Pillow to Post (1945) User Reviews

Light,funny,unusual war time tale.

[sugieone · 8/10 · 14 August 2003]

I enjoyed Ida Lupino in a comedy as much as I ever did in her many dramatic roles;I think her timing is excellent. William Prince is not as skilled, but he makes a good foil for her character in this story.

For its time, the plot was probably considered slightly racy, but was handled so well, you'd never notice. I felt it had just the right touch on an old game, mainly romance, with the added benefit of light comedy that makes it appeal to women and men. The supporting parts were well cast, especially Sydney Greenstreet, who could also do great work in comedy and drama.

I only wish this were available on VHS, or even better, DVD.

Unheralded Screwball Comedy

[aberlour36 · 8/10 · 3 July 2007]

This film hasn't been put on VHS or DVD. I saw it on the Turner Classic Movie channel in early July, 2007. What starts out to be a rather predictable wartime "B" light comedy, emerges shortly as a full-blown screwball comedy of the most delightful sort. Ida Lupino, of all people,shows that she can do comedy as well as Carol Lombard. After her years at Columbia, Warner Brothers finally discovered her broad acting talent. (Would that Columbia and MGM had discovered the comedic abilities of Lucille Ball decades earlier.) This low-budget gem, based on a play, reveals quite a bit about wartime America's economy and socio-economic structure. But mostly it's about a romantic entanglement and mistaken identity, two much-used devices that need first rate acting to pull off. Here, it happens. Even Sidney Greenstreet manages his atypical role in an impressive way. I don't know why the producers decided to insert a meaningless nightclub scene featuring two minutes of Louis Armstrong "and his orchestra," but perhaps this was just a way to attract more viewers. By the way, this is one of Willy Best's best films. He was finally given something to do in a movie that didn't involve Charlie Chan. Paul Harvey and William Prince also handled their roles admirably. In short, this is a long- forgotten winner.

Entirely Different Role for Lupino

[whpratt1 · 8/10 · 5 January 2006]

This is about the first comedy film that I have ever seen Ida Lupino appear in and she was fantastic. Always knew Ida was multi-talented as an actress, director and producer. In this film Lupino (Jean Howard), "The Devil's Rain",'75, appears as a young gal who wants to work in her father's oil business and decides to become a traveling sales gal, which at the time was unspeakable in that type of business. Jean has to find a proper place to sleep on her travels, and since it was war time, she decided to get hold of a Lt. in the Army who would have living quarters for wives. This lucky Lt. was portrayed by William Prince, (Lt. Don Mallory), "Nuts",'87, who unwillingly helped Jean make this a reality. Another big shock in this film is the appearance of Sydney Greenstreet,(Col. Michael Otley), "Flamingo Road",'49 and of course, the "Maltese Falcon", with Humphrey Bogart. In this role Col. Otley is Don Mallory's Commanding Officer and they live together in the housing unit. It is a very enjoyable funny film and was probably a big shocker for people in 1945, it sure takes a person way back in the PAST.

Mild WWII Comedy

[dougdoepke · 4 April 2011]

Mildly amusing wartime programmer about housing shortage for service couples. Jean (Lupino) finagles an army officer (Prince) to pose as her husband so she can get restricted housing in a motel court. Naturally, "who sleeps where" type complications ensue as they work to keep up appearances. The pace picks up as the difficulties mount, ending finally in madcap farce.

The cast tries hard to make familiar material for the time work. Still, seams do show, especially with Lupino's sometimes over-eager performance. Clearly, she's anxious to show she's as good at comedy as she is at dramatics. Then too, when movie buffs think Greenstreet, comedy doesn't come to mind. But here he plays an unlikely over-weight colonel to pretty good effect. (Note how the script deals with this fudging of army fitness standards.)

The colorful mix of supporting characters includes a mischievous little Robert Blake, a busybody Ruth Donnelly, a bug-eyed Willy Best, and an addled Stuart Erwin. Together, they manage to keep the chuckles coming. The movie, however, doesn't rise to the first rank, perhaps because the elements don't blend into a seamless whole—you can almost see the characters and situations being assembled. Nonetheless, it's a generally entertaining glimpse into what titillated audiences coming out of the big war.

