Evitons le scandale !

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.

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.

Delightful romantic comedy with a plot that is, basically, a rehash of "Libeled Lady" (1936), beautifully done with nice cast. Rosalind Russell appears as a judge — as she would again in "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" (1947) — but also as a career woman whose repressed femininity makes her easy game for unscrupulous ladies' man Walter Pidgeon. That particular feature adds interest to the interaction between both characters and even, in a way and to a certain extent, gives this unpretentious little comedy a sort of an edge on the aforementioned classic screwball comedy. The chemistry between the leading couple is perfect and both are great in their respective parts. Arnold is also effective in another of his roles as a ruthless businessman (here a newspaper editor), the kind of characterization he played to perfection in several Frank Capra's comedies. Famous 'Vera Vague' (Barbara Jo Allen) plays a bit part, and the character that made the actress's fame is credited under hers (between parentheses) in the main titles.

Walter Pidgeon is a reporter who agrees to do some dirty work for his boss in "Design for Scandal," also starring Rosalind Russell and Edward Arnold.

After Arnold takes a beating in his divorce case, presided over by Russell, Pidgeon offers to help him out in return for getting his job back (when he thought he was going to die, he told off the boss - always a mistake).

His assignment is to devise a scandal involving the judge so that his boss can have her removed from the bench. Pigeon follows the lady on her vacation and makes his play, enlisting the help of his girlfriend to build an alienation of affections case.

This is a very mild comedy, highly predictable, and this type of role wasn't Pidgeon's forte. He's quite handsome in the role, but the part called for someone like Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable - an attractive, fast-talking rogue.

Russell, like Celeste Holm and sometimes Katharine Hepburn, played these strong career women since her beauty was not conventional. She's very good, but the theme is always the same, isn't it - a successful career is fine but you're deluding yourself.

What you really want to do is take off those tailored suits and get a man - because being a smart and successful woman will never win you anything important.

It all gets a little tired, but it does give me some insight into why my mother turned out the way she did.

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.