Movie Review: The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957)
Synopsis: Struggling to find his way in life after being wrongly imprisoned for murder, Mike teams up with his friend, Dandy, and kidnaps actress Laurel Stevens on the night her new movie The Kidnapped Bride premieres. They have one major problem, however, once the word of the kidnapping gets out, everyone, including the police, think it's just a publicity stunt. Realizing her career will be ruined if people don't believe she was really kidnapped, Laurel tries to help the pair. Adding another complication is she is beginning to fall for Mike and doesn't want to see him go to prison again.
Who's in it? The movie stars Jane Russell, Ralph Meeker, Keenan Wynn, Fred Clark and Una Merkel.
Review: I added The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown to my movie library a few days ago, mostly because I haven't seen a lot of Jane Russell movies and wanted to give her a try. From the description, I wasn't really expecting much more than a goofball comedy. However, it ended up being an interesting and entertaining film.
The overall plot was the thing I enjoyed most about this film. The trio of Mike (Meeker), Dandy (Wynn) and Laurel (Russell) were in an unexpected bind with no apparent happy ending. If they didn't make the kidnapping look real, Laurel would be a laughingstock, and her movie career would be over. However, if they convinced people she really was kidnapped, Mike and Dandy would likely end up in prison.
Complicating things was a police detective (Clark) already knowing where Laurel was and seeing her pretend to be Mike's girlfriend. That alone made any attempts to prove it wasn't just a publicity stunt much more difficult.
I also found the possible love triangle angle a bit intriguing as well, with Mike and Laurel discovering they have feelings for each other (despite him hitting her twice, by the way) with Dandy clearly being interested in the actress as well. I wasn't sure if Dandy would just take it in stride or if jealousy would cause him to do something that would create even more problems.
As far as Russell is concerned, I thought she did an amazing job. I especially liked how Laurel essentially had two personalities - her arrogant actress persona when she was wearing the blonde wig and a more down-to-earth vibe when she wasn't wearing the wig. It was somewhat unexpected considering I didn't like Laurel at first but found my opinion of her changing as the movie progressed.
I honestly wasn't a huge fan of the ending, mostly because I think Laurel got a bit of a raw deal and being a modern man, I don't think a woman should need to choose between her career and love. However, I guess for the time period, it worked and there were at least a couple twists that kept it from being too predictable, so I'll give it a pass.
Final Opinion: It's an entertaining movie with an interesting plot and a not-so-predictable ending. It's worth taking the time to watch if you get a chance.
My Grade: A
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