A cute little wartime comedy

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 March 2011]

Ida Lupino stars as a saleslady working for her father's company. As it was during WWII, women were assuming many jobs held by men and Ida does this to help out with the war effort. However, she turns out to be pretty bad at sales and by the time she gets to one remote location, she's desperate. But things only get worse, as there is a military base nearby and so there are no spare hotel rooms. On a lark, she checks into a motel designated for spouses of servicemen. However, she's single and lies to get the room--and unless she wants to get tossed out, she'll have to find some guy to pose as her husband. The unsuspecting shmoe is a young lieutenant (William Prince)--whose nice gesture completely blows up in his face. And now, they are stuck together--otherwise the Lieutenant will be in serious trouble with his Colonel. Can all this be straightened out and Lupino and Prince avoid serious consequences?

This is a nice screwy comedy that was pretty timely--as there was a severe housing shorting during the war. In many ways, the theme is reminiscent of the wonderful comedy "The More the Merrier"--though this latter film is much more of a classic. "Pillow to Post", on the other hand, is rather slight...enjoyable but slight.

snafu

No rooms nowhere no how

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 27 December 2019]

Pillow To Post has Ida Lupino working for her dad Paul Harvey's oil drilling supply company because his sales force have all been drafted. She has to sell John Mitchell the company supplies and get a signed order.

But with wartime housing being what it is, the only room she can find is at a motel court built for GIs and their dependents. Fortunately she finds a nice lieutenant in William Prince to take on the role of husband.

I'm sure you know that love will bloom as it always does in these movies. The wartime housing shortage was always a good subject for comedy, the best known being The More The Merrier.

Lupino is quite frazzled in her role, but all to good effect. William Prince is an officer and a gentleman always. Nice supporting cast headed by Sydney Greenstreet as Prince's commanding officer who is on a diet to lose weight so he can go overseas. I'm betting George C. Marshall wants his officers slim and trim for the front.

Pillow To Post is a nice wartime comedy that still holds up well.

fun rom-com

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 August 2021]

Jean Howard (Ida Lupino) is a single 30 year old in L. A living off of her oil tycoon father's money. With all the men away at war, she convinces him to be his new oil well supply salesman despite never working a day in her life. It's not going well but she refuses to come home. With the wartime shortage, she stumbled upon housing near an army base but they only take in army families. Lt. Don Mallory gives her a lift and she recruits him to be her fake husband. He's forced into the situation when his commanding officer Colonel Michael Otley gets involved. In addition, potential client Earl Clark is interested. Louis Armstrong and Dorothy Dandridge do some music. Willie Best is the local driver Lucille.

This is a fun rom-com. I like Ida's sassy fake-crying try-hard character. William Prince is fine as the mild-mannered do-gooder. It would work better if he's dumber. He would be easier to manipulate by Jean but he does have good banter with her. I'm still not sure that I buy him going along with her scam but a good rom-com does require some disbelief. This is pretty good. I like these characters. Their sitcom silliness is fun. I actually like this love triangle where all the sides are nice interesting characters. It's not winning any awards but it's still fun.

Deeply formulaic with a terrific Ida Lupino

[secondtake · 6/10 · 31 May 2021]

Pillow to Post (1945)

A harmless but also frivolous war time movie that was good escapism at the time and a bit unnecessary eighty years later. But you're reading this and I watched the whole thing with my usual interest in everything in classic Hollywood, including Ida Lupino who carries this movie along start to finish.

This kind of movie has all the required polish of an A-list but not quite high priority release, and competent direction by Vincent Sherman. It depends most of all on a great script which it doesn't ahve, but there is an attempt here at a comedic hook-a dilemma, an unexpected fix, and the necessary complications. None of this is very convincing or even always so charming, but it works. The other thing that is naturally important is a few sparks of love, and that is something the audience really must have craved: a chance for some domestic happiness as the world was crumbling all around. And that sort of happens. Again, it's Lupino who holds up the rest.

Speaking of the rest, it has to be added that Sidney Greenstreet is a fabulous actor with truly limited talents-and he is miscast here badly as a somewhat kindly but a big boorish officer who sees and ignores what is going on around him. And Lupino's co-lead, the cute man in uniform that she is meant to be suddenly matched with, is William Prince, who is really a t.v. Kind of actor, and once t.v. Came along he fit into that world well. Here, not so much, though he's vaguely likable.

There is also a brief but revealing (characteristic) performance by Louis Armstrong (and singer Dorothy Dandridge). It might be worth it for that for some viewers (it was what drew me to it at first).

OK...if you do see this, enjoy it as a period piece, and for its setting (a motor court that's quite classic). And hang in there for the last 20 minutes where Lupino gets good and drunk. She's funny and touching. The zany aspects of the movie collide here and it's a naturally feelgood ending. Perfect...except maybe that the drunk leading lady is driving off with her boyfriend at the end.

