User reviews

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!

I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this movie. I wasn't sure I would like Gable & Day together - that their age difference would be too awkward (she looked even younger than her 34 years and he was 58). But their chemistry worked. I like Doris much better when she isn't singing all the time - you get to really appreciate her acting skills!

I especially liked the smart dialogue in places. The ongoing debate of experience vs. education. I thought the analogy of the conductor was beautiful (see quotes page). Also, the comparison that "Experience is the jockey - Education is the horse." The screenwriters certainly deserved their Oscar nod for this gem!

I also was pleasantly surprised to see a young Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham on "Happy Days") in the role as Ms. Day's assistant.

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.

Between 1958 and 1961 Clark Gable appeared in four final movies that were somewhat unusual. Three of them were sex comedies, and the co-stars in them were far younger than he was. The fourth was a straight drama, which also had a female co-star who was far younger than him. These were BUT NOT FOR ME, TEACHER'S PET, IT STARTED IN NAPLES, and THE MISFITS. His co-stars were Carol Baker (and Lili Palmer), Doris Day, Sophia Loren, and Marilyn Monroe. The age difference was quite unusual (up to this time Gable's leading ladies were about ten to fifteen years within his age - in fact, Lili Palmer's appearance in BUT NOT FOR ME was to give his character a perfect mate to end up with. Most film lovers tend to only recall the last of this quartet because of it being Gable and Monroe's last movie (although Monroe did begin SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE soon after, but didn't complete it). THE MISFITS also has the added downer of being the only film either of them did with Montgomery Clift. But most of all, Gable's death so soon after the shooting of THE MISFITS ended is linked to his difficult scene where he helped to control a wild horse (the effect on the actor, immediately after the scene was shot, is evidence of his over-exertions). With so much of a downer atmosphere generated by this film his three previous comedies sort of pale in comparison.

This is unfair because they were good comedies. I have discussed BUT NOT FOR ME elsewhere. TEACHER'S PET is possibly the most satiric of the three films (although certain points about the entertainment industry and play production get spoofed in BUT NOT FOR ME, and Italian-American culture shock gets a zing in IT STARTED IN NAPLES).

TEACHER'S PET is set in New York City, where Gable (James Gannon) is the city editor of a major newspaper. Some of the comments on this thread suggest Gannon is a hack. He's not, but just a very smart newsman who has spent a lifetime learning how a newspaper functions. At the start of the film, he is involved with Vivian Nathan (Mrs. Kovacs, the newspaper building's cleaning lady) and Nick Adams (her son, Barney), in trying to settle the issue of whether or not Barney should be given a chance to be a reporter on the paper. Mrs. Nathan does not want him to leave school, but Barney is anxious to begin. It is from this that Gannon discovers that modern news reporters don't learn the business from the bottom up, but go to journalism classes. He is recommended to go to see the classes of Doris Day (Erica Stone), because she has been making some critical comments about how Gannon runs his paper.

Pretending to be a person who just wants to better himself, Gannon signs in on Stone's classes, and rapidly rises to the top of her students. She thinks she has found a truly brilliant amateur. He is enjoying her being totally fooled, as he originally intends to reveal his real identity to her class at the right time. But he gradually falls in love with Stone (and she finds herself, typically, fighting this). His only rival is a psychiatrist friend of Stone, Gig Young (Dr. Hugo Pine), whom he finds almost indestructible to larger and larger amounts of alcohol when the three are out at a night spot.

The situation can't last too long, for Erica discovers his identity. At the same time, Gannon discovers Erica's secret: Her love of journalism is due to her family, as her father was a famous newspaper editor named Joel Barlow Stone. Gannon finds Erica considers him stupid, and it is only when he talks to Pine about it that he realizes that his accumulated knowledge of the newspaper world is as impressive as the knowledge that Erica brings to her students from her books. But he still is in the doghouse with Erica - possibly more so when he studies old copies of her father's Midwestern newspaper, and questions how good a newspaper editor he really was!

