The Movie
I wasn't around back then, but apparently Pillow Talk was ahead of its time. It must have been: The screenplay somehow beat out works by Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman and even Ernest Lehman's landmark North by Northwest for that year's Oscar and spawned a generation of "clean" sex comedies, romantic romps with just a hint of edginess as America headed into the 1960s.
When a big-city career gal (Doris Day) is forced to share a phone line with a dashing lothario (Rock Hudson), their resentment becomes enmity, until he figures out a way to make her his next conquest. It's an elaborate game of double identities and dirty tricks, but are they really falling in love despite all the deception?
The movie is guilty of some corny conventions of the era (during a big date, the couple is superimposed over stock shots of New York City) but it's also a lot of fun, fairly risqué for its day, fraught with compromising situations and double entendres, but never crossing into bad taste.
The Picture
The movie has been not just remastered but fully restored as one of the key titles in Universal's 100th Anniversary celebration. Like its stars, the 2.35:1 Cinemascope/Eastman Color image is now blemish-free, and the colors are quite strong in this often-candy-hued Hollywood fantasyland. We can appreciate the subtle effect of the softening Doris Day filter, the peculiarities of focus from the vintage anamorphic lenses, and the slight shifts in quality during the split-screen shots due to the necessary processing. Grain is modest, noise is minimal, and only an errant vertical scratch might appear.
The Sound
While not remixed for multichannel or even true stereo, the original soundtrack has been ehnahced for high-resolution DTS-HD Master Audio, presented here as two-channel mono. The front half of the home theater offers a full, pleasing soundstage. Doris Day's songs display clarity and fidelity, but this track doesn't do the late Rock Hudson's singing voice any favors.
The Extras
The bonus features here aren't new, they're ported from the 2009 50th Anniversary DVD, but they're all worth checking out. Film historians Jeff Bond, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman provide the audio commentary, while a pair of featurettes discusses this movie and the broader Day/Hudson collaboration with many of the expert same faces weighing in. The longer of the two is 22 minutes and both are in standard definition.
A trio of the recent "100 Years of Universal" promo clips is also here, along with a DVD (complete with commentary and featurettes) and a code to unlock a Digital Copy for iTunes, VUDU, Windows Media or Amazon Instant Video, plus UltraViolet. Pillow Talk arrives in handsome little hardbound book full of photos, script pages, trivia and poster art.
Final Thoughts
A loving tribute to a classic rom-com, Universal's Collector's Series edition of Pillow Talk is a must-own for fans of the beloved screen couple and of this bygone style of filmmaking, gorgeously restored and in multiple formats with which to keep the legend alive.
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