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!

Witless romp featuring Gregory Peck as a sports-writer who has a whirlwind courtship with fashion guru Lauren Bacall, leading to a quick trip to the altar. CinemaScope fluff directed by a water-treading Vincente Minnelli does allow Peck to loosen up for a change, but the screenplay seems to have been written around the opportunities for mini-fashion shows (indeed, costumer Helen Rose devised the movie's premise, which helped win a Best Screenplay Oscar for writer George Wells). It's very slow on laughs until the amusing farcical conclusion. Peck and Bacall are not quite the sparkling romantic duo they're meant to be, nor is the lackluster supporting cast any help. Good to look at, perhaps, but certainly not memorable. *1/2 from ****

"Designing Women" has a very odd distinction: it won the Oscar for Best Writing. Why is this odd? The film is a remake of a Hepburn-Tracy film, "Woman of the Year"! Now I am not saying it's a bad movie...it just didn't deserve this particular award.

While on vacation, Mike (Gregory Peck) meets Marilla (Lauren Bacall) and they fall in love. This isn't so unusual. What IS unusual is that after knowing each other only a very short period of time, they marry. Then, when they return to their lives in New York City, it soon becomes apparent that they are an odd couple. He's a sports writer...earthy and a man's man, so to speak. Marilla, on the other hand, is a fashion designer...and her friends are all the artistic sorts. It's soon apparent that the pair are indeed mismatched and the viewer wonders if the couple stand a chance.

While Peck and Bacall are very good, it's pretty much impossible to do better than Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in the original. It also makes it difficult to like the pair due to the re-writing of their characters...why would Mike lie and why is Marilla insanely jealous?? Neither made a lot of sense. On the plus side, the remake is in lovely Technicolor instead of black & white, but the remake offers no improvements over the original. I think this was a mistake as the film doesn't offer a lot that is innovative apart from color.

By the way, this remake also offers a minor difference that I found disturbing. The weird and almost inhuman facial prosthetics they had Mickey Shaughnessy wear to make him look like a punch-drunk boxer just looked awful. I just thought it was freaky and off-putting. A minor complaint, I know. Another minor complaint was the incredibly cruel comments Peck's character made about a seemingly effeminate dancer...incredibly cruel and unnecessary.