Rosalind Russell

  • Roy Del Ruth – It Had to Happen (1936)

    Roy Del Ruth1931-1940DramaUSA
    It Had to Happen (1936)
    It Had to Happen (1936)

    A poor boy rises to power in politics. When the banker husband of his secret love takes money and flees the country, he replaces the lost amount and becomes implicated in the crime.Read More »

  • Ida Lupino – The Trouble with Angels (1966)

    USA1961-1970ComedyIda Lupino

    Quote:
    Cinema has long made the hallowed halls of education one of its most oft utilized settings, whether real (Eastside High School) or fictional (Rydell High School), of this world (Greendale Community College) or existing in another realm (Hogwarts). But where most are set in public schools or universities, it is the boarding school that often makes for a more interesting subset of school-based films for the opportunity to create a more instant feel for community and togetherness, whether in countless Anime fare, dramatic tales set in the past, or more action-oriented movies like Toy Soldiers, one of this reviewer’s favorite guilty pleasures. Director Ida Lupino’s 1966 film The Trouble with Angels, set in an all-girls Catholic boarding school, is a classic family-friendly Comedy that might show its age in 2019 but that remains true to the essential characters and the realities of life in one of cinema’s more endearing and possibility-filled essential locations.Read More »

  • Alexander Hall – My Sister Eileen (1942)

    1941-1950Alexander HallClassicsComedyScrewball ComedyUSA

    Rosalind Russell plays aspiring Ohio journalist Ruth Sherwood, who heads for New York to seek her fortune, accompanied by her sister, Eileen (Janet Blair), an aspiring actress. The girls take a basement apartment in Greenwich Village, which becomes a gathering place for several oddball characters, including a football jock (Gordon Jones), his silly wife (Miss Jeff Donnell) and an eternally drunken fortuneteller (June Havoc). Ruth tries to sell her writing, but is advised by a friendly magazine editor (Brian Aherne) that she’ll never succeed unless she writes from her own experiences. Meanwhile, Eileen is continually getting in trouble due to her ingenuous attractiveness.Read More »

  • Mervyn LeRoy – A Majority of One (1961)

    1961-1970ClassicsDramaMervyn LeRoyUSA

    Mrs. Jacoby, a Brooklyn widow whose only son was killed by the Japanese in World
    War II, reluctantly agrees to accompany her daughter, Alice, and her son-in-law, Jerry
    Black, on a trip to Japan, where Jerry is to help negotiate a trade agreement. En route by
    ship, Mrs. Jacoby’s resentment of the Japanese subsides when she meets Mr. Asano, a
    Japanese industrialist whose family also was struck by tragedy during the war. Their
    friendship ends, however, when Jerry suspects that Mr. Asano, who is also a
    negotiating member of the trade committee, is ingratiating himself with his mother-in-law
    for political gain.Read More »

  • George Cukor – The Women (1939)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyGeorge CukorUSA

    Synopsis:
    Wealthy Mary Haines is unaware her husband is having an affair with shopgirl Crystal Allen. Sylvia Fowler and Edith Potter discover this from a manicurist and arrange for Mary to hear the gossip. On the train taking her to a Reno divorce Mary meets the Countess and Miriam (in an affair with Fowler’s husband). While they are at Lucy’s dude ranch, Fowler arrives for her own divorce and the Countess meets fifth husband-to-be Buck. Back in New York, Mary’s ex is now unhappily married to Crystal who is already in an affair with Buck. When Sylvia lets this story slip at an exclusive nightclub, Crystal brags of her plans for a still wealthier marriage, only to find the Countess is the source of all Buck’s money. Crystal must return to the perfume counter and Mary runs back to her husband.Read More »

  • Howard Hawks – His Girl Friday (1940)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyHoward HawksScrewball ComedyUSA

    Synopsis:
    Having been away for four months, Hildy Johnson walks into the offices of the New York City based The Morning Post, where she is a star reporter, to tell her boss, editor Walter Burns, that she is quitting. The reason for her absence was among other things to get a Reno divorce, from, of all people, Walter, who admits he was a bad husband. Hildy divorced Walter largely because she wanted more of a home life, whereas Walter saw her more as a driven hard-boiled reporter than subservient homemaker. Hildy has also come to tell Walter that she is taking the afternoon train to Albany, where she will be getting married tomorrow to staid straight-laced insurance agent, Bruce Baldwin, with whose mother they will live, at least for the first year. Read More »

  • William Keighley – No Time for Comedy (1940)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyScrewball ComedyUnited KingdomWilliam Keighley

    Synopsis:
    Playwright Gaylord Esterbrook scores a hit with his first Broadway play, both with the critics and with leading lady Linda Paige. He and Linda are happily married until a patroness of the arts convinces Esterbrook to forget about comedy and concentrate on writing a tragedy. The end result nearly destroys his career and his marriage.Read More »

  • Daniel Mann – Five Finger Exercise (1962)

    1961-1970Daniel MannDramaUSA

    Plot Synopsis by Mark Deming
    A distinguished cast highlights this film adaptation of a stage drama by Peter Shaffer. Stanley Harrington (Jack Hawkins) is a self-made businessman incapable of expressing his emotions or compromising with others; his wife Louise (Rosalind Russell) imagines herself an intellectual, though her intelligence is more of an affectation than a reality. Stanley and Louise hire Walter (Maximilian Schell), a teacher from Germany, as a tutor for their two teenage children, effeminate Philip (Richard Beymer) and high-strung Pamela (Annette Gorman). Walter tries to ingratiate himself with the family, with little success; when he tries to get to know Louise better, she imagines that he’s fallen in love with her, and she’s deeply hurt when he confesses that he instead sees her as a motherly figure. Walter is eventually driven to the brink of suicide, which forces the family to reconsider their attitudes toward Walter and each other.Read More »

  • W.S. Van Dyke – The Feminine Touch (1941)

    1941-1950ClassicsComedyUSAW.S. Van Dyke

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    Disgusted by having to pass “pinhead” football heroes in order for his college to soar to football victory, Professor John Hathaway (Don Ameche) takes his leave of Digby College. With his wife Julie (Rosalind Russell) in tow, Hathaway sets out to conquer Manhattan’s literary circles, his scholarly manuscript on the subject of “jealousy” tucked under his arm in the romantic comedy The Feminine Touch (1941).Read More »

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