In late 1956, actress Marie (The Body) McDonald faked a kidnapping that got a ton of press but did little to help her sagging career. Fuzzy Pink is clearly capitalizing on that unfortunate episode. Also looks like the movie was rushed into production, released in Dec., 1957, by a first-time production company headed by Russell's husband, football great Bob Waterfield. I mention this background since it likely accounts for the film's uneven results. The biggest stretch is having Laurel (Russell) fall for her kidnapper Mike (Meeker). It may have worked on paper, but it fails on screen. Too bad Meeker couldn't muster up some romantic emotion; instead he basically walks through the role in indifferent fashion. Then too, Russell's nightgown is hardly revealing, let alone titillating. Moreover, we have only the b&w movie's word that it's actually pink. Nonetheless she and Wynn do inject some needed spark. Arguably, the movie's best part is its cynical take on the movie industry, from greedy studio honcho Martin (Menjou) to conniving agent Baylies (Harris) to waspish gossip columnist Parker (Venuta). Had the script played up this aspect, the results would have been more compelling. But, of course, that would have cut down on Russell's celebrity screen time. Anyway, there're some good shots of a Malibu beach house, a chic 50's parlor room, and a studio lot.Despite Russell's spirited performance, the movie remains a jumbled disappointment.

Just watched this on Netflix streaming. It has Jane Russell as a blonde movie star who, on the day her movie about a kidnapped woman premieres, actually gets nabbed by Keenan Wynn and Ralph Meeker! But because of her latest movie, not many people believe she's not just doing a publicity stunt. I'll stop there and just say that while there could have been a hilarious farce with what I just mentioned, there just wasn't enough funny lines or scenes to make a consistently guffaw-inducing movie for me. In fact, the only time I felt something was truly leaning toward comedy gold was when Meeker's parole officer played by Fred Clark came by their hideout and was questioning them about what they did on their free time and the kinds of situations that resulted. Still, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown is worth a look for anyone curious about this now-obscure movie.

Shown last night on Turner Classic Films, THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN was based on a novel that was published in 1956. The story is simple: A man has just been released from prison after four years, serving a major crime sentence for something he did not do. The man and his friend are hired by a conniving film studio head to waylay the studio's leading bombshell actress, who has just made a film about a kidnapping, and subsequently "demand" a ransom. Gradually the man and the star get to know each other, fall in love, and various complications emerge (dealing with the man's friend/associate in the fake kidnapping, with the miscalculation of the producer who finds few people in the public believe it's a real kidnapping, and with the suspicions of the Police Detective who has been involved with the man since arresting him in the first crime four years earlier). Like most situation comedies, the central story line makes little real sense. If a man is freed after any time from a prison, either because he was erroneously arrested or because he was guilty but has served his sentence, he will try to avoid idiotic plans that can land him back into jail again. Ralph Meeker was wrongly convicted of second degree murder, and then the real killer was discovered. He is (as is repeated several times) not a real convict (meaning he is not "hardened" - at least supposedly). If so, he certainly would not be roped into such a silly publicity stunt that could be made to look like he is criminal (and end up returning him to jail). Ironically Meeker would shortly play another victim of "judicial injustice" but in a great serious film - he was one of the three soldiers who are court-martial-ed and shot for cowardice under fire in PATHS OF GLORY.His friend Keenan Wynn is a sillier type of mug (Wynn at this time was usually playing side-kicks like Kirk Douglas' friend in MY DEAR SECRETARY or "mugs" like the gangster - with James Whitmore - who is trying to collect a debt from Howard Keel in KISS ME KATE). Interestingly enough, during this film Jane Russell quotes Shakespeare's line "Conscience doth make cowards of us all", and Wynn mulls over the line - making the viewer momentarily think of that glorious duet almost a decade earlier with Whitmore of "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". But KISS ME KATE was a better comedy. Anyway Wynn ends up a voice of reason (!) trying to water down Meeker's bitterness as much as he can. Again it stretches realism to a breaking point to think of Wynn doing this, but he is so disarmingly nice that one roots for him all the same.Russell, as the bombshell actress, is turned into a "Marilyn" clone. This too, like the "Shakespeare" reference for Wynn, makes one think of her appearance a few years earlier with Monroe in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDS (again, a superior film), wherein she briefly wears a blond wig to disguise herself as Marilyn. But she openly reveals it's a fake to Meeker and Wynn to help them avoid problems with the police (their friendly nemesis Fred Clark). For her pains Meeker just throws her gesture in her face as proof of her phoniness (which it really isn't).As the movie producer/chief conniver, Adolphe Menjou acts as voluble and dyspeptic as he usually does in such roles, but he was also Oliver Niles, producer - friend of Norman Main in the 1937 A STAR IS BORN, and he was the more wolfish but competent Broadway producer in STAGEDOOR (again two other better films). This movie is full of moments that ironically recall better films. Don't get me totally wrong. While not great cinema, or even good cinema, it is amusing enough. Watch the scene where Russell and Wynn get drunk on his eggnog (it's around Christmas time) made from eggs and straight booze. Or see Clark in any scene - especially when he confronts Meeker and Wynn at their "hideout" (he doesn't know it is one) which is too expensive for them to afford. His cat and mouse with them is worth watching, and reminds us of what a fine comic actor he was. Or Menjou telling the police (Clark and an equally unimpressed Milton Frome) and a "Hedda Hopper" clone (Benay Venuta) of how he definitely did not fake a kidnapping for publicity purposes. Venuta hands the bow-beating, supposedly sorrow-struck Menjou a handkerchief to wipe his eyes - which, of course, have no real tears in them!Towards the end, when Meeker and Russell are speeding in Clark's stolen police car (don't ask!) to get to the airport, they go up a road along a small cliff-side mountain that looks familiar to us. They are trying to stop Wynn from collecting a $100,000 ransom fee and fleeing with it to Mexico. The road and cliff are very familiar: they are the same road and cliff that Spencer Tracy and the cast of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, WORLD drove in the opposite direction, when Tracy's "Captain Culpepper" had the stolen money in his car and was planning to flee to Mexico. I tell you, every point in this film reminds you of an earlier or later better movie!

A popular movie star is kidnapped,and everyone thinks,it's a publicity gag for her new picture "The Kidnapped Bride" - it isn't,but nobody cares,because everybody thinks it is! The diva falls in love with one of her kidnappers - that was clear from the beginning,of course,but that doesn't matter. A nice idea,transpositioned in a delightful,amusing comedy full of funny and also sarcastic gags and dialogues,with terrific actors(Jane Russell - who wears a blonde wig in the first part - is nearly as good as in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes",if not better)and a good story...it is a pity that this movie is almost forgotten today!I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece-but I liked it very much!