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The Feminine Touch

  • 1941
  • Approved
  • 1h 37m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Don Ameche, Kay Francis, and Rosalind Russell in The Feminine Touch (1941)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer2:43
1 Video
36 Photos
SatireScrewball ComedySlapstickComedy

An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.

  • Director
    • W.S. Van Dyke
  • Writers
    • George Oppenheimer
    • Edmund L. Hartmann
    • Ogden Nash
  • Stars
    • Rosalind Russell
    • Don Ameche
    • Kay Francis
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • W.S. Van Dyke
    • Writers
      • George Oppenheimer
      • Edmund L. Hartmann
      • Ogden Nash
    • Stars
      • Rosalind Russell
      • Don Ameche
      • Kay Francis
    • 29User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:43
    Trailer

    Photos36

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    Top cast37

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    Rosalind Russell
    Rosalind Russell
    • Julie Hathaway
    Don Ameche
    Don Ameche
    • John Hathaway
    Kay Francis
    Kay Francis
    • Nellie Woods
    Van Heflin
    Van Heflin
    • Elliott Morgan
    Donald Meek
    Donald Meek
    • Captain Makepeace Liveright
    Gordon Jones
    Gordon Jones
    • Rubber-legs Ryan
    Henry Daniell
    Henry Daniell
    • Shelley Mason
    Sidney Blackmer
    Sidney Blackmer
    • Freddie Bond
    Grant Mitchell
    Grant Mitchell
    • Dean Hutchinson
    David Clyde
    David Clyde
    • Brighton
    Gino Corrado
    Gino Corrado
    • Party Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Cecil Cunningham
    Cecil Cunningham
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Mark Daniels
    Mark Daniels
    • Student
    • (uncredited)
    Jay Eaton
    Jay Eaton
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Julie Gibson
    Julie Gibson
    • Singer in Nightclub
    • (uncredited)
    Herschel Graham
    Herschel Graham
    • Nightclub Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Robert Homans
    Robert Homans
    • Policeman in Subway Train
    • (uncredited)
    Max Linder
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • W.S. Van Dyke
    • Writers
      • George Oppenheimer
      • Edmund L. Hartmann
      • Ogden Nash
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews29

    6.41K
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    Featured reviews

    8HotToastyRag

    So hilarious

    If you like quick, witty banter of the silver screen, or if you like Rosalind Russell in her fast-talking screwball comedies, you've got to rent the cute flic The Feminine Touch. I couldn't stop laughing, and I don't even like screwball comedies! The good news (for me) is that it's very light on the screwball. It's a pretty intelligent script that focuses on whether or not jealousy is good (or even necessary) for a marriage.

    Don Ameche is a stuffy professor with a knockout wife (Roz - if you don't think she's pretty, just cut her a little slack) that most of his students have crushes on. But he never gets jealous; he doesn't believe in it. In fact, he's written an entire tome on the subject. Roz is a little more hot-blooded than he, and she would love for him to punch out one of her admirers to show he still loves her. When Don's manuscript is finally noticed by a big-time publisher, the lovely assistant (Kay Francis) gives Roz something to be jealous of! While Don and Kay are in constant conference about his book, Kay's boss and boyfriend who refuses to settle down (Van Heflin) continually makes the moves on Roz.

    This movie is so funny, it's hard to point to just one favorite scene. I love when Don gets pressured by the dean of the college to give a football star a make-up exam. He assures him the test is easy to pass, because he "gave it to the janitor's eight-year-old son and he passed with flying colors". The test: given a wooden block and a piece of candy, which would you rather eat? I love seeing Van in the different role of the immature philanderer, always making up different phobias for attention. Don's comic timing is fantastic (not surprising, given his background on the radio), and there's no reason why he didn't take over as the head of all screwball comedies, instead of Melvyn Douglas or Cary Grant. Roz is hilarious as always, and she has physical and verbal comedy to show us her larger-than-life persona. Poor Kay is relegated to the "unwanted" one, but she keeps up with the other three in their pace and energy. For a hilarious evening after a hard week, rent this classic.
    6blanche-2

