Romancefest 2011: Pillow Talk

Now here's a movie that relies on a premise that doesn't even make sense today. If they made a remake of this one, there'd have to be some serious rewriting. PILLOW TALK has a plot that relies on the concept of a couple people sharing a party line.

When I was a kid, I knew what a party line was because I had one friend who lived out in the country and apparently his family shared a phone line with other houses in the area. But I bet there are a bunch of people my age who have never even heard of the concept.

In PILLOW TALK, womanizing bachelor Rock Hudson shares a party line with no nonsense single woman Doris Day. Hudson is constantly on the phone romancing his multiple girlfriends, and Day isn't afraid to pick up the phone and tell him off. The two characters eventually meet by chance -- Hudson knows who Day is, but Day doesn't know who Hudson is, and Hudson decides to invent a charming, innocent Texan alter-ego in an attempt to romance her. Of course we all know Day will eventually figure it out and the shit will hit the fan, and meanwhile Hudson will fall in love with her in spite of himself, but the movie still manages to entertain us getting there.

Day and Hudson have good chemistry, and there's a good supporting cast including Tony Randall as a mutual acquaintance with Hudson and secondary romantic interest for Day, and Thelma Ritter as Day's drunken housekeeper.

In a couple scenes Hudson's cruelty goes a little too far, I think -- he seems to relish the ruse he's pulling on Day just a little too much. And, in the end, though Day gets her revenge, I think she gives in to Hudson a little too easily. Still, the movie's attitudes towards sex don't seem to be quite as antiquated as some of the other movies of the era, presenting Day not necessarily as a "typical" woman, but more like a woman with some standards, which is respectable. The attitudes towards Hudson's womanizing bachelor, on the other hand, are a little more stereotypical and of the "boys will be boys" variety.

Also, it's interesting to note by sheer coincidence, I happened to watch two films in a row starring French actor Marcel Dalio -- he shows up in a supporting role here, and played one of the leads in THE RULES OF THE GAME.

Oh, and, another interesting note: PILLOW TALK reminded me of something I meant to mention about WAY DOWN EAST, the silent flick from the 20s. Both movies feature womanizers with apartments that turn into swinging bachelor pads at the push of a button. In WAY DOWN EAST, there's a scene where a cad lures a woman to his place, flips a switch, and a phonograph starts up all by itself across the room. That MUST be the earliest use of this joke, right? Anyway, it's a little more involved in PILLOW TALK -- yeah, he can get the record player going with the flip of a switch from across the room, but he can also transform his couch into a bed with the flip of another switch AND make sure his front door locks with a flip of yet another. Decent.