Rent Pillow Talk (1959)

Social Comedy. - Pillow Talk review by Steve

Neutered sex comedy which was a code-buster at the time because the split screen editing made it look like stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson, though in their own apartments, were sharing a bed, and even a bath! The script had knocked around Hollywood for decades and it's a standard screwball plot of a man and woman who hate each other, and then fall in love.

The film works best as a photograph of America- and New York- in the 1950s. Postwar austerity is forgotten. She has an independent single life as an interior decorator. He is a playboy with a bachelor pad where he operates a number of casual affairs. Best pal Tony Randall has a swanky office in a downtown skyscraper. And the stars have a phone in every room...

Rock and Doris were approaching forty when this was made. It was a film for a grown up audience looking for risqué sophistication; more fun than funny. The stars are attractive and the widescreen Technicolor makes the film feel luxurious, particularly for a comedy. There are negatives. It's especially sad to hear Hudson voicing dialogue mocking homosexuals.

The story is familiar. Day made it a year earlier as Teacher's Pet. It's a period piece which illustrates the myths of Eisenhower's America:  the relative sexual freedom; the prosperity of the urban middle class; and the modern American city as place of recreation rather than industry. It's the ultimate Doris Day film, with all the kitsch that implies.