The Feminine Touch | |
---|---|
Directed by | W.S. Van Dyke |
Written by | George Oppenheimer Edmund L. Hartmann Ogden Nash |
Produced by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
Starring | Rosalind Russell Don Ameche Kay Francis |
Cinematography | Ray June |
Edited by | Albert Akst |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Feminine Touch is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis and Van Heflin. [1] [2] Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer it is in the screwball comedy tradition. [3] The film's sets were designed by the art director Cedric Gibbons.
College professor John Hathaway (Don Ameche) is writing a book about jealousy, and how he doesn't believe in it. He isn't the least bit perturbed, for example, when his lovely wife Julie (Rosalind Russell) is the object of desire in the eyes of the school's football star, Rubber Legs Ryan (Gordon Jones).
John goes to New York to meet with publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin), and meets associate Nellie Woods (Kay Francis), who loves Elliott, but can't get him to commit. Elliott is infatuated with John's wife Julie, but after a while, he realizes that she is faithful to her husband. Julie, though, continues to be irked at John's complete lack of jealousy.
A misunderstanding leads to John being placed under arrest. Elliott's failure to help him or to contact lawyer Freddie Bond, as promised, is maddening to Julie, who wants John to knock his block off. She also catches John and Nellie in an embrace, and turns red with jealous rage, which puzzles John because they were merely celebrating his book sale.
Nellie's threat to quit finally gets Elliott to propose, but one day, John finally explodes and strikes him, which leads to a fight between the two women, too. By the time a total stranger calls his wife "sugar" on the street, John is ready to come up swinging.
Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged, and the two engage in a humorous battle of the sexes.
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Catherine Rosalind Russell was an American actress, model, comedian, screenwriter, and singer, known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), opposite Cary Grant, as well as for her portrayals of Mame Dennis in the 1956 stage and 1958 film adaptations of Auntie Mame, and Rose in Gypsy (1962). A noted comedienne, she won all five Golden Globes for which she was nominated. Russell won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1953 for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress four times during her career before being awarded a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1973.
Claire Trevor was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Key Largo (1948), and received nominations for her roles in The High and the Mighty (1954) and Dead End (1937). Trevor received top billing, ahead of John Wayne, for Stagecoach (1939).
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Tell It to the Judge is a 1949 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Foster and starring Rosalind Russell as a divorcee who tries to get back her ex-husband, played by Robert Cummings.
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Married Bachelor is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Robert Young, Ruth Hussey and Felix Bressart. It was produced by Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with a screenplay written by future studio head Dore Schary.
The Feminine Touch may refer to:
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