User reviews

Strange, strange, strange. This does not feel anything like a typical Hollywood movie from 1941. At times, it feels almost like a proto-Woody Allen film, talky and intellectual and neutotic in a very Woody-like sort of way. And then there were a couple of moments when I thought of 60s-style European auteur cinema, especially Fellini. And then there are moments of standard Hollywood-style screwball comedy. And then there was that utterly bizarre and hilarious dream sequence with the Dali-esque set design--I was reminded of that dream sequence from Hitchcock's Spellbound.

Three different writers are credited with the screenplay, and inconsistency in writing styles seems glaringly apparent as the film plays out. Subtle and witty at times, the writing becomes painfully clumsy and forced at others, especially when it goes for a broader style of comedy or when it tries to advance the plot.

I don't know the story behind the making of this film, but it feels very tampered-with, like maybe it started with a clever and original screenplay, but the studio execs didn't trust it and so they hired a couple of hack writers to come in and dumb it down for the masses. It feels like it ALMOST could have been something of a classic. It's still very worth watching, though. The storyline is interesting and, in a way, seems about 30 years ahead of its time. I'd be particularly interested to hear a feminist scholar's take on the film.

Do women really prefer a caveman to an intellectual, a protector to a partner? Despite the feminist movement, it still seems to hold true. Perhaps I should grow a beard.

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.

This film was made in the days when dialogue was king, and this dialogue requires the viewer to pay attention. There are elements of Rosalind Russel's performance in "His Girl Friday" with stinging repartee delivered subtly by the four stars. Good acting is required here too, because much is conveyed through the actors eyes. Scenes with Russell, Francis, Heflin, and Ameche all on screen at once are a real treat, and no one upstages anyone else. I would guess they had fun making this funny picture, which is underrated by many people who do not follow the actors' exchanges.

Look too, for Robert Ryan who is uncredited in his early pre-war days, and an uncredited song by a barely 21 year-old Peggy Lee, who had just joined Benny Goodman's Band; and oh, my, you can hear her rich, cool, perfect pitch starting to come alive.

Very charming early 40's romantic screwball comedy. Don Ameche is a psychology professor at Digby College, which he decides to leave after being asked to pass a dimwitted football player so Digby can win an upcoming game. Prof. Hathaway is now free to publish his book on his theories on marital jealousy. Only he doesn't expect to be smitten with his editor, Kay Francis and likewise his wife, Rosalind Russell with Kay Francis' partner, Van Heflin. It's not heavy on plot; rather, its forte is in its snappy dialog, especially from Russell and Francis.

Here is one thing I especially love about 40's/50's romantic comedies: the bachelor pads, such as Van Heflin's here! They're always large and usually have a sunken living room with lots of cool furniture. You go up three steps and behold! A grand piano! As if this weren't enough, Heflin's also got a log cabin retreat outside the city (NY). Other outstanding 1940's visuals: Kay Francis' outrageous hats. Francis looks even better here than in the 30's. She even reminded me somewhat of Sean Young in BLADE RUNNER. Other highlights include the make-up exam Prof. Hathaway gives to Rubber-Legs, the football player in question at the beginning, at the request of the dean. The questions are deliberately idiotic, but Rubber-Legs bows out with a headache! For more abuse of football players at the hands of professors I recommend Disney's THE MONKEY'S UNCLE (24 years later). Then there's the scene in the publisher's office where Ameche and Russell find claustrophobic Elliott Morgan (Heflin) locked in a closet by Nellie (Francis)! Funny seeing a bearded Heflin through the keyhole. There's also a lot of coffee preparing and drinking in this movie, and some kind of statement about beards. At the beginning the football players are wearing beards until they defeat their opponent. Later, Francis declares that Elliott is hiding behind a beard for security (??) We're also treated to some 1940's feminism spouted by Don Ameche and scoffed at by Francis, who says those are the women (overly independent) who are alone at night.

This is a sprightly comedy with sturdy comedic performances from all. Give it a look - you'll feel good when you do!

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.

