Tonight's Movie: The Feminine Touch (1941) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

THE FEMININE TOUCH (1941) is an MGM romantic comedy available on DVD from the Warner Archive.

I first saw this film in 2007, and although I only found it mildly amusing, given the cast I thought it would be fun to take a fresh look at it after so many years.

The lightweight plot casts Don Ameche as John, a professor who travels to New York City hoping to sell his book on jealousy to a publisher, Elliott (Van Heflin).

The publisher's assistant Nellie (Kay Francis) zeroes in on the section of the book on romantic jealousy as something which might be marketable. The publisher, however, is more interested in John's wife Julie (Rosalind Russell). And Julie is nonplussed by her trusting husband's lack of jealousy...

The plot's not much, but it's still kind of fun, thanks to the two leading ladies. The casting of Russell and Francis is a bit curious as Russell was more typically cast as the kind of smart businesswoman played by Francis, but here she's a little bit of an airhead. On the flip side, Francis was often cast as an unhappily married woman, which is Russell's role in this four-way romance, but since this is a comedy she's not unhappy for long.

Another interesting thing about the casting of the leading ladies is that it can be a bit confusing when both actresses are in side profile, as they have identical coloring and similar hairstyles. That said, the movie is worth seeing in part for the ladies' hairstyles and hats -- at one point Francis wears a giant furred thing that must be seen to be believed. Both women are gorgeous, and Russell in particular was at the height of her beauty in the early '40s.

Ameche is pleasant if unremarkable as the placid husband. I'm typically a fan of Heflin's but his egotistical woman chaser is frankly mostly annoying. The script -- by Ogden Nash, George Oppenheimer, and Edmund L. Hartmann -- could have done more to make him more likeable and give the overall film a little more "zip," as the right talent is certainly in place.

The movie picks up speed in its second half, including a short but fun Dali-esque dream sequence in which Julie imagines John knocking out anyone who's interested in her. She's quite disappointed when she wakes up and realizes it was only a dream.

THE FEMININE TOUCH was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and filmed in black and white by Ray June. The supporting cast includes Gordon Jones, Granville Bates, Henry Daniell, Donald Meek, and Sidney Blackmer.

THE FEMININE TOUCH may only be middling entertainment, but at the same time it's pleasant spending 97 minutes with this cast. As much as I appreciate the Warner Archive's recent stellar Blu-ray releases, I do miss the days when we could count on a half dozen or so of these types of films being released by the Warner Archive on DVD each month.

The Warner Archive Collection DVD print is quite nice. The disc includes the trailer.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive DVDs may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection Amazon Store or from any online retailers where DVDs are sold.

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