parties so hard the next morning he can't remember if he met his deadline.

He needn’t have worried; he apparently met a dame who helped him write it. His bad mood lifted, he goes back to this same lady still not sure about her identity and whatever chemistry they had the night before is still good, because they spend the next few days together and they even get married.

The problem?

Well, they don’t really know anything about each other’s past; and he learning about her being a successful designer with an active professional and social life, and she learning about his past love life is just one more hurdle to clear other than each adjusting to the other’s profession and daily (and weekly) routines.

Rather than a realistic depiction of required mutual adjustments which must necessarily occur at the beginning of a new marriage, the story is simplified to a single dramatic conflict, she is jealous of an ex-lover he kept secret, and he in turn must hide for a couple of weeks from the mobster featured in critical articles, all the while keeping this secret from his bride lest he endanger her.

Complications ensue.

Conflict would disappear in many movies if characters would simply talk to each other openly. but in this case, there are either reasons for not doing so, or doing so would make no difference; would she not be jealous if he had been open about his past love life? At their age, it'd be difficult not to conceive that he must have had a past!

Jealousy is real, and talking doesn't help.

The fantasy is not limited to this uncomplicated view of the newlywed life of these two ‘extremes’.

When he wakes up hung over them film utilizes Jerry Lewis/Frank Tashlin-styled cartoon exaggeration of his sensitivity to light and sound (the mid-day sky as seen thru blood-shot eyes is particularly gruesome), though it is abandoned as soon as he feels better and never really goes back to it except with the presence of a comedic, punch-drunk ex-fighter who (very creepily) sleeps with his eyes open.

There are notable, odd cultural touches; When he meets with the lady the second time, he mistakenly assumes she’s a prostitute. Also, it seems his own jealously will extend to her profession, as she helps him write the article (which his editor likes just fine), but as it turns out, she’s not even a writer.

Instead, he is simply disheartened of her success (and larger, nicer apartment) as a famous designer.

Much is made about Randy Owens’ choreographer seeming homosexuality, but it’s all defused when he proves he’s 100% heterosexual with photos of his wife and kids, (I guess it was much too early for the general public to know what a beard is.)

A sign of the times is all the smoking that goes on, (the drinking to a lesser extent, I suppose,) with even dancers participating.

Nearly a trial run for Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple (the guy is even a sportswriter!) except that in this case the couple is comprised of complementary sexes.

Simon would take the story one step further by casting two men as his leads.

With Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, and Dolores Gray, and features Sam Levene and Chuck Connors.