What a Woman (1943)

Lack of good storyline.

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The Rosalind Russell stereotype of the high hat business executive/lady boss gets probably its most tiresome plot. There's the macho man she despises (Brian Aherne), the cultured man she respects (Willard Parker) and the one she falls in love with. Who could that possibly be? It takes over 90 minutes for her to get to the final choice, and along the way, she cracks wise, dresses glamorously and fights the stereotype of what a war era woman should be. Even if women got to run things while the men were "over there", something tells me that the Rosalind Russell archetype was an overachiever long before women on the swing shift flexed their muscle and insisted, "We can do it!"Russell works as a publishing executive who discovers that mild mannered college professor Parker is a best selling author using a pseudonym. Fellow publisher Aherne keeps stalking them, gives Rosalind the worst of times, and makes smoke come out of her ears due to his insensitivity. But where there's smoke, there's fire, reuniting the stars of "My Sister Eileen" and keeping them working in the same industry. So Aherne and Russell talk fast, fight over the silliest things, and yet as well intended as it is, it just isn't all that funny, proving that lightning doesn't always strike twice. Roz has a great outburst towards the end, but that doesn't change the fact that the story is stale, unbelievable and mostly dull

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.

Rosalind Russell seemed to play a bazillion roles over the years in which she played high-powered yet rather sexless ladies. So, when you see her in "What a Woman!" playing exactly this sort of character once again, you have a strong sense of déjà vu. This means if you are an old movie fan like me, this film seemed rather clichéd because this topic has been done too often...and done better.The film begins with Rosalind playing an executive at a major publishing house. She has a very successful author working for her and there is talk of making a movie of the man's book---yet no one has seen him or knows anything about him. So Rosalind is determined to track down this guy--who turns out, oddly, to be nothing like you'd expect. While the book is apparently some sort of romance, he's a bookish and rather asexual professor (Willard Parker). Inexplicably, Rosalind has the crazy idea of bringing Parker back to New York and molding him into the character from his book so he can play him in an upcoming movie. Why? This is never explained.Parker turns out to be pretty awful, but still Russell pushes him....again, I asked 'why?'. But, when she kisses him and coaches him, he suddenly turns into a love-sick puppy. He very, very ardently pursues her and she shows as much interest as a person looking forward to a root canal--and it's obvious to everyone except Parker.At the same time, a reporter (Brian Aherne) has been floating about throughout the movie--as if he has no job or is on an extended vacation. It's obvious that he, too, is interested in Russell. This and the Parker romances make no sense, as neither man has any reason to even like her--she is 100% asexual and about as alluring as boiled turnips. Yet, you know by convention that by the end of the film she will become a 'real woman' and marry one of the two male leads.I'd say this film was in need of a massive re-write. Although it starts off promisingly (even though it has a lot of familiar elements), midway through the film it totally loses direction. The characters begin acting inexplicably and you wonder if ANYONE could behave this way. In movies, yes...in real life, absolutely never! In addition, the characters don't do a whole lot other than act kooky--mostly because the writer has given them nothing more to do. And the ending comes out of no where!! A time-passer and nothing more.

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.