Teacher's Pet (1958)

What makes it different from others?

Sadly Over-hyped

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Teacher's Pet is not absolutely perfect, but I enjoyed it very much. It is overlong, the gender politics I feel have dated and while it is excellent on the whole the script unravels a bit at the end. Still, it looks nice, is very well directed, has good music, a witty script and scenarios and great performances not only from Clark Gable and the lovely Doris Day as they play their parts with obvious boisterous enthusiasm but Gig Young as well as Day's other beau. I also loved the story, it was well written and rarely lagged or felt lame. In conclusion, while flawed, Teacher's Pet is a on the whole delightful comedy that is worth seeing for the leads. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The script is well done. The premise amusing: A hard-boiled editor faces off with a journalism teacher.The gender politics haven't aged well: Today, the Doris Day character would surely be an editor herself. In those days, though, being a nurse or teacher were what bright women did. And Day is a professor here (albeit in a night school.) She and Clark Gable, playing the newsman, don't exactly have chemistry. But they're not supposed to like or trust each other at first. They are both major movie stars in a system that was dying out.Speaking of dying, this was near the end of Gable's career -- only a few films before more famously ill-fated "The Misfits." And two of the major supporting players were to die at their own hands: Gig Young plays a brilliant psychologist Gable sees as a rival for Day's affections. (The scenes in which he's drunk are where it began, for me, to lose its charms a bit. They're slightly mean.)Nick Adams, too, died of unnatural causes. He plays a promising up-and-comer at the paper.Day is stuck with a very unbecoming hairstyle. It sort of bridges the gap between her days singing with big bands and her greatest (popular, if not critical) glory days in the movies with Rock Hudson. She gives a sturdy, likable performance.Mamie Van Doren is a nightclub singer of Gable's acquaintance. She too has a terrible haircut. (Please note: I generally don't notice actresses' hair but these two are notably unflattering.) The nightclub scenes recall "The Awdul Truth." And if, as she sings, she invented rock and roll, the song she sings in the club certainly shows no sign of that.The movie is long for a comedy. It could have been shorter and could have been better. Still, it's pure pleasure most of the way through.

Some may complain this film is a bit long, and it does drag in parts, but there are so many laughs and an extremely interesting story in this romantic comedy that one tends to forgive writers Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin for forgetting that "ads go for $25 an inch. and you've just wasted $300."Maybe a little less verbosity would have gotten them the Oscar they were nominated for. After all, Michael Kanin's Oscar win was for Woman of the Year - six minutes shorter.But, the film was really funny as Gable and Day went at it - she not knowing that he was the very man she hated. Like Gable, I was also attracted to Day's bodacious booty. I never recalled that she had such a fine figure. Funny and hot. What a combination.Not only did the two stars give us a show, but Gig Young turned in a supporting performance that was so good that it got him an Oscar nomination.I would be remiss if I left out mention of the lovely Mamie Van Doren, who had a bodacious booty of her own.Excellent film on the subject of journalism.

I finally bought this film (great price available on Amazon), and for the first time I saw this film uncut. What a treat! I would love to know if Doris Day and Clark Gable enjoyed making the film together. They have wonderful on-screen chemistry. If they enjoyed working together as much as was reflected on-screen, I'm sure they would have made another picture together if Clark Gable had survived. This was one of his last films. He died two years after this film was released. If you want to see a very enjoyable romantic movie, try "Teacher's Pet," uncut! And what a superb supporting cast, including Gig Young as an interesting romantic rival. It is also a brilliant newspaper movie, showing the inside of journalism. For newspaper journalism, it's as relevant today as when the film was made in 1958. If you want a great Clark Gable double feature, try "It Happened One Night," with Claudette Colbert, and "Teacher's Pet." Gable plays a reporter in both these films. I found it fun that although "It Happened One Night" was made towards the beginning of Gable's career, and "Teacher's Pet" was made at the end, some of Gable's voice qualities are the same, and he uses this voice quality to great advantage in both films. These two films make a great double feature.