Simply Perfect

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

What a whirlwind of a movie! Rosalind Russell portrays a fast-talking movie-agent who discovers that a meek college professor wrote a racy book and that he looks like the major character depicted in the book and she gets him to try out for the part in the film.While this is going on, Brian Aherne, as a magazine writer, pursues Russell continuously.The best part of the film is when after being at a Turkish bath with Aherne, the college professor experiences a total change in personality and goes after Russell since he has really fallen for her.Movie made during World War 11. What a great way to get everyone's mind off,if but temporary, from the real world.

I don't know how anyone cannot like 'What a Woman.' I thought it was a very funny, delightfully insane romp, made possible by the wonderful Roz Russell playing the role of a powerful comedic woman, a role that she plays better than anyone else, and that included Mss. Shearer, Harlow, and Stanwyck. The rest of the cast had a hard time keeping up with her, but mostly did. I had to suspend belief over the rush to the wedding near the end of the flic, and I needed a few more hints as to why Mr. Ahearn was falling in love with her. There were enough good lines for all concerned to make me give a hoot about the writing of a genre film hat had not quite become a genre.

seductive against the air of period. Rosalind Russell as axis of a nice comedy about success , a project and love in a mixture who respects classic rules of romantic comedy. that could be all. but it has a special dose of charm and that does it interesting in not ordinary manner. the strong woman, the charming , wise, sarcastic reporter and the innocent Prince Charming, the chaos and the silence, the feelings and the duty as ingredients of a story, like many others, about the metamorphose and real happiness. the mark of period, the brilliant Russell, the splendid performance of Brian Aherne are pillars of a film who , far to be memorable is an inspired choice for remind the flavor of a lost time.

W.A.W. opens up in a magazine publishing office, where they are discussing how to interview the latest best-selling author, who no-one has ever met. Flash to Carol Ainsley (R. Russell, nominated for four Oscars), who is the agent for the un-seen author. She is determined to track down the author (played by Willard Parker), and doesn't realize the can of worms that revealing him may open... Brian Aherne is "Pepper", a magazine editor who is writing a story on Ainsley, and keeps popping up where-ever Ainsley goes. For most of the film, he is sitting in chairs, waiting for Ainsley to go through the doorway, or come back from where-ever she has been.Keep an eye out for some fun supporting characters - Carol's assistant is played by Grady Sutton is a few years after making those hilarious W.C. Fields films. The office secretary is played by Norma Varden, who was so great as Lady Beekman in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds". The mens dormitory clerk is Chester Clute, who looks and sounds just like Mel Blanc. Unfortunately, all these actors have very few lines; given a few more lines, they could have spiced the film up a bit. Russell does a great job, and carries the film well. It's a lot of fun to watch, although it's more plain and simple than I was expecting; after seeing her in "Friday", I was hoping for more plot twists. She has the same, strong, fast-talking personality that she had in "His Girl Friday". It was refreshing to watch an upbeat, war-time movie without a single mention of the war. Directed by Irving Cummings, who had directed Shirley Temple in four films in the 1930s. I hope Turner Classics starts showing this more often.