MGM put together a nice quartet of stars almost like they were remaking Libeled Lady. Not as classic as that film, The Feminine Touch boasts the talents of Don Ameche, Rosalind Russell, Van Heflin, and Kay Francis.

Ameche is a psychology professor who insists on some academic effort even by lunkhead football players like Gordon Jones. He quits and takes an unpublished manuscript about jealousy to NYC and wolfish publisher Van Heflin.

The item is a dull psychological treatise, but with a little help it could get racy and scandalous. That's what Heflin sees, but he also likes what he sees in Russell. And Heflin's girl Friday Kay Francis thinks she could make the trip to the Big Apple interesting for Ameche.

The influence of Libeled Lady is clearly evident with the quartet getting in some hilarious situations. Ameche while demonstrating to Russell the techniques of subway mashing gets himself arrested for same and Russell left to fend for herself with a real masher. Also Ameche has an experience with an outboard motorboat similar to William Powell's with a fish in Libeled Lady. The final 'fight' scene with Ameche and Heflin is also a homage to Libeled Lady.

This screen comedy with its classic Hollywood stars is a perfect example of what the big studios could turn out in those good old days.

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.

I am second to none in my admiration for Roz Russell, but she was clearly second choice for this role. The wife is supposed to slay men at first sight and make them behave like idiots. Sorry, but that's not Roz. It seems tailor made for Hedy Lamarr, who would have been at the height of her beauty in 1941. Even the Adrian wardrobe looks designed with Lamarr in mind. Someone above mentioned Lana Turner, but she would have been too young at this time. Also, Roz plays it like a half-wit, something Lamarr wouldn't have to resort to, as a war-bride who had trouble with American idioms and customs. Ameche, Heflin and Francis are terrific as usual, as is the rest of the supporting cast. And I loved the production design, van Heflin's couch and lamps in his NY apartment are particularly terrifying, as is Kay Francis's "beaver-mouse ears" hat. And I LOVE that Dali-esquire dream sequence. Someone ought to do a compilation of the Dali-inspired dream sequences from the period. There were lots.

This is a hilarious comedy! The whole cast is excellent - I was really impressed with Van Heflin who I'd never seen in comedy before. He was great, esp. at the ending when Don Ameche (who I ADORE) is chasing him around a tree! That is when I literally, was rolling on the floor laughing. Maybe I'm easily amused but it has to be seen. These guys are just SO funny! Rosalind Russell as usual, is great as Ameche's wife who tries to make her husband jealous and Kay Francis, who is always very good, shows she was an able comedienne. Her hairdo's and hats are another source of amusement. Supposedly Robert Ryan has a bit part in this but I didn't spot him!

Check out Gordon Meek's characters name. It's another little joke! ;-)

It's a pleasure to report that THE FEMININE TOUCH gets just the right touch from an excellent cast. Roz Russell is at her most enjoyable as a jealous wife whose more sensible hubby (Don Ameche) has written a book they are both trying to promote that deals exclusively with male/female relationships in and out of marriage.

Complications ensue when Kay Francis turns out to be the woman editor who has to work hard with Ameche on his book--but wants him to emphasize the jealousy angle. Then there's Van Heflin as a playboy with a huge bachelor pad who has designs on Russell.

The supporting roles are well played by Gordon Jones (as a brainless football hero), Donald Woods (especially funny in the second half of the story) and Grant Withers as a college dean.

It's all stylishly written and directed, giving great opportunities for Ameche and Russell to do what they do best--give and take some punchy dialog with flair and wit.

None of it is the least bit plausible, but it's screwball fun from beginning to end. Even Van Heflin lightens up enough to enjoy playing the bearded man who dares to shave off his beard and arouses Ameche's instant wrath.

Summing up: Funny and enjoyable.

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.

Rambling and over-long comedy about a married couple (Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche) who argue over the idea of jealousy in marriage. He's a college professor who has written a dull book without having a clue what real jealousy is; she's the little wifey who secretly pines for a caveman type. They get involved with an unmarried publisher and his editor (Van Heflin, Kay Francis) who throw a monkey wrench into the marriage. It seems he's too flighty and she wants his full attention. Everything comes to a head when Heflin runs off to his island in the Adirondacks, only to be followed by Russell and then by Ameche and Francis. There, the men duke it out and the gals get down to a cat fight. Of course this silliness settles everything and both couples end up happy.

