Search This Blog

Monday, February 14, 2011

Designing Woman (1957)

Two New Yorkers on business in Beverly Hills, a sports writer (Gregory Peck) and a fashion designer (Lauren Bacall), fall in love immediately and get married in a matter of days. When they return home, however, their different lifestyles and different group of friends clash and they begin to realize they know very little about each other. Smoothly directed by Vincente Minnelli with an Oscar winning screenplay by George Wells (WHERE THE BOYS ARE), this stylish romantic comedy is a thinly veiled reworking of the 1942 Tracy and Hepburn vehicle WOMAN OF THE YEAR given the full glossy MGM treatment. Gregory Peck proves himself surprisingly adept at comedy (a few of his reactions are priceless) and Bacall has never been more likeable. The marvelous Dolores Gray plays the musical comedy actress (with a scene stealing chocolate poodle) who loses Peck to Bacall and gets to sing a couple of songs. Helen Rose did the eye popping costumes and the melodic score is by Andre Previn. With Chuck Connors, Sam Levene, Dean Jones, Tom Helmore, Richard Deacon, Mickey Shaughnessy as a punch drunk pugilist who sleeps with his eyes open and Jack Cole who also did the choreography.

No comments:

Post a Comment