How they resolve the film I leave to the viewers (whom I urge watch it). I just to want to discuss one point: who is the original for Joel Barlow Stone? Firstly, the name "Joel Barlow" is one of those forgotten figures of early American Literatrue. Joel Barlow was one of the "Hartford Wits" of the period from 1780 - 1800. They wrote satiric verses and pieces, most of which nobody ever reads anymore. This happens to be part of the irony about her father that Erica is taught (surprisingly) by Gannon. This editor father is obviously based on William Allan White, the famous Midwestern editor of the EMPORIA GAZETTE (from Kansas), who flourished as a major figure in literary and political America from 1890 to 1947 (when he died). White (like Joel Barlow Stone) is best remembered for his editorials, several of which won national awards. He was also an author of several memoirs and historical works (such as his popular biography of President Calvin Coolidge, A PURITAN IN BABYLON). But the resemblance is only skin deep. White was an astute newspaperman, and his newspaper was deeply involved with current events and political trends in the U.S. Gannon discovers that as an editor White's fictional opposite number Joel Barlow Stone left a lot to be desired.

This is an amiable enough romantic comedy with some neat one-liners and a couple of funny moments that are somewhat overshadowed by the mismatching of Clark Gable, the ageing king of Hollywood, and Doris Day – the eternal virgin before she became a virgin. Gable is a quarter of a century older than his leading lady and, placed opposite her relatively fresh-faced looks, his own rumpled features make him look even older than he really was. Of course, back in the 50s cosmetic surgery wasn't available to movie stars the way it is today but, even allowing for the fact that he's supposed to be playing a somewhat rumpled figure, it's clear he wasn't ageing well. Nevertheless, he's still pretty good in the role of an irascible old school newspaper editor who bridles at the idea that journalism can be taught to novices by the likes of teacher Doris, who has never once worked in a newspaper office, and he manages to make his gruff character entirely likable. The outcome is entirely predictable, but it's a fairly diverting journey to reach it, helped by Gig Young's turn as a know-it-all professor whom Gable initially mistakes for Day's love interest.

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

"Teacher's Pet" is a deliciously funny look at journalism, and the clash between 'formal' education vs. practical experience, with higher learning championed by Doris Day, and the 'School of Hard Knocks' represented by the 'King', himself, Clark Gable. Despite an obvious age difference (Gable, at 57, was showing all of his years), the chemistry between the stars is electric, and with Oscar-nominated Gig Young providing terrific comic support as Gable's brilliant yet down-to-earth competition for Day, the film manages to be both witty and wise.

With over a quarter century of playing newspapermen, the role of hard-boiled City Editor Jim Gannon fit Clark Gable like an old shoe. No-nonsense, pragmatic, and a workaholic, Gannon was the classic 'school drop-out' who learned the newspaper business from the ground up, and held college in contempt. While Gannon was obviously a dinosaur, even by 1950s' standards, Gable appears to be having a ball as the cigarette-smoking, plain-spoken, 'blue-collar' hero.

Despite the constant "Will she or Won't she?" sexual undercurrent of so many of her best comedies of the fifties and early sixties, Doris Day was also a feminist during the era, with her characters self-sufficient, and often holding down important positions based on merit. As Erica Stone, an ex-reporter who returns to college to teach journalism, her demeanor is professional and her knowledge unimpeachable, making her the perfect foil for Gannon.

While the descriptions of Gannon and Stone sound like formula characters for Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (not surprisingly, as the script was penned by longtime friends Fay and Michael Kanin), the Gable/Day teaming provides a sexual tension that, by the late 1950s, would have been far less apparent had Tracy and Hepburn taken the roles. Even at the twilight of his career, Gable was so totally 'male' that he raised the bar of any actress opposite him, with Day's signature 'perkiness' transformed, here, into sexual potential in a tight skirt (watch her tease Gable, swaying her hips to "The Girl Who Invented Rock and Roll"; Day has never been sexier!)

While the resolution is not surprising, some remarkably candid observations of what makes good print journalism are given by both Day and Gable, with Day's comment of television replacing newspapers as the public's source for breaking news remarkably farsighted in 1958!

If you want a terrific comedy with two stars at the top of their game, look no further; "Teacher's Pet" delivers!

This movie reminded me of It Happened One Night and Love in the Afternoon...... It Happened because Clark Gable plays a newspaper man in a comedy (although Teachers Pet is a sex comedy and not screwball)....Love in the Afternoon because like the ageing Gary Cooper romances a young Audrey Hepburn and looks slightly out of place, so does Gable.

