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While Designing Woman isn't as famous as other romantic classics, like Pillow Talk or Woman of the Year, there's a lot to love about this hidden gem from 1957. On a sad note, Humphrey Bogart was dying during the filming of this movie. Lauren Bacall said in her autobiography that Gregory Peck was a wonderful friend to them, and that his kindness and strength helped her survive the terrible tragedy. So, in case you sense any sort of tension in Lauren's performance, I hope you'll cut her some slack.

Lauren plays a fashion designer, and Greg plays a sports writer. They fall in love and get married, but after their impulsive decision, they soon find they have very little in common. My favorite scene is when they are ordering at a restaurant. Lauren has previously revealed that she eats a lot when she's happy and in love, so when she orders a humungous meal, she looks at him sheepishly as they both realize she's fallen in love with him. It reminds me of the fantastic line from Sex, Lies and Videotape that Andie MacDowell says: "The last time I was happy, I got so fat!"

All in all, it's pretty funny, with jokes about hangovers, sex, and infidelity that snuck past the strict Hollywood censors. If you like either of the leads, or if you like cute, smart flicks from the 1950s, give this one a try. It's as if Lauren's character from How to Marry a Millionaire met Greg's character from Roman Holiday and fell in love!

Who would have possibly realized in this bubbly and frothy romantic comedy, behind the scenes was a looming tragedy. While shooting this film with Gregory Peck by day, Lauren Bacall was nursing dying husband Humphrey Bogart. It was quite an ordeal for her.

Fortunately she's called on to be a fashion designer, beautiful and chic and Lauren Bacall can do that in her sleep. I'm sure working on this film took her mind off what she was dealing with at home.

As has been said, this borrows heavily from Woman of the Year. And like in Woman of the Year, the male lead is a sports columnist. He's also doing a bit of crusading journalism going after racketeers in the boxing game. Which, by the way, in real life was also going on, giving Designing Woman a certain current topicality.

Gregory Peck may be reprising Spencer Tracy, but I think he's poaching here on Rock Hudson's territory. Still he does have some good moments as Mike Hagen, sportswriter and would-be Bob Woodward. His best moments are with Dolores Gray, his jilted girlfriend who dumps a plate of ravioli in his lap at a posh restaurant and later in her apartment hiding from Bacall and wrestling with Gray's pink poodle for his shoe which the dog appropriates for a chew toy.

The rest of the cast nicely fills out their roles. Two standouts for me are Mickey Shaughnessy as a punch-drunk ex-pug who is Peck's appointed bodyguard. It seems like Mickey Shaughnessy was in about every good film in the 1950s and worked with everyone. The second is Jack Cole, choreographer who plays a choreographer in a show Bacall is designing costumes for.

We've certainly come a long way from 1957 when you had to hide the fact a character was gay. If Designing Woman was made today Jack Cole would be openly gay and no nonsense about it. Let us say his presence in the mad finale is absolutely crucial to Peck's and Bacall's life and marriage.

Vincent Minnelli directed this movie with verve. The idea of the movie came from MGM's designer Helen Rose, a woman who knew about fashions. The screen play by George Wells, works well in the beginning of the movie.

The idea of bringing together these two different people had already been done, especially as vehicles for Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. The allure here lies on the stars. Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall made an excellent couple.

Lauren Bacall, at the height of her beauty, comes out best. She was a fine comedy actress who had a sense of style and timing. In portraying Marilla, Ms. Bacall offers a side of her that hadn't been tapped before, having been seen in heavier roles. This movie seems to have been tailor made for her.

As the sports writer, Gregory Peck, plays comedy, which was not his forte. At times, he appears wooden, but it probably was the direction from Mr. Minnelli, who wanted to show the big contrast between the lovers. Mr. Peck's Mike Hagan is completely different from his role in "Roman Holiday", but he carries it off and shows he was having a great time playing this sports reporter.

Dolores Gray, as Lori Shannon, has a few good moments playing the woman that is dumped by her steady boyfriend. There are a lot of familiar faces in the cast. Sam Levene, Tom Helmore, Mickey Shaugnessy, Jesse White, Chuck Connors, Edward Platt and Jack Cole, who plays the part of the Broadway choreographer that makes a statement of not being gay, when everyone can see otherwise!

It's not exceptionally funny or momentous, just pleasant in the same agreeably polished sort of way the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedies are. Peck is a New York sports writer who meets Bacall's fashion designer while on leave in California at a posh hotel. They marry on a whim after a brief courtship and soon discover their clashing lifestyles will be a greater problem than they anticipated. Delores Gray plays Peck's old flame who isn't quite ready to fade into the background; Sam Levene and Tom Helmore lend capable support as Peck's editor and Bacall's business partner, respectively. A minor Minnelli production that breaks no new ground, it's a delightful diversion all the same.

Helen Rose, MGM's Oscar-winning fashion guru, suggested the idea for this bit of fluff and the original casting was supposed to have been: Grace Kelly (eventually, Lauren Bacall), James Stewart (then, Gregory Peck), and Cyd Charisse (finally, Dolores Gray). George Wells won an Academy Award for his witty script and the production values were about the best that MGM could muster. Bacall gives a sly and glamorous performance, probably a little difficult for her since her husband, Humphrey Bogart's health was becoming a very serious concern while this film was in production. (Humphrey Bogart died in January of 1957.) Peck matches Bacall with a humorously masculine presence that was right-on. Dolores Gray tosses off a couple of jazzy production numbers (with the emphasis on her singing...presumably Cyd would have unfurled those legendary legs and would have been dubbed had singing been required.) And Mickey Shaughnessy provides a bit of cruder comic counterpoint as a punch-drunk boxer ("I'm makin' a comeback!") Minnelli, as usual, uses Metrocolor and CinemaScope to creative effect and Andre Previn contributed a main title theme that's instantly memorable.

The DVD now available restores the widescreen ratio and there's a curious "Behind-the-Scenes Minidocumentary" featuring costume designer Helen Rose, shot in black-and-white, in which she seems to be responding to questions posed to her by an unseen person whose questions were not actually recorded on the soundtrack! Wonder why they didn't fix that omission for its inclusion on the DVD version. Anyway, it's fun and worth a look.