D is for Designing Woman

D is for Designing Woman, a film from 1957 that won Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, and starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall, some parts are a little dated for today, but the humor makes for a riotous timeless comedy.

I watched Gregory Peck in the wonderful Roman Holiday not long ago, and he is an excellent romantic lead. In this romantic comedy, Mike (Gregory Peck) and Marilla (Lauren Bacall) meet in LA, and it is love at first sight. They are inseparable for days and quickly get married. But now Mike, a sportswriter for a newspaper, and Marilla, a fashion designer, must learn to live together in very different worlds.

They both have apartments, very different styles and furnishings, in New York City. Even more jarring for each of them is the other’s social acquaintances. Mike is in the poker playing, fight-going male world, and Marilla is in the arts where her friends are dancers, musicians, and theater people, a veritable whirlwind of creative souls.

Complicating their relationship is jealousy. They really didn’t have enough time before they wed to share all the skeletons in their closets. Marilla is especially jealous of a relationship she suspects Mike had with Lori (Dolores Gray), an actress, singer and dancer, whom Marilla unwittingly designs fashions for in the theater.

The film employs the use of voice-overs, not just from one person, but from several of the main characters. In this way, we get to see Mike and Marilla’s story unfold through the perspective of different sets of eyes.

The funniest bits come from unlikely characters, notably a friend of Mike’s, one Maxie Stultz (Mickey Shaughnessy) who appears brain damaged from years of fighting in the ring. The other is Randy (Jack Cole), a free-spirited dancer who jumps and twirls across any surface he chooses. My husband and I were both laughing out loud at their antics. Jack Cole was an illustrious choreographer with many film credits to his name.

I must say that I am enjoying seeing some of these older films. More time is spent on dialogue, relationships and the comedy than some of the current films we are getting today. I think I’ve mentioned before that Gregory Peck was my Mom’s favorite actor, and I can surely see why. He is charming, good at physical comedy, and at romance. Lauren Bacall is sharp, point on with her characterization of Marilla, and beautiful too. She has an elegance seldom seen today.

We recognized many actors who later went on to TV shows in the 1960’s, such as Chuck Connors, and Ed Platt from Get Smart. We laughed at one scene where Mike awakens his boss in the middle of the night with a phone call. He and his wife are sleeping in twin beds! Cigarette smoking is very prevalent in the film, and it is odd to see Lauren Bacall puffing away on one. How times have changed. Give Designing Woman a watch. You won’t be disappointed.

Designing Woman trailer