Wapakoneta

Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas sparkle in this lightweight romantic comedy. Obviously, the ring on the third finger of the left hand means a gal is married. Myrna Loy is not married, she is an editor who is a 'career gal' at an influential New York-based fashion magazine. But she claims to be married, and her husband is always 'away' and no one has met him. She has increasing difficulty maintaining this fiction, however. Melvyn Douglas discovers the truth and impersonates the non-existent husband, to amusing and sometimes hilarious effect. Well, you can guess the rest. Fun to watch because of Loy and Douglas, though not a masterpiece by any means.

Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy are both excellent in their roles as a couple who are fake-married. Her character made up a fictional long-distance husband for work, and his pranks her by showing up as as that husband.

It's not Tolstoy but it's a lovely little comedy with excellent performances. I used to be surprised to see Melvyn Douglas in leading-man romantic roles. But while he may not be conventionally handsome by modern standards, he makes up for that in charm and wit, not to mention excellent comic timing.

One reviewer said that it was silly to think that a single female executive needed a pretend marriage unless she was a closeted lesbian. But you that you can't judge the premise of a 1940 film by 21st century standards. The Production Code would not have allowed a film to have a lesbian character unless that she was doomed to some sort of awful end as comeuppance for her supposed "deviancy". The studios followed those rules back then. To see why a single woman might wish to feign being romantically unavailable at the workplace 'back in the day', view Mad Men. It will give you some perspective.

This is an engaging and enjoyable comedy with good performances not only from the leads but from the supporting actors as well.

Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas are fantastic, respectively, in this screwball comedy about a career woman with a phantom husband and the man from Wapakoneta, Ohio, who decides to fill-the-bill. The subsidiary roles are wonderfully taken as well. The only quibble I have with the movie is that it is a -wee- bit long for its material, but viewers looking for some light diversion will not be disappointed by this farcical laugh-romp.

I watched this movie just the other night and found it refreshing and yet sweet. I was also amazed how much this movie reflects a lot of problems that some women in positions of authority have with the stigma of not being married. Besides that I will say that the modern romantic comedies borrow greatly from movies such as this yet even though I have seen many romantic comedies I found this movie fresh and almost new probably due to fact that the cliques nowadays evolved from this movie. I will also admit I love Myrna Loy and with a certain degree of bias I enjoy all her movies and love her mere presence in the movie and I was caught unaware of her improvising skill when she did her Brooklyn accent. I found Mervyn Douglas a good match though had a feeling that the character written may have been for William Powell. I found it quick and enjoyable and this is why classics always bring a smile to my face.

While this comedy is about the romantic complications facing a woman executive and the artist who loves her, "Third Finger, Left Hand" provides a rarely seen dignified Black role. When first we see Sam (portrayed by veteran African American actor, Ernest Whitman) he is a train porter speaking in an 'uneducated' manner - employing the type of language structure used by script writers of the time to reinforce negative racial stereotypes. Later, however, a Sam is revealed to have taken college correspondence courses for years and to be someone quite knowledgeable in matters of Law: able to quote court rulings and present effective legal arguments on behalf of his client, the artist. Ultimately, Sam is the hero of "Third Finger, Left Hand", making it possible for the protagonists' love to triumph.