The script is quite good and funny. Clark Gable is a great and handsome actor and he's quite surly and funny in the night-club scene. But, for me the film didn't really click. There is NO chemistry between Gable and Day. There's just a plot which they are following. I'm sure anyone who read the script would have thought of a younger Clark Gable for the lead to re-capture the It Happened One Night. Instead they decided to settle for an ageing Clark Gable. Mistake....

I think this script deserved better direction as well. The spark just wasn't there. I don't want to be too harsh because the script is funny, the entire cast consists of good individual performances but something was missing. Even the scenes inside the newspaper office didn't have the spark and none of the performances gelled together. Too bad because this could have been a classic....

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.

Has anyone ever looked more beautiful than Doris Day does in this film? I doubt it. Also notable as one of the last of Clark Gable's films and certainly one of his best. He has ample opportunity to display his genius for comic timing, often unjustly neglected.

It wants to be "Libeled Lady" or "His Girl Friday" or "Blessed Event," but 1958 is a little late in the game for a screwball newspaper romance, and it's certainly late in the game for Clark Gable to be playing a hard-bitten managing editor who runs around chasing Doris Day and Mamie Van Doren. Day, maintaining her dignity while being forced to wiggle her bottom a lot, is a journalism teacher who's encouraging her prize pupil, a masquerading Gable, to quit his supposed job in wallpaper and pursue a news career. You want to say to her, look, he'll be retiring in a few years anyway. Their chemistry is nil, and the Fay and Michael Kanin screenplay, though Oscar-nominated, has some Act Three problems. Gig Young, who's quite funny as Day's other possible paramour, does some fine drunk scenes, but there's no reason to be believe that this rival for Day's affections would suddenly become a best bud to Gable, who's been terrible and devious to him. There are also some good ideas, like a debate on what's better for journalists, education or experience, and some lovely supporting work, especially by Nick Adams as a copy boy and Vivian Nathan as his worried mom.Mamie is quite decorative in her extended scene, and the black and white Vistavision canvas is appealing. But it's far from the classic it aims to be.

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.

A newspaper editor (Clark Gable) joins the class of a journalism professor (Doris Day) who despises him, and they begin to fall in love.

Once upon a time, romantic comedies were actually fun and not just fluff. At least, that's what I like to believe to justify my watching the old ones. Doris Day, in particular, made for a great leading lady. Gig Young is fantastic here (no surprise on the Oscar nod), and Clark Gable is superb. Some say he is too old, but I think he's just fine.

And I love that the film is black and white. I guess that was done to help mask Gable's age, but whatever the reason, it just makes the film look better. Especially looking back now (2016).

Doris DAY has had (almost) all of them, the male Hollywood stars between the ages of 30 and 60! This time it's Clark GABLE's turn. It's about the friction between theory and practice. A sophisticated reporter from New York worked his way up to the rank of nobleman without a college degree. However, the new generation swears by a solid education at a journalism college that Doris DAY can offer as a professor. The reporter enrolls at university under a different name because he cannot resist the charms of DAY. Everyone can imagine how this will turn out...

Experienced Doris Day tabloid comedy from PARAMOUNT PICTURES! Supporting actor Gig YOUNG definitely steals the show from the main actors and was rightly nominated for an OSCAR and a GOLDEN GLOBE. Mamie Van DOREN and Nick ADAMS can also be seen in other roles.

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 ****

The New York Evening Chronicle's City Editor James Gannon (Clark Gable) is a stubborn self-made journalist that has not even concluded high- school and believes that the business is to be learned working in a newspaper office and not in college. He also believes that the fact is important but not the why. When he is invited to be the guest lecturer in the night school journalism of E. Stone (Doris Day), he wrongly believes that she is a man and sends a non-polite letter to her explaining the reasons why he does not want to waste his time. However his boss Lloyd Crowley (Harry Antrim) gives direct orders to him to attend the class.

Instructor Erica Stone reads Gannon's letter for the class and he pretends to be a student to humiliate her to her class. However, they feel both attracted by each other and Erica believes that Gannon has a great potential to be a journalist. When Erica dates the talented Dr. Hugo Pine (Gig Young), Gannon goes to the same restaurant and disputes Erica's attention with Dr. Pine. Gannon and Erica fall in love with each other, but how will Erica react when she learns that her student is the notorious Gannon?

