‘Pillow Talk’ Tops List of Doris Day Releases

MCA Universal Home Video’s new letterboxed laser release ($35) finally restores “Pillow Talk” to its original widescreen ratio. Now, the film’s party-line interplay can be seen as it was supposed to be seen: at opposite sides of the same screen at the same time.

Contemporary audiences may find plenty to wince about in this classic ‘50s-genre romantic comedy, but it should relate more to the comedic mores, not the panning and scanning of the wrong parties. For those raised in the age of cellular phones, the phenomenon of the party line by which Doris Day and Rock Hudson learn to hate each other may be a revelation in itself.

The 93-minute 1959 film, directed by Michael Gordon and produced by Ross Hunter and Martin Melcher, marked the first teaming of Day and Hudson and earned Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin an Oscar for best story and screenplay.

The sound and picture are well-served in this transfer, which comes complete with the original theatrical trailer and 19 other chapter stops.

The phenomenon that was Doris Day can be seen on several recent Warner Home Video laser releases. Among the best is “Tea for Two” (1950, $35, 16 chapter stops, one disc, standard play), in which Day sings and dances with Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson through a slew of numbers, including “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “I Want to Be Happy,” “No, No Nanette” and the title song.

Day joins Nelson again in “Lullaby of Broadway,” a ’51 musical comedy that features such classic songs as “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” “Just One of Those Things” and “Somebody Loves Me” ($35, 23 chapter stops, 93 minutes, one disc, standard play).

In “April in Paris” (1952, $35, 16 chapter stops, one disc, standard play), Day and Ray Bolger prove that even they can’t salvage weak plots and lackluster songs. The title song is the only memorable musical note, and Jane Russell and Ethel Barrymore don’t add too much to the scenery either.

“Lucky Me” (1955, $35, 25 chapter stops, one disc, standard play), has Day, Robert Cummings and Phil Silvers in a sparkling wide-screen edition, but not much else.