My favorite classic

[dexterm · 10/10 · 22 August 2000]

I'll be the first to admit that this movie will probably never be regarded as one of the Top 10 Classics. However, this movie continues to captivate me.

The plot while predictable, is engaging and the characters are interesting (especially, Ida Lupino). Ida Lupino is a cutie pie in this movie!

I would highly recommend this movie!

All a girl needs in this town to get a room is a husband, a car and a prayer.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 8 April 2016]

Once again, Ida Lupino does things "the hard way", but this time, it's for laughs. All of Hollywood's top female dramatic stars did a comedy at some point in their career, and this was Lupino's turn. It's another World War II crowded conditions comedy, and like "The Doughgirls", this features a woman scheming to pretend to be married just so she can get a room. Ida's a business woman near San Diego who desperately tries to find a lieutenant to be her husband, and a ton of complications occur.

The unlucky lieutenant she grabs onto is William Prince, and he is unaware that his commanding officer (Sydney Greenstreet) lives in the auto court run by acerbic Ruth Donnelly. Barbara Brown adds a few giggles as Greenstreet's squeaky voiced dimwit wife who interferes in the "newleywed's" business. More laughs are added by Willie Best as " Lucille" the handyman. He actually gets to say, "I never forget a face, especially when I sat on it!", although with total innocence. Louis Armstrong appears to entertain the troops with an unknown Dorothy Dandridge.

While Lupino had played some lighter parts earlier in career, by this time, she was one of Warner Brother's top drama stars, but if Davis, De Havilland and Stanwyck could do comedy, then Ida could do it as well. Ironically, other than a brief musical appearance in "Thank Your Lucky Stars" before this, she never varied from drama again. However, for a rare foray into comedy, she seems pretty comfortable and manages to enjoy herself. Not quite worthy of a "Garbo laughs!" slogan, she's nevertheless a lot of fun.

Pleasant little comedy

[mls4182 · 5/10 · 29 December 2021]

Ida Lupino was mostly known for drama but she does well in comedy. Its too bad the script wasn't as good as she was. It has some laughs and cute moments but it misses the mark as a screwball comedy or a farce. It is still enjoyable and worth seeing.

It is fun seeing Greenstreet in a non villainous role.

Ida gets a chance to break a little loose

[jjnxn-1 · 8/10 · 21 June 2012]

Sweet, silly little trifle is merely an excuse to see Ida Lupino get a chance to put the heavy dramatics aside briefly as a career girl who becomes more pixelated as the complications pile up.

The story addresses the wartime housing shortage and some of the subterfuge that had to be resorted to just to have a decent place to rest your head at times. Of course misunderstandings abound.

Ida is charming and adept at comedy, William Prince is fine but it's a shame that since she rarely did comedy she didn't have a chance to costar with one of the master of the form like Cary Grant or Clark Gable. Sydney Greenstreet is funny as Prince's commanding officer as always relishing a chance to also break from the villain role and play comedy.

All together a cute little ride with nothing important to say but a nice little picture nonetheless.

A filmed stage play

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 13 July 2014]

You don't need to look at the credits in order to be aware that this movie is based on a stage play. Like "The More the Merrier", it's concerned with the wartime housing shortage. Unfortunately, the movie script often takes refuge in some extremely tedious "comedy" routines such as Ida Lupino's attempts to sleep on two kitchen chairs. Ida is attractively photographed and costumed, but is otherwise sadly wasted. Fortunately, the first half of the film is brisker and more lively than the second half. In fact, in the last 30 minutes or so, the screenwriters give up their attempts to open up the stage play, and are content to let the play's over-verbose dialogue take over. Greenstreet struggles vainly to make something of his role, but without good material to work with, he flounders helplessly. And alas, Louis Armstrong and his orchestra (with vocalist, Dorothy Dandridge) are but briefly glimpsed during a night club interlude. To cap it all off, production values are very moderate and Vincent Sherman's direction totally lifeless and uninteresting.

The Frantic Comedy Has Aged Very Poorly

[boblipton · 5/10 · 16 April 2020]

Whenever I run low on unseen movies to record, I check TCM for titles I've seen before but don't remember. In this wise, I found PILLOW TO POST. It didn't fire off any neurons, but it had Vincent Sherman directing Ida Lupino, Sidney Greenstreet, and lesser Warner Brothers supporting players. It was a comedy and the rating I had given it was that it was superior. So I set it to record, intending to watch it as part of my weekend waking up routine.

