Um Amor de Professora

1958's "Teacher's Pet" is delightful, frothy fun, and probably what got the ball rolling a year later for Doris Day to film a batch of highly popular Universal Studios 'battle of the sex' comedies opposite Rock Hudson, among others. Here she's at odds with manly Clark Gable, in a change-of-pace comedy role.

Gable, in the twilight of his career by this time, is still loaded with sly, roguish charm as he plays a brusque, unrefined, self-taught city editor who, at the behest of his superiors, grudgingly signs up for a night class in Journalism 101, taught by the ever-spunky, no-nonsense Ms. Day. Clark doesn't let Doris in on the fact that he has a life time of experience in journalism, so Doris naturally comes off quite impressed by the "raw talent" of her novice pupil, taking a special interest in sharpening his "promising" skills. The fun really starts when the two start butting heads both professionally and romantically, with the devilish Gable stringing our girl along, while pushing her "virginal" buttons. You know how these things end but who cares? The joy is seeing two consummate pros play off each other.

Gable and Day are surrounded by a highly capable cast, especially (Oscar-nominated) Gig Young, a gifted comedy farceur, breezing through his patented "other man" role with effortless charm and skill. Here he plays Doris' handsome, long-standing beau who appears to be everything the roughhewn Gable isn't...glib, educated, charismatic, polished, impeccably-mannered, highly intellectual, a fabulous dancer, and an expert on practically every subject. Sounds like quite a catch to me! However, he's NOT the lead, so...

Sexpot Mamie Van Doren has a small, knockout role as Clark's platinum-blonde squeeze, a club singer who gets to bump and grind the hell out of a great solo number, "I'm the Girl Who Invented Rock and Roll." Trying to pass the bombshell off as an intellectual herself to impress Doris, the song pretty much says it all about Mamie, much to Clark's chagrin and Doris' delight. Day gets added laughs later when she gets to mimic the song as a sheepish Clark looks on. Others hitching a ride on this merry-go-romp are Nick Adams playing, as always, an earnest rookie, and Marion Ross and Jack Albertson in minor, pre-TV stardom supports.

The pace is brisk, the actors fetching, the comedy fresh and the fun contagious. Clark and Doris, despite their vast age difference, make such a good team you'd swear they had worked together before. Nope, this was their only pairing. So enjoy!

Classy, rapid-fire comedy that combines "His Girl Friday" with any one of the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn battle-of-the-sexes. The set-up of the plot is rather hoary and contrived (gruff city editor of a New York newspaper--who is so anti-education that he hates the smell of chalk--falls for a journalism teacher), yet the writing and the deft handling are so assured, you can nearly forgive the sitcom devices. The actress at the beginning of the film who begs Clark Gable to fire her son is such a wonderful, believable find that she gets the picture off on just the right note; Gable and teacher Doris Day are lovely together, fighting and flirting and completely at ease in their roles. When Gable finally plants one on DD, she turns away in a huff, only to melt with wobbly knees. It's a fantastic moment in this unjustly forgotten, underrated classic. *** from ****

Gable and Day make an unusual couple, but this is a clever and cute romance. The film deals with illusion and reality and how the two become mixed. Though not often shown, the film is worth watching. It is one of those minor classics that is too often overlooked.

Doris Day was a breath of fresh air. Not only was she an extremely beautiful woman, she was a versatile actress and performer, and as for her singing, I can safely say that I would sooner hear Doris Day sing, than any other female vocalist before or since.

But apart from her singing she was just as well known for her talents as a comedienne, in a series of 'sex' comedies in which she always played the virginal unsuspecting prey to the rich, handsome sex maniacs, played by the likes of Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and James Garner.

This film however is probably the first in which this formula was tried, and although not the big smash anyone had hoped for, it nonetheless paved the way for her future success throughout the sixties. In fact with musicals coming to an end in popularity, it was this kind of film which prolonged Miss Day's movie career by a further ten years.

Her love interest in this vehicle is the wonderful if not aged, Clark Gable, and although it was to be one of his final films, he proves that he is still no stranger to a decent script, and is able to perform his comic turn effortlessly.

It is a story of a hardened reporter of the old school, and a beautiful journalism teacher from the night school, and how the two come together despite conflicting ideals.

An advocate of the school of hard knocks, Gable pretends to be an up and coming journalist student so he can attend Professor Day's classes, in order to cause his own brand of trouble and bring the prim and proper know-it-all professor down a peg or two. However things obviously turn a bit difficult when he realises that he is in love etc etc blah blah blah. Routine stuff.

Already we have the typical sex comedy scenario of how the guy pretends to be somebody else to get his own back. We saw it again with greater comic effect in the following years Pillow Talk and again in 1962's Lover Come Back and quite surprisingly again in 2003's Down With Love with Ewan McGregor and Rene Zellwegger. Again it's routine stuff, but routine stuff that works.

Although the two leads handle their roles well, in my opinion only one actor shines through this entire film and that is Gig Young. From the moment Young is given screen-time, the other actors have no choice but to sit back and cool off in his shade.

Young plays a handsome and dashing psychologist who is an expert on nearly every subject you care to press him on. He is also a potential beau to Doris Day's professor and therefore a love rival for Gable. The nightclub scenes and the subsequent hangover scenes are a joy to behold and will have you chuckling throughout. His lines are witty and delivered impeccably in Gig Young's usual boyish manner. This film is a treat for this reason alone.

If you're a fan of Doris Day/Rock Hudson style sixties sauce, then give this one some time and see where it all began.

This sole teaming between jolly blonde Doris Day and charismatic Clark Gable works so well you wish that there had been more opportunities for them to appear on film together. Still, we have to content ourselves with this tale – where newspaper hack Gable goes to night class to learn journalism from Day, the daughter of a leading entrepreneur in the field of ‘real news'.

About five minutes in you know where this story is leading, but it sure is fun seeing it get there. Of great value in the cast is smarmy Gig Young as the perfect writer and the perfect intellectual (and the perfect foil to get on Gable's nerves). You'll also spot Mamie Van Doren, that low-rent version of Marilyn Monroe, as Gable's showgirl cutie in a few scenes.

‘Teacher's Pet' is one of the unsung successes of Doris Day's run of romantic comedies. Go on, treat yourself to an exceptional example of the genre.