    Erratic screenplay hampers a good cast

    Any old film aficionado would be drawn to a film starring Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Van Heflin and Kay Francis, so it's no surprise that this poster tuned into "The Feminine Touch," a 1941 comedy. The story concerns a college professor, John Hathaway (Ameche) who has written a very intellectual book on jealousy and travels with his wife (Russell) to meet his publisher Elliot (Heflin) and editor Nellie (Francis). Elliot likes to play around, and Nellie is in love with him. Julie keeps trying to make her husband jealous, not by deed but by hints that a certain man likes her, for instance, and is he worried - thinking that a jealous outburst would be proof of his love. However, he trusts her unreservedly and never suspects her of anything. He's especially sure that despite Elliot's interest in her, Julie would never reciprocate - because Elliot has a beard, and Julie hates them.

    This film is a case of too many cooks, as this screenplay was worked over by several writers. The premise is flimsy, for starters, and I fear Russell is miscast. Rosalind Russell in films is a beautiful woman, but she has a strength and intelligence about her as well. It's not an ingénue beauty. In the world of "The Feminine Touch," despite her tailored suits, every man who meets her falls madly in love with her. I could have bought it if it had been Lana Turner. I'm not buying it here. Women like Russell are the "whole package" and men fall for her in a different way and probably after a conversation or two - not on sight. And then, to have a smart woman like Julie upset because her husband never gets jealous is ridiculous. It might bother an immature 18-year-old, but this character? The end of the film -- which comes about 15 minutes later than it should have - is the best part, as it turns into a more screwball comedy with Julie setting fire to Elliot's beard and other crazy things happening. Otherwise, the film drags on with too much dialogue. I'm not opposed to dialogue - All About Eve has a large amount of dialogue. This dialogue was superfluous, probably because a scene or two could have been tossed.

    Heflin proves himself as adept at comedy as he is at drama, Francis is delightful, as is Ameche, who makes a good professorial type. Someone mentioned the clothing - Francis wears one hat that looks like a rendition of the Mickey Mouse Club ears, except with taller ears and the entire hat covered in fur. It was one of the funniest things in the movie.
    5rupie

    odd

    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.
    6planktonrules

    Worth a look

    Don Ameche plays a very cerebral professor who avoids dealing with his wife (Rosalind Russell) by over-intellectualizing their relationship. While she does love him, his refusal to act like a human being irritates her to no end--especially when he never shows an ounce of jealousy, no matter what she does. Even when Rosalind spends time with her husband's publisher, the lecherous Van Heflin, Ameche refuses to act jealous and he takes his marriage for granted. At first, I found Russell's demands for jealousy to be petty, but after a while I wondered how any woman could live with the cold and annoying Ameche. Only later in the film when Ameche loosened up and showed his wife that he cared was everyone able to live happily ever after.

    This is a little comedy from MGM that tries very hard to entertain and generally does, though at times the humor does seem a tad forced. However, despite this and the shallowness of the script, the actors are fun to watch and the film has a certain kooky charm that make it a nice, though not especially deep, time-passer. Worth a look, but that's really about all.
    8jjnxn-1

    Kay's last A

    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.

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Don Ameche's first film for MGM. He had made a screen test there in 1935 and was rejected, but was signed the following year by 20th Century-Fox.
    • Quotes

      Nellie Woods: Sorry I'm not what you were expecting.

      Elliott Morgan: What makes you think I'm expecting anybody?

      Nellie Woods: What makes me think that dogs like liver?

      Elliott Morgan: I don't get the analogy, but I expect it's very clever. It so happens that you're wrong; there's no one coming.

      Nellie Woods: You're right. She's gone out with her husband.

      Elliott Morgan: [feigning confusion] Uh... who has?

      Nellie Woods: The liver.

    • Connections
      Features Le Magicien d'Oz (1939)
    • Soundtracks
      Jealous
      (uncredited)

      Music by Jack Little

      Lyrics by Dick Finch and Tommie Malie

      Sung by Julie Gibson

      Sung a cappella by Rosalind Russell

      [Played as background music during the opening and end credits; played as background music often; performed by the nightclub singer]

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 1941 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • All Woman
    • Filming locations
      • Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Loew's
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 37m(97 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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