Review of That Touch of Mink (1962) by Matt H — 09 Nov 2013

A businessman woos a lower class girl, but his refusal to marry her complicates their desires.

This film could be offensive in its anti-feminist and classist depictions and its mockery of homosexuality. Or this film could be progressive in its satire of gender conventions and class boundaries; its lampoon of homosexuality is markedly clear. I struggle with making meaning out of the film. The idea that Roger would see transcending class boundaries as a punishment is ridiculous, but it's played that way in the film. The idea that women cannot choose to sleep with a man she fancies is also condemnable, and while there are moments when the film seems to agree, when Doris Day's character is made to say, "I will become a woman," in her decision to sleep with Mr. Shayne, I couldn't resist a stomach turn of repulsion that she would think her womanhood, or maybe even personhood, rests on her sexual escapades. It's a complicated mess, and I left this film unsure of what to make of it and even less sure whether I enjoyed it.

Overall, the surface of this film is charming enough, but thinking about it causes concern.