Ida Lupino takes a job in the waning days of the Second World War working as a saleswoman for her father's oil company. Out in the hinterlands, she needs a place to sleep, but between the oil fields and an Army training base, the only place she can find is a motel -- and they accept only married officers and their wives. So Ida ropes in William Prince to get a night's sleep. Complications, as they say, ensue.

Looking at it, I don't understand what I was thinking when I thought it was very good. It's directed in that frantic, forced, smirking manner the Warners set for their comedy B movies in the late 1930s, when they realized they couldn't talk about sex, but they could wink and everyone would get it. It's lazy writing and rote performances and no one is having a good time, except possibly for Barbara Brown and I don't know why I thought it was so good when I saw it before. Maybe it was the (brief) appearance of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra.

Whatever it was, it isn't enough now. I guess my taste has changed. I hope it's for the better.

A little deceit goes a long way

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 4 May 2021]

"Pillow to Post" has a title that's easy to connect with the plot of this film. It's a wartime comedy romance with a cast that's as interesting as the story. The story is built around a young woman who goes on the road as a saleswoman for her dad's oil products company. Not only is there a shortage of men for jobs like hers, but there's a housing shortage everywhere during the war. With an opening in an auto court for married couples, she concocts a plan to get a young lieutenant from a nearby Army post to pose as her husband. Just long enough to sign the registry for her.

But her simple, harmless little plan of deceit quickly gets out of hand. It leads to all sorts of problems and troubles for the lieutenant, and eventually her. This begins to appear like a modern Adam and Eve tale, and the young officer soon thinks his career and life are ruined. One knows that this will all turn out okay for the girl and the soldier. But that's only after a twisted, narrow, multi-layered course of many turns and roadblocks. The two days that this story covers were more complicated than the worst obstacle course a maniacal NCO could devise.

Well, its all supposed to be for fun, and it is to a degree. There's no sign of romance until the very end, and that is contrived and hard to believe. The script has very little clever dialog, and the comedy is mostly situational. In that regard, it's quite crazy, but with a scarcity of anything very laughable. Ida Lupino plays Jean Howard and William Prince plays Lt. Don Mallory. Lupino made her mark mostly in crime mysteries and dramas. She was just in a handful of comedies, and none of them fared very well. This was the best one. And the shortage of actors was also a reality during the war, with so many of them in the military. Although Prince had a lengthy career, his early roles were mostly minor ones, and after just half a dozen or so, he moved over to TV productions. He was in many series and several TV movies where he did very well.

So, to give this film a boost, Warner Brothers provided some top supporting roles and a lively nighttime scene with a young Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra. There's no doubt that Satchmo Armstrong, Sydney Greenstreet and others lifted this film and kept it from being a flop. It had a $5 million box office, coming in around 70th in U. S. films for the year. Greenstreet's role as Col. Otley was very good, as were the supporting roles of a hectic Stuart Erwin as Capt. Jack Ross, whose wife was having quadruplets, and Ruth Donnelly as the auto court manager, Mrs. Grace Wingate. Willie Best is very good as the porter, Lucille, and Johnny Mitchell is okay as Earl "Slim" Clark.

The best reason for seeing this movie by modern audiences would be to see the very young Louis Armstrong with his trumpet and orchestra, and a very nice role played by the always entertaining English actor, Sydney Greenstreet.

Here are the best lines from this film.

J. R. Howard, "Jean, you've never done a day's work in your life." Jean Howard, "I never had to. Oh, give me a chance will you?"

Jean Howard, "Are you a single lieutenant?" Don Mallory, "Yes. Just one."

Jean Howard, "It's so hard to tell if a man is married. Course, a girl always wears a ring on her finger." Don Mallory, "Mmm hmm, a man always wears one through his nose."

Don Mallory, "You mean, if you can be married and stay single, fine, but ..." Jean Howard, "Yes."

Jean Howard, "You don't have to know me. All you have to do is marry me. I mean, pretend to marry me, just for a little while."

Col. Michael Otley, "Lucille, everyone in the Army isn't a general." Lucile, "No, sir, but you'd be surprised how my tips increased after I started calling everyone general."

