Tell It to the Judge

The usual misunderstandings and bickering between husband and wife keep things adrift in TELL IT TO THE JUDGE, a comedy that actually sparkles once in awhile but is sometimes too trite to be more than a passable screwball comedy.

The most charming sequence involves Russell and Cummings finding themselves on the doorstep of a lighthouse run by CLEM BEAVER and having to stay the night, sleeping apart, with Cummings forced to spend much of the night shooing away the huge dog that takes a liking to him. But most of the time, the comedy gets bogged down in a series of misunderstandings that could easily have been cleared up if somebody told the truth once in awhile.

ROSALIND RUSSELL, as the judge trying to protect her reputation, does her usual fine job with a comic flair that has her handling fast dialog with her usual dexterity. But in this case, it's ROBERT CUMMINGS who gets some of the best moments, proving how adept he was as the bumbling kind of man who gets caught up in screwy situations.

The breezy script has them fighting throughout before the misunderstandings can be cleared up. MARIE McDONALD and GIG YOUNG are thoroughly wasted in supporting roles, but it doesn't matter because most of the comedy is carried by ROBERT CUMMINGS in one of his best light comedy roles. GIG YOUNG does manage to be amusing in a couple of well played sequences but fortunately had better roles in romantic comedies later on in his career.

Passes the time pleasantly enough with some nice chemistry between Russell and Cummings.

a nice film. seductive for the flavor of "40. and for Robert Cummings. for naive story and the amusing scenes. and, sure, for the unrealistic script. short, a nice film about a love story not original as duel between him and her but for few scenes who are good chances to remain, for long time, memorable. one of the temptations, at first sigh, could be the presence of Rosalind Russell. unfortunately, only at first sigh. because her performance has two sides - too loud, too bizarre in front with the partner work. but , in essence, it could be perceived as a page of history. this is the key of a charming film about the fight in couple.

Thin comedy rests solely on the appeal of the stars, and Rosalind Russell and Robert Cummings are a very companionable screen-team. She's a smart, sharp, yet somewhat clumsy lady lawyer--being nominated for judgeship--whose career may be hindered by her association with Cummings, the no-goodnik ex-husband still in love with her. Some funny set-pieces (such as Roz's bit involving a lipstick mistake) and a predictably sunny, smooth supporting performance by Gig Young as a dashing Romeo make it tolerable, but the script and characters are really second hand. There's a curious, but ridiculous skiing sequence that serves no purpose (except to make Cummings look foolish) and Norman Foster's direction is balky. ** from ****

I watched this film again last night and turned in for the night in a thoroughly good mood. Not a character out of place, the players were perfectly chosen for their roles and on top of that, everyone is terrifically likable! Comments regarding thin plots or unnecessary scenes be darned, this film accomplishes what it sets out to do. Tell It To The Judge provides 87 mirthful minutes of diversion, taking the viewer from Washington D.C., to Miami and all the way back to the Adirondacks for it's mixed up, misunderstood and downright happy ending.

Probably my favorite romantic comedy, sharp dialogue, crazy twists, adorable characters and all.

Rosalind Russell is the Judge in "Tell it to the Judge," a 1949 film also starring Bob Cummings, Marie McDonald and Gig Young. Russell plays Marsha Meredith, a recently divorced woman up for a judgeship, encouraged in her career by her judge grandfather (Harry Davenport). The ex-husband, however, Pete Webb (Cummings) wants her back. The two are still in love. The divorce was basically a misunderstanding - Webb was working with a beautiful blond witness (McDonald) and Marsha mistook it for something else. Even though it puts her career in jeopardy, Marsha remarries Pete. On their wedding night, her grandfather kidnaps Pete so that Marsha thinks he's up to his old tricks. She then takes off and announces to the press that she's married to someone else, and makes up a name. When Alexander (Gig Young), a man she met previously appears, she has him play the part of her husband.

This is a typical screwball comedy centering around the struggle that the independent woman has between being a career person and a wife - and apparently back then, it was one or the other. I thought Russell was fine as Marsha, unlike another reviewer - I've seen her miscast, and I didn't think she was this time - but I agree with another remark the poster made, that Bob Cummings steals the movie. Cummings is thought of as a bland film actor, and perhaps he was. What made him a tremendous television star was his sense of comedy, which he didn't get to use much in films but which was his strength. Here he gets to show it off, and a few years later, he made his mark in television.

A fun movie, not earth-shattering, as films were going through a difficult transition. So apparently were women, and in the '40s, they lost the career battle, only to pick it up again a couple of decades later.