Sometimes way too talky and at other times just plain silly, but it's all quite watchable thanks to the four stars. The slapstick fight between Ameche and Heflin is the low point. But there's a dream sequence a la Salvador Dali that is quite funny.

Others in the cast include Donald Meek, Sidney Blackmer, Cecil Cunningham, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Jones, Anne O'Neal, Bernard Nedell, Henry Daniell, Julie Gibson as the singer (no, it's not Peggy Lee), and Robert Ryan as an extra playing a cop.

Rosalind Russell and Kay Francis come off best ... no surprise.

Jealousy is an artifact from the days of the cavemen. Modern man, rational man, has no use for its emotional baggage. So says Professor John Hathaway (Don Ameche), who leaves his teaching position to publish his book on the topic of jealousy. His wife, Julie (Rosalind Russell), backs him and supports his theories, but his total lack of jealousy infuriates her at times.

Publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin) pursues Julie, to the consternation of Nellie (Kay Francis), who is stuck on Elliott. Julie is not interested in the goateed lothario, but she is upset that John totally trusts her and feels no jealousy. The result is a series of unpredictable events.

This film was released just before the U. S. involvement in WWII. It has an unusual narrative, perhaps because three writers wrote the screenplay. Perhaps one wrote the first draft, a second fine-tuned it, and a third added his own touches. The story feels choppy, the tone is inconsistent, and the characters sometimes do things out of character. Plot points are often loosely connected.

And the script would have us believe that all men, without exception, find Julie irresistible. Rosalind Russell was a huge star in 1941, but this premise is a stretch.

The odd mix of screwball comedy with philosophical discussions of fidelity and jealousy is strange.

Give credit to Russell and Francis, in particular, for effectively navigating their ways through the confusing emotional journeys of their characters. Otherwise, this film would be a total mess. The slight mess that it is does not prevent some enjoyment of the film.

John Hathaway (Don Ameche) is a professor at Digby College and married to Julie (Rosalind Russell). He can't quite give an easy pass to the football star, and quits his job. He wants to publish his scientific book about his belief in ignoring jealousy within a modern relationship. Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin) is the publisher and Nellie Woods (Kay Francis) is his bossy assistant.

I guess John is the one with the feminine touch. That's how his idea was seen back in the day. He's more a modern creation. I can see the old time audience looking at him sideways. Don Ameche and Rosalind Russell seem to have good fun combative chemistry. She should be more a country gal although her views are probably majority mainstream. He should be a clueless science nerd. This turns into a weird love quadrangle. Elliott gets a bit rapey. A modern audience would need him to dial it back. I do like this group. The situation comedy is convoluted, but I'm willing to go with it. The last act runs on a little too long. John and Julie should just kiss and ride off into the sunset during that fight at the dock instead of doing a bad slapstick bit with the boat. I don't know if this has any remakes, but I would like somebody try this premise again.

Don Ameche is a college professor of psychology who's told to help pass a flunking student, so he can play Saturday's game. This only adds to his frustration of bored, inattentive students, and he quits. He has written a book about jealousy, which a publishing company has shown interest in publishing it. He and wife Rosalind Russell go off to New York to meet the publisher. But, Roz is a human female wife, who wants her husband to act alive and jealous, and Don is too reasonable to be reduced to such feelings, which have no scientific basis for them. The publisher Van Heflin takes a liking to Roz, but his secretary Kay Francis has been pining for him all this time. Such is the zany premise in this feel-good comedy. As usual, Roz is at her best with quick lines and her short temper, demanding Don do something about Van. And, a misunderstanding on a bus gets Don in jail. Kay Francis is great, in this escape from her usual fare of melodramas in which she is suffering from shame and scandal and doing and dying for love of her man. Van Heflin is a hoot as a neurotic, who won't let Roz out of his sight and who only has one thing on his mind. The cast winds up on an island, where things get really hysterical. If you want to discover a new screwball comedy, after seeing all of Cary Grant's, then discover The Feminine Touch and see what trouble it gets you.