Watch for Louis and Dorothy

[davjazzer-43068 · 6/10 · 23 April 2018]

For Jazz Fans,this film has an all-too brief nightclub scene of Louis Armastrong and his Big Band with the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge singing. The tune, "Whatcha Say" was earlier recorded by Louis and Dorothy for Decca. This version sounds like the studio recording. Although not a great singer,Miss Dandridge emotes much sex appeal in her brief scene and Louis gets in some nice horn and vocal bits. I also get a kick out of the patron stuck at a table with yackers who says- "I'd like to hear this!!". My sentiments exactly.

The 22 Year Old Dorothy Dandridge

[The Novelist · 11 April 2002]

I was bored to tears watching this dull film featuring the 22 year old Dorothy Dandridge.

I don't care what anyone else says about how hard it was for her at this stage in America's history, she was very lucky to pad out her c.v. and pay her bills by acting in Hollywood films.

wartime story.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 8 February 2022]

While the men are all off to war, Jean (ida lupino) acts as the salesman for dad's company. But to make it all work, she's got to find housing by posing as an army wife. That's where lieutenant mallory (bill prince) comes in. But if his commanding officer (sydney greenstreet) finds out, it'll all hit the fan. Some fun co-stars here, and they make it work... grady sutton, ruth donnelly, stuart erwin. The mainenance guy (willie best) is named Lucille. It's all light and fluffy and silly.... just go along for the ride. Even entertainment with louis armstrong and a 22 year old dot dandridge. Directed by vincent sherman. He did this right after mister skeffington. Worked with joanie crawford a bunch of times too!

All Reet!

[atlasmb · 8/10 · 4 January 2023]

This wartime romcom is about Jean Howard (Ida Lupino), the daughter of an oilfield supplies company owner. Though she is feminine and delicate, she volunteers to handle field sales and sets off to deal with roughnecks out west. This fish out of water story is secondary to the humor that evolves from a falsehood she employs.

She needs a room to operate out of, but like almost every other commodity, rooms are scarce and (practically) rationed. Out of necessity, she pretends to be the wife of an army lieutenant to get accommodations in an auto court. Then she sets off to find a lieutenant to play along with her charade. She finds Don Mallory (William Prince), who becomes trapped in her lie.

Lupino and Prince have excellent chemistry. This is a cute film that is well written. Though its stage play roots are evident, the screenplay is very entertaining. It also does a good job of demonstrating wartime exigencies and the resulting culture.

Willie Best plays the role of Lucille, the all-purpose fixit-man and gopher for the auto court. He is mystified by some of the goings-on that surround the Mallory household. Though his part may be seen as stereotypical, he rises above it and delivers many of the best lines of comedy.

Watch for Sydney Greenstreet as a commanding officer and Louis Armstrong who performs with his band.

Has Louis Armstrong & Dorothy Dandridge, but only a diehard Ida Lupino like me will like this

[larrywest42-610-618957 · 5/10 · 29 December 2022]

It's not exactly bad, if you don't count the Black porter character ("Lucille") whose role is very well-played (by Willie Best) but still an unpalatable symptom of the times.

On the positive side:

The one-song performance by Louis Armstrong and Dorothy Dandridge is wonderful to see & hear.

The plot is a run-of-the-mill mix of mild deception, mistaken identity and social mores that are probably - I hope - overplayed, but it works if you don't think about it too hard.

Of course, Lupino is great, as are Greenstreet and Donnelly, though Lupino's character does seem too prone to crying for this 21st century viewer.

Johnny Mitchell, the actor playing the oil well operator, is good, given the limited role.

But William Prince, the romantic lead, leaves me cold. His character isn't an awful person, as so many male romantic leads of the era were, but he's no great catch, either.

Cousin of "Christmas"

[abooboo-2 · 5/10 · 3 February 2002]

Basically a limp re-working of "Christmas in Connecticut", with a pampered woman desperately pretending to be something she's not, and in both cases trying to dupe fat, gullible Sydney Greenstreet in the process.

Unfortunately Ida Lupino is no Barbara Stanwyck when it comes to playing comedy. She's brittle and high-strung and doesn't know how to milk the shopworn script for laughs. Her reactions aren't varied enough, she almost always seems to be on the verge of tears and simply doesn't seem to be having much fun. Her romantic interest, William Prince, is pleasant but unremarkable.

Still the film is worth sitting through if only to hear that great blustering character actor Greenstreet thunder out lines like, "That's the most preposterous thing I've ever heard!" and, "What the devil is going on here?" in that inimitable voice of his.

pillow to post

[mossgrymk · 3/10 · 18 August 2021]

As a corollary to "Where's The Beef"? I would ask, re: this dumbass movie, "Where's The Satch?"