Scandalo premeditato

ROSALIND RUSSELL plays another one of her working woman roles as a divorce court judge playing a tricky game of wits with her male sparring partner WALTER PIDGEON.

He's a newspaper man who makes a deal with EDWARD ARNOLD to get the female judge (Russell) off her high pedestal so that she loses her job and he can save his grateful boss from having to pay high alimony. It's strictly cornball comedy/romance with neither star having material worthy of their star status.

It's second rate as romantic comedy and nothing--not even the competent supporting cast--can do much to raise it above the ordinary level. The script is a virtual hodge-podge of clichés, the sort of film Russell found herself typecast in year after year during the '40s.

LEE BOWMAN has another one of his thankless second string roles, MARY BETH HUGHES pouts prettily and JEAN ROGERS is merely decorative as a scheming femme fatale.

It's all pretty artificial but it passes the time on a dull afternoon.

Judge Cornelia Porter (Rosalind Russell) orders wealthy publisher Judson M. Blair (Edward Arnold) to pay large alimony settlements to his ex-wife. Jeff Sherman (Walter Pidgeon) is a slick playboy reporter who worked for Blair. He has a scheme to compromise the judge and clear the way for a challenge the ruling.

Rosalind Russell is great for this role. I love her. The trick of this is for the audience to like Sherman despite his underhanded selfish ways. I like Walter Pidgeon fine enough, but there are better picks for this role. The character is much more borderline. I'm not sure if I like Sherman. The film is borderline.

I'm sure William Powell was not available so in the MGM pecking order Walter Pidgeon got to star with Rosalind Russell in what turned out to be her last MGM film Design For Scandal. Pidgeon's part seemed to be cloned from Bill Powell's role as the reporter in Libeled Lady.

Pidgeon is a reporter who works for Edward Arnold a rich publisher who hates to part with a nickel. Arnold just got taken to the cleaners in a divorce settlement from gold digging Mary Beth Hughes and he's mad as hell at Judge Rosalind Russell for really socking it to him.

There's some really dirty pool played here as Pidgeon romances Russell so that Jean Rogers playing his girlfriend can sue her in a trumped up alienation of affections suit. What happens here is what happens in all movies of this type. You can truly figure out what's going on here.

The leads are fine, but Edward Arnold really steals this film as the 'mastermind' behind this scheme. His reactions every time another bill is brought to him are priceless.

Rosalind Russell plays another one of those patented career woman roles she did so well. Her fans who like to see her in these parts will be pleased.

'Design for Scandal' did sound quite interesting and had potential to be great. The story was a nice idea, giving the impression that the film would be enjoyable even if there was the possibility of it being not particularly plausible. Rosalind Russell and Walter Pidgeon, heading a talented cast, showed themselves to be great in other things and had a lot of appeal to them. Norman Taurog was not the most consistent or greatest of directors, but some of his work has not been bad at all.

My thoughts on 'Design for Scandal' when seeing it was that it was a decent and enjoyable film with a good deal to like about it. Albeit also a bit disappointing and not one of the best representations of particularly an against-type Pidgeon, with the big amount of potential it had it did have a lot of room to be much better than it turned out to be. It is definitely worth a viewing but it is not one of those watch it over and over films, more a film to see once or twice.

As said, there is a good deal to like. The production values are glossy but in a way that is nostalgic and quite sumptuous. Taurog directs at a brisk pace, everything moving along crisply with little signs of letting up.

The script deftly balances romance and comedy. There is some clever witty dialogue that is genuinely funny in a gentle way without being over-engineered, the interplay between Russell does sparkle at its best. The romance is frothy but also sweet and charming. Russell is in a role that suits her to the ground and she does fabulously at being icy and sophisticated with great comic timing. The supporting cast are solid generally, Edward Arnold being a standout.

Pidgeon however disappoints. It was great that he tried to do something different to his usual roles at this point, but he seemed ill at ease with the comic timing not coming naturally to him and the role would have benefitted from being handled with a much lighter touch, here played too heavily and seriously. The characters have little depth to them and are little more than stereotypes that don't always add very much, wouldn't have said no to Jean Rogers being given more to do.

Was also not all that taken with the long tangled string of cliches story, which did tend to be somewhat far-fetched to credibility-straining effect (even when taking the film for what it's meant to be and trying to not expect too much from) and not always focused, the cliches mounting all the time with so much here having been done before and much better. While the pace has a lot of energy the film loses steam towards the end in momentum and focus, and as an overall whole the film is quite ordinary. Pleasant enough but part of me wanted to connect with it much more and wanted it to do much more with its material, done competently more often than not but with not much imagination.

In conclusion, enjoyable if a bit underwhelming. With more imagination and a better male lead (others have mentioned Cary Grant and he definitely would have been a much better choice) it would have been a lot better than it turned out. Worth seeing though to see Russell in her last film she made when under her MGM contract, another interest point. 6/10

Rosalind Russell day on TCM ! in this one, she's judge Porter, hearing the divorce proceedings between the Blairs (Eddie Arnold, Marybeth Hughes). she rules in favor of the wife, but mostly because Mr. Blair couldn't keep his big mouth shut, and kept yelling out in court. so when the judge goes on vacation, Blair sends his reporter Jeff (Walter Pidgeon) after her to get her to lower the alimony. Jeff even researches the judge's past, so he will have things in common. it's all way over the top, and overdone. so much effort put in by Pidgeon/Jeff, and the judge rebuffs him at every opportunity. and a precocious, troublesome tot Freddie thrown in, for more laughs. Bobby Larson was in a couple Peppers films, and was even in Bank Dick, with W.C. Fields. and Russell would be nominated for four oscars, but sadly, not for probably her best known work "His Girl Friday", which she had just done the year before. Directed by Norman Taurog, who had already won the oscar for Skippy. Design for Scandal story seems to be written by Lionel Houser; died quite young at age 41. this one is just okay. looks like it was released just around the time of pearl harbor, probably hurting its success. too bad they didn't give Guy Kibbee more lines (the Superior court judge). he could always jazz up a film.