Designing Woman (1957)

75% of critics liked it
(8 reviews)
66% of users liked it
(1,505 ratings)

Vincente Minnelli directed this sophisticated comedy, which owes a debt to Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn vehicles. Sportswriter Mike Hagen (Gregory Peck) and fashion designer Marilla (Lauren Bacall) are New Yorkers who meet while both are vacationing in California. It's love at first sight, and… More Vincente Minnelli directed this sophisticated comedy, which owes a debt to Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn vehicles. Sportswriter Mike Hagen (Gregory Peck) and fashion designer Marilla (Lauren Bacall) are New Yorkers who meet while both are vacationing in California. It's love at first sight, and the two decide on the spur of the moment to get married. However, once they return to the Big Apple, it starts to occur to them just how different they are after Mike moves out of his sloppy bachelor lair in the Village and joins Marilla in her luxury flat on the Upper East Side. While they try to sort out their differences, Mike encounters his former girlfriend Lori (Dolores Gray), while Marilla runs into her onetime beau Zachary (Tom Helmore); given the haste with which they married, neither of their exes had yet heard that Mike and Marilla were hitched, and the notion that they could still be lured away hangs in the air. Meanwhile, Mike has written a series of articles exposing corruption in boxing, which earns him no friends among some ill-mannered Gotham mobsters. Bacall's sparkling comic performance was a remarkable display of personal strength; as the movie was being filmed, her husband Humphrey Bogart was suffering from the last stages of the cancer that would soon claim his life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Vincente Minnelli
Written By: George Wells
Genres: Romance, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1957 Wide
On DVD: Feb 5, 2002

Critic Reviews

Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
A sunny view of artistic self-awareness slicing past gaiety
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Comedy full of Minnelli's creative visual style.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
This mildley entertaining comedy is a reworking of the superior Stevens' 1942 "Woman of the Year," with Gregory Peck in the Spencer Tracy role and Lauren Bacall in Katharine Hepburn's.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
There wasn't much to chew on or laugh about in this stilted comedy.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Slick but dated sophisticated, romantic comedy
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Narrado por quatro de seus personagens, o filme é divertido, conta com ótimas atuações de todos (Peck, em especial) e tem uma seqüência de luta hilária no final.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Bright comedy, but nothing great

Read all 7 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

This is another silly romantic comedy with nothing new to offer. Peck and Bacall should have passed on this movie.
Mason W

Designing Woman from 1957 starring the beautiful Lauren Bacall and the great leading man Gregory Peck. I have been wanting to see this film and finally watched it recently and loved it. The movie centers on a wealthy and very high scoiety lady (Bacall) and a very man's man… More
Designing Woman from 1957 starring the beautiful Lauren Bacall and the great leading man Gregory Peck. I have been wanting to see this film and finally watched it recently and loved it. The movie centers on a wealthy and very high scoiety lady (Bacall) and a very man's man (Peck). Both fall in love and marry quickly after meeting. Soon thereafter they find out through funny situations that they are very different but have one major thing in common the love for one another, can it rule all?
Veronique K

if you enjoy sophistication comedy which means comic tales about upper class people like those socialites blended with the elements of screwball comedy, and meanwhile you sorta like the old gangster style episode, "designing woman" would be a terrific choice to consume your… More
if you enjoy sophistication comedy which means comic tales about upper class people like those socialites blended with the elements of screwball comedy, and meanwhile you sorta like the old gangster style episode, "designing woman" would be a terrific choice to consume your evening tea time....meanwhile if you're not weary of the trivial emphasis of feminine extravagent constumes, you would embrace this flick with vigor. the storyline is complicated, a joulistist played by peck falls in love with a fashion designer played by bacall, then gets married immediately once the passion is torched, and he's having some discord over the gap of their social lives, and also he's busy concealing the fact of his ex girlfriend whom his wife suspects he's having affairs with, further his newspaper article infuriates a gangster lead who plans to send thugs to teach him a lesson....you could imagine..it's a comedy of errors and irreconcible ridicule between genders, as he would rather take all the troubles denying the existence of his ex than confide the truth to reclaim his fidelity. the wardrobes are all out of prestigous designer helen rose who even held a press conference to introduce the fashions in this flick. bacall's role was originally considered with grace kelly if kelly had not been transported to morocco as princess. the best pleasure of watching "designing woman" is the girlish amusement for dresses and those rosiness of high class lifestyle such as being a designer and a popular society queen, most of all, married to a dashing handsome man who is the man of men, gregory peck. of course, the premise is that you must have a slight acceptance of chic flicks, and this one has the right dose, one bit more would ruin the pleasant taste.
Byron B

Rehash of Tracy's and Hepburn's Woman of the Year from 15 years before. Not a bad retelling. There are many funny observations. However, I like the chemistry, frazzled nerves, and rapid dialog of the movie with the classic couple better.