Micitype Pretty Good

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

SimonJack Before "Teacher's Pet," most movies showed the press in unflattering ways. Not that it wasn't accurate, or deserving. The sensationalist press of the early 20th century seemed to relish its often exaggerated reporting of events. Indeed, it thrived on such fodder. But, this movie for the first time takes a serious look at the newspaper field. It does that with a comedy romance that stars Clark Gable and Doris Day. He was 57. She was 36. Both were big stars and major box office draws. They had never been matched together in a movie before. But they had a chemistry that works perfectly for this story. This isn't a comedy filled with antics and running dialog of humorous lines. Rather, it's a sophisticated comedy with satire that is built around the newspaper trade – or profession, depending on one's point of view. Watch this film and you'll get the drift about the differences in those two descriptions. Gable is James Gannon, a hard-bitten city news editor of a major New York City paper. He came up the hard way and learned the newspaper trade by experience. He was a first-rate reporter who knew how to write. He knew how to edit and lay out a paper. And he knew the business. Day is Erica Stone, a college instructor in journalism. She grew up in the business with her father who had run a weekly newspaper and won a Pulitzer Prize. She had some experience and she knew the business, including how to teach journalism. Both have prejudices, but Gannon's is the strongest and weakest. He looks down on the college-trained employee the paper has hired and he relegates him to handling obituaries. He doesn't think people can learn to write or to be reporters in a classroom. Stone sees the street-wise, informally trained writer as a thing of the past. The beauty of this story is how they each influence the other's opinions, and how they get one another to see other possibilities. Of course, this is done over time and frequent contact that blooms into romance. It has good humor spread throughout the lessons of journalism and reporting. Along with this, there is a mild love triangle that becomes the source of much of the humor. Gig Young plays Dr. Hugo Pine who is collaborating with Erica on a book. They are also dating, and that rankles Gannon just enough to get him to try to show up Pine. But, unfortunately, Pine's knowledge and abilities prove too much for him – until they resolve it with a drinking match. Pine and Gannon become friends over time. When Gannon has second thoughts about his abilities, due to lack of formal education, Pine reassures him that he hasn't suddenly become inept. Pine, "You're confusing education with schooling. Education is the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is knowing, familiarity gained by experiences. Wisdom is defined as 'the possession of experience and knowledge.' Now, being experienced, you therefore have education, you have knowledge and you have wisdom."While the conclusions in the lines of an actor in a movie might surely be challenged by many, Pine's philosophical speech says a lot. I have known highly educated people (some as friends) and people who didn't finish high school (some as friends). A few of the former were not the brightest or wisest people I have known, while some of the latter are among the wisest. In Gannon's case, he was well read and he studied and learned his profession (or trade) well. But, he didn't have a diploma that said he acquired his knowledge through formal education.Grade school through high school teachers generally must have formal degrees. Most young people wouldn't be able to teach just based on experience. And, formal education usually includes some psychology and training in people skills and in being able to identify learning problems. But, by the college level of teaching, many fields don't require formal degrees. People with many years of experience and self- learning can be far more expert and knowledgeable than someone who has just graduated from college right out of high school. Such people might be found in writing, languages, philosophy, inventions, and some of the physical sciences. Others describe some of the plot, but I think most viewers will enjoy the film more by not knowing too many of the details beforehand. This is an interesting and informative film, as well as a satire and very good comedy romance. The performances are superb by all, including the several editors, reporters and others in the city room of Gannon's paper. I worked many years as a writer, including several on newspapers. This movie is a good picture of journalism and the press of the mid-20th century.Edna Kovac (Vivian Nathan) says to Gannon, "I don't care what anybody says, I like you!" And he didn't even flinch. Well, I don't care what others say, I like this film.

