Pillow Talk (1959)

Pillow Talk (1959)

Having been utterly disgusted with That Touch of Mink a few decades ago, I only was convinced to back to a Doris Day vehicle when The Projection Booth, in one of their recent podcasts, was going on about how Pillow Talk was the best one in the series.

If this is the best, I could certainly give these sex comedies one more try.

Turns out it’s not bad at all.

Without having met one another, Doris Day and Rock Hudson irritate each other by interfering with their calls because they share a party line.

When would-be beau Tony Randall, convinces songwriter buddy Hudson that his girlfriend is a knock-out, and Hudson recognizing her name as that of his annoying neighbor, he disguises his voice as a gentlemanly Texan, and attempts to seduce her by behaving in the precise opposite way she’d expect him to (he being a playboy, and all.)

The fact that he passes himself as someone he’s not while having inside information is problematic, but then, not nearly as problematic as the more recent What Women Want (2000), so its late 50s male chauvinistic setting doesn’t really play into it, at least not any more than any particular film today.

Does he learn some kind of a lesson by the end? Not really.

Just falling in love reforms him, apparently.

Mostly is silly fun; with the added element of suspense of when he’ll be discovered, including a scene at a restaurant where Randall (who could recognize both and unmask him publicly) walks in unannounced.

The Cellulloid Closet (1995) made a big deal about scenes in these comedies where Hudson simulates being gay during a particular scene, and while not quite what happens here, he does insinuate he might be at one point to get her guard down and steal a kiss.

Despite the superficial wholesomeness of it all it has a smutty feel to it underneath it all.

Nice use of split screen.