'The Feminine Touch' sounded like my kind of film on paper. It had a nice concept and looked appetising. As many people may know already, what has always interested me and drawn me in into seeing any film, regardless of decade or genre, is a promising cast or one actor in particular. A promising cast this film had, Rosalind Russell, Kay Francis, Don Ameche and Van Heflin (when he is in the right role) have all done great work elsewhere and were promising on paper.

Sadly, while still watchable, 'The Feminine Touch' could have been so much better. Have seen quite a few odd films recently, but 'The Feminine Touch' has to be up there with the oddest. Not awful by any stretch, but considering the talent involved it had the potential to be a great film and instead isn't even a good one. If it works for people, that's cool as there is enough to it to not be too hard to understand any appeal it may have to others. In my mind though, it is more understandable if the film doesn't click for people.

Of course there are merits, otherwise it wouldn't be called watchable by me. It looks great, with the one exception of that unintentionally creepy hat (one might consider that a bit of a nit-pick though). The photography and settings though are the epitome of sophisticated, colourful elegence. A bit standout is the dream sequence, a wildly imaginative sequence in all senses and not just visually (not one to forget in a hurry). The music is sumptuous, in unmistakable Franz Waxman style, without being too melodramatic or intrusive. There are witty and charming moments sprinkled throughout and one does wish that there were more and that they came more consistently.

What primarily saves 'The Feminine Touch' is the cast. Ameche completely succeeds in making his somewhat idiotic character just about work, because he was just so charming and suave as he often was in general. Francis sparkles like a shining star and Heflin surprisingly doesn't play his rather neurotic part too heavily, which would have been so easy to do.

Didn't think though that Russell was quite as strong and personally was a little more conflicted on her, she gives her absolute all but somehow the role didn't seem quite right for her. It is agreed that it it was almost as if she was not the first choice initially and was brought in as replacement. The script is drastically uneven, which brings down 'The Feminine Touch' by quite a bit. There is wit and sophistication in parts but more often than not there could have been much more than both, and it felt over-stuffed and like there was more than one writer with different and clashing styles were involved.

It, the script that is (though the story applies too) also could have done with a tightening up and trim, the film is too talk-heavy and in quite a waffling way which bogs down the momentum for a film that was already suffering from having not enough to it in terms of story. A story that furthermore could have done with an opening up of the drama and felt like stagy, and one that is very predictable and gets excessively silly to the point of implausibility. The cast do their best to make the characters work and have great chemistry together, but the characters are pretty shallow generally. The attitudes are interesting for the time but seem a bit out of date now.

Overall, watchable but odd. 5/10

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.

"The Feminine Touch" is one of the funniest and best acted sophisticated comedies I've ever seen. This wacko film is a mixture of hilarious types of comedy -- screwball, romance, slapstick and satire. It is replete throughout with one-line zingers, and the ending comes with riotously funny antics. It has so much humor, and moves on so quickly, that it's easy to miss much of the comedy. Thanks to modern technology, one is able to stop and backup, and replay scenes or segments that were missed because of laughter from the preceding moment. I just watched it all the way through three times - laughing and chuckling often.

How could a 1941 movie of this quality escape the attention of a lifelong movie fan for so long? It was made by MGM, a giant among the Hollywood studios of the day. It has a cast with four major stars of the day - including two male lead actors in Don Ameche and Van Heflin, who would become Academy Award winners; and two leading actresses in Rosalind Russel and Kay Francis. Russell would have four Oscar nominations in her career and win five Golden Globes. So, why was this movie not well known or heard of before the advent of DVDs at the end of the 20tdh century?

