Between the Pages

This is the second of three films which paired Doris Day and Rock Hudson. They play advertising executives Carol Templeton and Jerry Webster, who work at rival agencies on Madison Avenue. Carol is furious when Jerry snaffles a client from under her nose, and when she hears that Jerry is hoping to land the campaign for a new mystery product called Vip, she is determined to beat him to the contract. Trouble is, Vip doesn’t exist. Jerry created a campaign which was never supposed to see the light of day, for a product which hasn’t been invented, but the campaign is a huge success and he has to create a product for it! When Carol meets Jerry for the first time, she mistakes him for the scientist who she believes has invented Vip, and sets out to win the contract to sell his product. Needless to say, chaos ensues…

This is the perfect film to watch if you want something frothy, undemanding and light-hearted – and there are a lot of laughs. Rock Hudson was never the most gifted of actors, being somewhat wooden, but his good looks and easy charm meant that he was just fine for this role. He also has great chemistry with Doris Day. She is great as the indignant Carol, and looks gorgeous throughout (despite someone’s disastrous decision to have her wear a series of increasingly unattractive hats!) Tony Randall plays a great supporting role as Jerry’s hapless boss, Pete Ramsey.

It’s worth noting that despite the somewhat outdated ideas of relationships and a woman’s role, Doris Day plays a strong minded and intelligent woman, of independent means – something that you didn’t necessarily see a lot of in films from that era (although she frequently played such parts).

The film is also something of a satire on the consumer culture (and was maybe slightly ahead of its time in that respect). I mean, there is an advertising campaign for a product – nobody knows what the product even is (!) and yet people are fighting for the right to sell the product, and desperate to get their hands on it!

The ending is probably predictable, particularly for fans of this genre, but that doesn’t make it any the less enjoyable.

Overall, this is a sparkly comedy, which bounces along nicely and provides some extremely amusing moments. It would probably appeal more to women than to men, but it’s a film that I would certainly recommend.

Year of release: 1961

Director: Delbert Mann

Producers: Robert Arthur, Martin Melcher, Stanley Shapiro

Writers: Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning

Main cast: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Edie Adams