Pillow Talk

"...It's What Goes On When The Lights Go Off!"

1959 1h 42m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 335

ComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Playboy songwriter Brad Allen's succession of romances annoys his neighbor, interior designer Jan Morrow, who shares a telephone party line with him and hears all his breezy routines. After Jan unsuccessfully lodges a complaint against him, Brad sets about to seduce her in the guise of a sincere and upstanding Texas rancher. When mutual friend Jonathan discovers that his best friend is moving in on the girl he desires, however, sparks fly.

“...It's What Goes On When The Lights Go Off!”

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Cast

Doris Day
Jan Morrow
Rock Hudson
Brad Allen
Tony Randall
Jonathan Forbes
Thelma Ritter
Alma
Nick Adams
Tony Walters
Julia Meade
Marie
Allen Jenkins
Harry
Marcel Dalio
Pierot

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Gordon
Writers: Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin, Clarence Greene
Languages: English, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.6M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $19M — a 11.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

67 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Gordon, shot by Arthur E. Arling. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Milton Carruth shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Doris Day and Rock Hudson and Tony Randall carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Gordon directs. Arthur E. Arling behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Milton Carruth cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.6M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $19M — a 11.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
367 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
5Directed by Michael Gordon, shot by Arthur E. Arling. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Milton Carruth shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Doris Day and Rock Hudson and Tony Randall carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "...It's What Goes On When The Lights Go Off!".
10IMDB entry: tt0053172 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 18 themes, including "romcom", "deception", "romance", "playboy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Arthur E. Arling
Original score: Frank De Vol
Editing: Milton Carruth
Costume design: Jean Louis
Makeup / hair: Larry Germain
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,600,000
Box office: $18,750,000
Return: 1172% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Pillow Talk (1959)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Michael Gordon

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-06-30
★ 7/10
"Jan" (Doris Day) is a bit fed up with sharing her telephone's party line with lothario "Brad" (Rock Hudson) whose constant chatting to his various girlfriends means she can never place a private call! They eventually arrive at a sort of truce, agree times each can have access and hopefully that's that. Except, well he has taken a little bit of a shine to her and decides to try and orchestrate a meeting. She obviously want's nothing to do with him, so he invents the persona of "Rex Stetson" - a visiting Texican and sets about charming her. She's an interior designer and another of her clients is a bit enamoured of her. "Jonathan" (Tony Randall) even tried to buy her a car, but sadly his love is unrequited - a fact that he tells his best friend. Guess who? Yep...! When "Jan" starts to tell him of her new beau, he gets suspicious and hires a private eye to find out more about him - and that's the cue for truths to come out and for things to get a bit messy. All of this is taking place under the dipso nose of her maid "Alma" (Thelma Ritter) and makes for quite an entertaining, if entirely predictable, comedy caper. There's oodles of chemistry between Day and Hudson, Randall delivers charismatically as the foil to their increasingly daft shenanigans and Ritter, well she just has to show up to raise a smile with her sagely wise-cracking. Aside from the title song, there's only the one musical number - maybe not the best called "Roly Poly" but it gives the pair and chanteuse Perry Blackwell a chance to keep things simmering along engagingly with some charm. The writing gives just about everyone a chance at the limelight and though it's a little formulaic, it's still good fun.

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