Well, I suspect that this film was a victim of circumstances. It didn't have a specific release date, but was released in October of 1941. That was just a few weeks before the bombing of Pear Harbor on December 7th and the U. S. entry into WW II. But that fall, with the war underway and intensifying around the globe, and tensions high among Americans about joining or staying out of the war, movie attendance had dropped off. People weren't in the mood for laughter. My guess is that with this downturn, MGM decided to pull the film after its first few weeks. And then, after Pearl Harbor and the U. S. entry into the war, this film was put on the shelf. Then, with the long years of the war and the recovery afterward, this movie just slipped through the cracks at MGM. But, I bought the DVD recently, and have added this as one of my favorite comedies, to my family film library.

The plot is about a small college professor of psychology who is fed up with the politics of brawn over brain in higher education. So he quits, and he and his wife move to New York City to find a publisher for the book he has just written. He finds a firm, but naturally, his highly educational approach with language seldom spoken by the common man, needs to be reworked for marketing to the public. In the next few weeks that it takes to finish the project, the intermingling of the couple with the publishing house owner and his lady manager lead to barrels of laughter.

The main theme throughout is jealousy; and it has all sorts of sidebars. Its satire spoofs college priorities, the field of psychology itself, the publishing world, the big city party scene, and more. Each of the four leads plays her or his part superbly, playing off one another. Don Ameche is the idealistic and lofty college professor of psychology, John Hathaway, who's also the smug husband of Julie Hathaway. Rosalind Russell plays her part perfectly. As John's wife, she is at the heart of this film and much of the comedy revolves around or involves her. The one thing Julie especially can't stand is beards -- men with beards. Van Heflin's Elliott Morgan is the ecocentric publisher who fancies himself a sophisticate with a neurosis and any number of phobias. He is a wolf, with an eye for attractive women. And he also has a beard. Finally, Kay Francis plays Nellie Woods, who runs Morgan's publishing house. She has longed for Morgan for years, and even though he has proposed two times, she won't have him as the messed up character he has become.

The people they associate with in the nightlife and social spheres of New York City and the literary world range from an egomaniacal critic, to an alcoholic attorney, with hordes of other drinkers and party-goers galore. All of this together makes for much comedy. The humor in this ingenious screenplay runs the gamut from screwy, to slapstick, with many laughs even at something so silly as a symbolic name. One of the longtime funny supporting actors of the early to mid-20th century, Donald Meek plays a lake marina boat captain, Makepeace Liveright. His short role in a couple of scenes toward the end is riotously funny. Among some of the slapstick is the Hathaway's getting separated in the subway system and John getting arrested as a masher. But, first, Professor Hathaway has to leave his college teaching post, with a very funny opening and spoofing of college athletics. The last quarter of the film is one of the best and funniest, long drawn out endings of any film I've ever seen.

And one scene about a third of the way into the movie, I suspect was the writing contribution of the poet, Ogden Nash. Old-timers may recall seeing Nash on TV in the mid-20th century. Occasionally, late night TV news would sign off with a short poem about some current news, sporting event or holiday, that Ogden Nash had written and would read on the air. The scene that smacks of Nash's hand, is in the nightclub with the Hathaway's and Elliott and Nellie at dinner. The singer (played by Julie Gibson) comes out and everyone's attention is on her as she sings a song about jealousy, with hilarious rhymes.

For samples of humorous dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the film.

I happen to watch this movie by accident one day and it really caught my attention somehow. Rosalind Russell's performance as the wife to the author was excellent. The movie was funny and entertaining, and I liked the ending how the husbands were chasing each other. The story is about a husband who wrote a book on jealousy, and there is a bit of a love conflict between two couples. I gave this movie a 9 out of 10.

A surprisingly good movie and surprisingly relevant! Expectations about relationships, women not feeling appreciated by their partners (or desired partners), consent, trust, misunderstandings about romantic interests, expectations regarding women's happiness... it all seemed downright timely for a 1941 film. The one liners are hilarious and delivered by pros. Of course Rosalind Russell is going to be good, no surprise - but Kay Francis is JUST AS GOOD! I have never really liked her - but in this, she's got great timing and she fits the part perfectly. She sparkles! Oh how I wish she'd made more comedies! It's the women who shine in this film, though Don Ameche and Van Heflin are terrific too (and crazy handsome).