Why Rosalind Russell's greatness has been so little appreciated is beyond me. The marvelous grand dame Russell is the epitome of brilliance, vigor and poise, always larger than life, as her courageous return to the stage conquering arthritis well shows. In fact the only small problem with this fantastic lady playing Mrs. Pollifax, is that her elegance and power are a bit at odds with the sweet, bumbling nature of the novel's character.
I love the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries nearly as much as I do beloved Rosalind, having read them many times, and so can see the slight difficulty, but as wonderful as Mrs. Pollifax's character is, and as absolutely phenomenal as dear Rosalind always is, the difficulty of fit is easy to overlook for the sheer joy of seeing two of my very favorite ladies merged as one for the occasion. The fact that Rosalind wrote the thing as well as starring in it (the movie, not the book) proves her excellence as if it needed any proof.
One of the superior characteristics of this "Mrs. Pollifax - Spy," versus what I've heard of Angela Lansbury's "Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" is that I seem to recall that this one more nearly follows the "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" book, whereas the latter, despite having the same title, is a mixture of at least one more of the novels (one being "A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax" if the Swiss clinic is any clue), which helps to confuse the plot even more, as if Mrs. Pollifax weren't always inviting confusion just by being there! I'd probably love the latter too, so I don't mean too much criticism, but I much prefer having just one book's plot versus the confusion and dilution of piecing more than one book together, but most of all, as wonderful as dear, elegant Angela Lansbury is, there will never be another Rosalind Russell.