"Teacher's Pet" is one of the best romantic comedies I have ever seen, with an intelligent and witty story and wonderful performances, highlighting the chemistry between Clark Gable and Doris day. There are memorable scenes, like the duel between Gannon and Dr. Pine in the restaurant, and a great discussion between education and schooling. The moral in the end of the story is worthwhile. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Teacher's Pet (1958) : Brief Review -

Clark Gable and Doris Day's romantic chemistry uplifts this journalist comedy which doesn't seems to be sure about its own existence. Teacher's Pet has some fans even today on social media and i heard about the film from them only. Gable and Doris's names were attached so, i don't i would have ever showed interest in watching it otherwise. Well, it's a good rom-com but it's not flawless. It has its moments that you can enjoy and it also has its flaws because there's nothing new about the romance and the comedy. Yes, i agree that the journalism and education debates were fresh and interesting but the film didn't seem to focusing uncompromisingly on it. It fears to make solid speeches about it and at one occasion it even surrenders to the commercialisation of the newspapers. Well, that was not a hidden fact then and it is not the one even today so i don't know why the film went diplomatic about it. The story revolves A hard-nosed newspaper who believes that experience is the only teacher you should have in the life and education is not that important. He poses as a night school student in order to woo a journalism teacher who cannot stand him and later they fall in Love. Teacher's Pet has a great Balance of both the sides of journalism negative and positive. Many films failed to keep this balance while dealing with ant social topic. But while doing so, it takes longer then expected hence, it feels little slow. The same film withing 100 minutes would have been much better in my opinion. Those 20 minutes were pretty boring and that's the reason why i am cutting a half mark in my rating. There are few scenes which looks absolutely thoughtful while some are too dumb and forceful. But overall, it's a good one with lovely chemistry of the lead pair and George Seaton's fine direction that can't be blamed much.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

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.

If you ask me - This badly dated, 1958, "adult" Comedy/Romance (whose story was, pretty much, just a one-note-joke about identity deception) was so insultingly predictable that, before long, I just couldn't find myself staying in the least bit interested in following its story's contrivances (that were meant to generate laughs) very closely, at all.

Besides Teacher's Pet being way too long (at 120 minutes), I also found its 2, big-name stars, Doris Day (Hollywood's oldest virgin) and Clark Gable (pushing 60 years old) were both grossly miscast for their parts. To me, these 2 seriously lacked the essential chemistry needed to keep the floundering momentum of their trite, little on-screen romance going farther than beyond that of just a fizzle and a yawn.

I mean, even that platinum-blond bombshell, Mamie Van Doren (yet another Marilyn Monroe clone), as nightclub performer, Peggy DeFore, doing her "The Girl Who Invented Rock'n'Roll" number, couldn't bring the likes of this decidedly "low-on-laughs" comedy to life.

One of the best comedies ever, which the critics overlooked, of course. There are many witty one-liners:

"Education teaches a man how to spell experience...A psychologist is a person who gives all kinds of advice about matters he knows nothing about...A reporter has to do a lot of sweating before he has the right to perspire...There goes the unpressed gentleman of the press...College is amateurs teaching amateurs how to be amateurs...".

Some scenes are incredibly risqué. Gable bluntly asks Doris "How do you feel about sex?" He repeatedly ogles, grabs and kisses her. Today he would be in trouble for it.

Ah, the good old days of real honest to goodness movie-making! This is a truly priceless comedy. I have seen it five times, and can see it five more times. When the screenplay is good, everyone is inspired. Doris is absolutely brilliant, a genius of timing. This lady is way too underrated. There is NO ONE like her. She even sings the thrilling song to perfection. The plot does have its unintentionally funny aspects: Doris preferring uncouth elderly Gable to dashing and debonaire young intellectual Gig Young - and what's more, Young not minding it!!! The plot would have been better if Gable had been politely rejected. There is an unfortunate tendency in too many movies to assume that even the homeliest and oldest man deserves a young woman, that women over 35 couldn't possibly delight any real man. The movie is also a trifle pedantic and conventional in idolizing college education, as if a degree were all that. There is a serious message to the movie, but one enjoys the comedy more.