Rings on Her Fingers

I stumbled across this movie on YouTube while trying to find something quick to watch that required little head thinking and I'm glad I did. It's a harmless, sometimes sweet, romantic comedy-crime story with a very good cast.

Two swindlers take Susan/Linda (Tierney), a girdle shop assistant who dreams of a life of glitz and glamour, under their wing and employ her for their money-grabbing schemes. Things get complicated when Susan/Linda falls for the small-time accountant John (Fonda) they are trying to con who parts with his life savings to impress her.

Fonda and Tierney's chemistry save this movie from becoming another unimaginative and dull comedy that relies on its star billing for top box office draws. Susan/Linda transforms herself from Brooklyn shop assistant to high society heiress with ease - cementing herself as the Grace Kelly of the 1940s. It is hard to believe she is only 21 years old in this movie. While he's no Cary Grant in the romantic comedy arena, Fonda plays the hapless and financially unsuccessful John perfectly who, like any man would, falls for Tierney in a heartbeat.

Although not a hit in its day and practically forgotten by today's audiences, "Rings on Her Fingers" is worth a watch for Fonda and Tierney's early comedic performances alone. They work well with the script and story they are dealt with.

Having never heard of this movie before, I found it to be a pleasant surprise when I found it on youtube. From reading the other reviews, it appears I'm in the minority, but I can't help it. In most cases, a film either has me after a few minutes, or it doesn't. From the start, I found Gene Tierney to be enchanting and, as the plot unfolded, I thought, "Ooh, this going to be fun.", and it was. People have compared this to "The Lady Eve", but that has a plot even more preposterous. I mean, come one, only someone with brain damage wouldn't know Eve and Jean are the same person. So, John thinking he had discovered a method for gambling doesn't seem that far-fetched. Though not one of the best film comedies of all time, it was still enjoyable.

Having seen Henry Fonda in many of his serious films like 12 Angry Men and Grapes of Wrath, it was quite surprising to see how funny he can in Rings on Her Fingers. He has a nice chemistry with his co-star Gene Tierney as the girl that falls for him. She's involved with a gang of con-artists but can't resist accountant Fonda's sweet natured charm. The plot gets out of hand when Tierney wants to return the stolen money to Fonda. Spring Byington, as Tierney's "mother" is always a pleasant addition to any movie. Playing one of the con-artists, her acting is a little tougher than the usual flighty dowager we've seen her portray before. There are some good laughs along the way especially the chase scene at the airport terminal.It you want to see Henry Fonda in one of his rare comedies this movie is hard to beat.

Here's a light and frothy comedy with Henry Fonda repeating his "The Lady Eve" role as the rube being taken for his money by travelling confidence tricksters Laird Cregar and Spring Byington, plus their newly recruited honey-trapper Gene Tierney, fresh from the girdle section of a New York department store, lured by the exciting and seemingly glamorous life of wealth distribution, the dainty way Cregar describes the team's modus operandi of parting the rich from their money.

The catch here is that Fonda this time isn't filthy rich at all, the boat-buying con he falls for relieves him of his hard-earned, mathematically calculated, life savings leaving him penniless, although his consolation is that he and his temptress Tierney fall hard for each other so much so that she surreptitiously tries to put things right for him. Naturally there's a reckoning to be had, which fortuitously comes about when Cregar & co. and their victim coincidentally end up under the same roof, to wit Fonda's millionaire bachelor buddy's place, who himself is set to be the next target for the travelling tricksters.

While not hysterically funny, the film makes the most of its ever more unlikely situations and is nicely played by the four main leads. Fonda and Tierney combine well together as do Cregar and Byington. There are some amusing scenes, like when the young couple plod their way around a dance floor amongst some limbs-flying jitterbuggers, Fonda's "lucky" gambling streak at the casino and earlier when Fonda is distracted by Tierney in a bathing suit as he's trying to describe the dimensions of the boat he's seeking to buy.

The ending seems a bit contrived bringing all the main characters together again with Fonda improbably stepping out of character to get his girl in the style of Cagney, but at least it all ends happily ever after as there's little doubt that even the thwarted Cregar and Byington will continue undiminished on their merry way, indeed, in my opinion, an extra finishing scene showing them hooking up with another aspirant young shop girl to do their bidding could easily have been tagged on to keep the circle unbroken.

This wasn't the best screwball comedy I've seen and certainly Sturges and Hawks executed these farces a little more sharply and amusingly but this was still an engaging, pardon the pun, film to watch.

Laird Cregar is always an imposing pleasure on the screen, a marvellous actor with great diction and indomitable authority, he always somehow seems to fill up the entire screen by his mere presence. Here he is the ringleader of a circle of sophisticated swindlers, fooling anything out of anyone. Gene Tierney in one of her early roles as an ordinary shop-girl behind the counter in a fashion establishment, is observed for her beauty by these adventurers and taken up in their circle as an attractive bait and decoy, as they carry on and happen to Henry Fonda, very unusual in comedy but managing it very well, just repeating his performance in "The Lady Eve", and this film owes very much to Preston Sturges' formidable knack of comedy - Barbara Stanwyck is just substituted by Gene Tierney, but she is a poor girl, and she doesn't really fool Henry Fonda on purpose - she just follows the fake team. There are many glorious instances of comedy here, very original for Mamoulian, but not enough to harvest a full score, as the plot doesn't quite hold water. It is great entertainment of the highest class, and Mamoulian probably made it for a change to try something different from his heavy masterpieces. As a comedy it sparkles though, the dialog is terrific throughout, and like all Mamoulian's films, this is another one to never tire of.