The Feminine Touch

Charming goof-ball comedy played by experts. Roz, looking great, is sassy and fun one of the greatest at the slow burn ever. She comes across as a bit addle-pated at times but she also has an enormous amount of patience with her husband, a good but not very sensitive man.

This was Kay Francis' last part in an A level film and a shame since she is both humorous and chic. Her slide into low grade junk and obscurity within a few years of this is an example of the way Hollywood wastes talented performers once they are no longer as big at the box office. Since this is an MGM film and she made a good showing in the picture it's surprising they didn't take her on. Her brand of sophistication seems right up their alley and even if no longer a leading lady she could have done well in support.

Ameche's character as I said is a rather clueless blow-hard but his natural charm makes him less irksome than he would normally be. Heflin, fresh off his Oscar for Johnny Eager, is well cast as a would be gigolo who thinks he is more suave and irresistible than he in fact is.

Overall a bit dated in it's attitudes, unsurprisingly, but the four stars make it worth watching.

Rambling and over-long comedy about a married couple (Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche) who argue over the idea of jealousy in marriage. He's a college professor who has written a dull book without having a clue what real jealousy is; she's the little wifey who secretly pines for a caveman type. They get involved with an unmarried publisher and his editor (Van Heflin, Kay Francis) who throw a monkey wrench into the marriage. It seems he's too flighty and she wants his full attention. Everything comes to a head when Heflin runs off to his island in the Adirondacks, only to be followed by Russell and then by Ameche and Francis. There, the men duke it out and the gals get down to a cat fight. Of course this silliness settles everything and both couples end up happy.

Sometimes way too talky and at other times just plain silly, but it's all quite watchable thanks to the four stars. The slapstick fight between Ameche and Heflin is the low point. But there's a dream sequence a la Salvador Dali that is quite funny.

Others in the cast include Donald Meek, Sidney Blackmer, Cecil Cunningham, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Jones, Anne O'Neal, Bernard Nedell, Henry Daniell, Julie Gibson as the singer (no, it's not Peggy Lee), and Robert Ryan as an extra playing a cop.

Rosalind Russell and Kay Francis come off best ... no surprise.

Strange, strange, strange. This does not feel anything like a typical Hollywood movie from 1941. At times, it feels almost like a proto-Woody Allen film, talky and intellectual and neutotic in a very Woody-like sort of way. And then there were a couple of moments when I thought of 60s-style European auteur cinema, especially Fellini. And then there are moments of standard Hollywood-style screwball comedy. And then there was that utterly bizarre and hilarious dream sequence with the Dali-esque set design--I was reminded of that dream sequence from Hitchcock's Spellbound.

Three different writers are credited with the screenplay, and inconsistency in writing styles seems glaringly apparent as the film plays out. Subtle and witty at times, the writing becomes painfully clumsy and forced at others, especially when it goes for a broader style of comedy or when it tries to advance the plot.

I don't know the story behind the making of this film, but it feels very tampered-with, like maybe it started with a clever and original screenplay, but the studio execs didn't trust it and so they hired a couple of hack writers to come in and dumb it down for the masses. It feels like it ALMOST could have been something of a classic. It's still very worth watching, though. The storyline is interesting and, in a way, seems about 30 years ahead of its time. I'd be particularly interested to hear a feminist scholar's take on the film.

Do women really prefer a caveman to an intellectual, a protector to a partner? Despite the feminist movement, it still seems to hold true. Perhaps I should grow a beard.

I agree with "Aeovox" below that this is an unusual film, and also an unsatisfactory one. I was drawn to it by the presence of Don Ameche and Rosalind Russell in the cast. I thought the whole premise of the film - the Dionysian wife's unhappiness with her Appolonian husband's refusal to recognize the emotional legitimacy of jealousy, and her subsequent attempts to make him jealous - was a bit tenuous, and it is executed in a rather - to me at least - incoherent way. The movie is far too talky, although that talk often is quite witty (and just as often seems implausible and pointless), and goes on far too long. The slapstick bits are weak. On the whole, despite the good efforts of Ameche and Russell, I found this a disappointment.

I am second to none in my admiration for Roz Russell, but she was clearly second choice for this role. The wife is supposed to slay men at first sight and make them behave like idiots. Sorry, but that's not Roz. It seems tailor made for Hedy Lamarr, who would have been at the height of her beauty in 1941. Even the Adrian wardrobe looks designed with Lamarr in mind. Someone above mentioned Lana Turner, but she would have been too young at this time. Also, Roz plays it like a half-wit, something Lamarr wouldn't have to resort to, as a war-bride who had trouble with American idioms and customs. Ameche, Heflin and Francis are terrific as usual, as is the rest of the supporting cast. And I loved the production design, van Heflin's couch and lamps in his NY apartment are particularly terrifying, as is Kay Francis's "beaver-mouse ears" hat. And I LOVE that Dali-esquire dream sequence. Someone ought to do a compilation of the Dali-inspired dream sequences from the period. There were lots.