La femme modèle

"Designing Woman", a title which is a word-play on a female's desire to obtain a worthwhile husband and on the profession followed by the female lead, is what used to be known as an engaging comedy. A 'designing woman' is exactly what she is not; nor is the sportswriter she falls in love with in any way naturally conniving. But circumstances in this undeniably charming, situationally humorous and dialogue-rich film force her to become (naturally) suspicious and him to mislead her. The couple are portrayed by Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck who have said they had and appear to have had great fun in making this New York-based comedy of manners. There were a number of male-versus-female films made in Hollywood between 1939 and 1973, the Golden Age of physical production there; while most of the writers took a reactionary anti-feminist position, the author of this film, George Wells, instead, here championed a mutually-desired and mutually-agreed equality between the two protagonists. Peck is the central character; but Bacall is the focus of much of the plot. In fact the opening sequences of the film take place on the West coast; Peck awakens to find himself befriended and his story filed by Bacall, after he had had a bit too much to drink. They begin an affair and swiftly decide to wed. But going back home to New York, they discover that "happily ever after" is harder than "I do". Abandoning his smaller bachelor digs for her luxurious apartment, they discover that their lifestyles, acquaintances and pursuits hardly match. One famous scene involves his rough-hewn card buddies trying to hold their regular game in her apartment. Also, Peck had been dating a pretty model , played by Dolores Gray, and has to hide the relationship, explain it away and generally engage in fancy footwork on several occasions; having her creative friends do their work while his card game buddies are present, pretending he does not know Gray, on whose musical designer Bacall is working when they meet at a fashion show; this is only the beginning of the story. Because Peck is also under a death threat from gamblers, he has to pretend to be away covering road baseball games while he's really holed up with a punchy ex-prizefighter bodyguard played by Mickey Shaughnessy. Of course, when Bacall discovers his old girl friend was Gray and that Peck has been lying about where he is, she assumes he has been cheating on her. The gangsters after Peck is played by Ed Platt and Chuck Connors, while Peck's helpful editor is Sam Levene. Under Vincente Minnelli's solid direction, the pace of this fast-moving comedy that only sometimes slows down for smart dialogue never flags. The fine cinematography was done by Gene Alton, set decorations by Edwin B. Willis and Henry Grace. Costumes were the work of veteran Helen Rose, with original music by Andre Previn. The bright art direction was by E. Preston Ames and William A. Horning, In the cast supporting the principals are Tom Helmore, Alvy Moore, Jesse White, Carol Veazie and Jack Cole. Bacall shows intelligence and toughness as the designer while Peck is more nuanced. This is a well-remembered and critically favored comedic effort, with a surprisingly satisfying ending. The screenplay won an award in 1957. Catch it when you can.

I was born in 64 and grew up watching all those great (and not so great) old movies from the 30s onwards on TV. My love of cinema continued and I've been an avid moviegoer ever since. I am sad that as most of these movies are no longer shown on TV, audiences are not exposed to them and therefore don't see their value. Many young people couldn't contemplate watching a B&W movie under any circumstances. Amongst my own world I often encourage them to watch a rare appearance of an old 'classic' in the streaming schedules. That said, I watched this film today (2023) and whilst I recognised it as a film I enjoyed 40 years ago, its polite sexism undermines any enjoyment today. It makes the leading man seem narrow and shows a fragile ego (and if you can do that to Peck, there's no hope for any other chap). And it makes the leading lady seem silly and childish (which because Bacall could never be that, makes her character a bit unbelievable). It occurs to me that this is a problem with many American movies of the 50s, and that it strangely doesn't apply to the output of the 30s and 40s. I suspect its because of the post war desire to put women back in their place (the home etc). These mainstream 50s movies despite their amazing design and production values and the charismatic stars of the day, really are becoming anachronistic in ways that 'suspension of disbelief' cant overcome (at least not at this distance). I recently watched Pillow Talk, the Doris Day/Rock Hudson vehicle that is probably the best example of this genre. I must say it stands up well. I think the script and the direction there are pacier and funnier, and maybe precisely because it is the most extreme example of this genre (virginal almost 40 years old Doris and closeted Gay icon Rock) it stands outside it now, we enjoy the game knowingly. The same can't work here, and doesn't. Pity, there are still things to enjoy, but it has too many cringe inducing cliches even for a sixty year old white male like me, so god knows what the young would say, with their intolerance of other spheres etc.

I thought the film had some enjoyable performances. Peck is a little wooden but perhaps this was meant to be part of his character. I liked the hoodlums very much and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The monologues by the characters work very well and the film still surprises and entertains the viewer.

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!

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.