John T. Ryan IT CAN BE a real problem in choosing acceptable roles for Stars as they get a little long in the tooth. The fact that their earlier, often most successful parts are captured forever on celluloid creates the fallacy deep I our minds that they somehow stay youthful forever. But, alas, it just isn't true. (This is, probably best dramatized, by Gloria Swanson's characterization of 'Norma Desmond' in Billy Wilder's Hollywood BOULEVARD.) MEANWHILE, BACK TO real life and today's disectee, TEACHER'S PET; which manages to give us an older Clark Gable, in a role that may stretch the age difference just a trifle; yet doesn't totally disregard a touch of reality. Co Star, Doris Day, who seemed to be making a career of portraying the eternal virgin, compliments Gable's performance in a very underplayed manner.AS A MATTER OF fact, we thought the two made for a quite interesting screen paring; pity that it wasn't done about ten years earlier; for it may well have spawned some other team-ups.CONCERNING THE STORYLINE, it is a variation on the mistaken or false identity plot. What starts out as an intentional deception on the part of Gable in attending Instructor Doris' college night school class, turns out to be the bane of his existence; as confirmed bachelor and (implied) womanizer, Clark develops a real interest in her.THE ADDITION OF another man (Gig Young's Dr. Hugo Pine) adds a little complication to the whole business; introducing the element of "the Eternal Triangle."AS A BACKDROP TO the romantic comedy plot, we have a sort of dramatization of the eternal conflict between formal education and what has been oft called, "the school of hard knocks", or more properly, practical experience. Gable's crusty Newspaper editor being experience and Miss Day's representing schooling.WITHOUT OUR GIVING away too much, we can say that in the 120 minutes of running time, Doris manages to sing the title song, Gig Young does a great inebriate routine and Clark smokes a pack of filter cigarettes; a very politically incorrect thing to do by today's standards.WE ALSO HAD a sort of coalescence of the two seemingly completely different ideas of experience vs. schooling, into two elements that are in a sense two sides of the same coin. In the process, we have the additional pleasure of seeing a happy ending; as if we didn't know it was coming all along! ONE ADDITIONAL ASPECT of the film is that we totally enjoyed its two hours and the time we spent in the kitchen chair watching it.

nomoons11 Take what I said and think about it. Clark Gable already had 25+ years under his belt of doing standard and romantic comedies. He hasn't done many bad films. Take Doris Day and at this time it was the start of her power at the top of the box office. Mix those 2 together and you you get a wily veteran actor with a young beautiful actress who was made for film. The cap is the script is so good it just isn't fair to other romantic comedies.Clark Gable started off right outta the chute with "It Happened One Night" and it has since been hailed as the best romantic comedy ever. As much as much as I like that film it doesn't compare to this one. This one was polished to perfection.As for the plot, It doesn't get much simpler than an old curmudgeon of a newspaper editor gets invited to speak to a college class of budding reporters but he decides that as a reporter, you don't need college, you need experience. Enter Doris Day as the enthusiastic young teacher who loves Journalism. After reading his response to speak to her class she gets rather upset. He's forced to go the class anyhow by the owner of the paper. Whilst there, he decides to act as a student and show off how good his "non-college" experience is to her and the students. Through all he realizes that she actually has good ideas about newer Journalism and most of all, that he loves her....as she does him.You really must watch this gem of a film to get the idea of what I mean. It really is just a special film. Great script, great acting and casting....what more could you ask for?

kellyadmirer Clark Gable was the man! He easily pulls off this romantic comedy that is about more than romance, and actually has very important things to say about life. While co-star Doris Day was the future and Gable was running out the string as an actor, he still dominates this film and demonstrates his awesome chops as an actor, not just as a pretty face.Gable plays a hard-bitten newspaper editor, James Gannon, who learned the business by doing it, without any formal education. He is old school, and while defensive, still proud and confident of his abilities. Day is a professor who thinks that Gannon especially and the rest of his kind are badly in need of an education, and she lets the newspaper know her feelings.So, Gable goes down to Day's journalism class at his editor's command, takes a sudden shine to her, and enrolls without revealing his identity. The rest of the film revolves around Gannon's pursuit of Day, who is involved with an accomplished psychology teacher played by Gig Young, and their attempts to teach each other some lessons. There are many humorous incidents along the way, most flowing from Gannon's manly competition with Young - who doesn't fight back at all, and in fact winds up helping him - for Day's favors. If Gable has the Rock Hudson role, Young plays the Tony Randall sidekick. Mamie van Doren has a stunning supporting role, little more than a cameo, as Gannon's singer girlfriend whom Day memorably mimics outrageously later at her apartment.But the competition between the Gable and Young characters is just a sideshow. That wouldn't be a fair fight in any event, Gable's virility even at his advanced age is undeniable. The real fight is between Day's and Gable's ideas about journalism. Gable constantly surprises Day with the quality of his work, and Gable starts questioning everything he does because many of her ideas make a lot of sense. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Apparently so. And have some fun along the way, too.An enjoyable romp that is made infinitely better because of the very serious message underlying the film. Question everything, and learn from that process! Nothing wrong with that. And Gable and Day make an amazingly cute couple, Day actually managing to look sexy now and then and not just perky as usual.