Evening star., 1945-12-07

suggestion Is that Miss Russell must
rue the day that the studios, this
time Columbia, ever realized she was
the lady type who should be exposed
to rugged courtship. More than
likely "She Wouldn't Say Yes" will
make you rue it with her.
Another sort of life-termer asso-
ciated with the feminine star of the
Earle's new picture is Virginia Van
Upp. Miss Van Upp through the long
years Of pounding profitable type
writer in Hollywood has turned out
more romantic farces than Miss
Russell has played in. She is show
ing signs of staleness, nettlesome
tendency to repeat herself all the
way back to the days when she was
writing that story for Madeline
Carroll and Claudette Colbert at
Paramount.
She shouldn't say yes to any stu
dio which might ask her to write it
again, not until she has taken a
whirl at something as different, say.
as Tobacco Road" from the wom-
ans angle.
The role which occasions Miss
RusSellS current appearance in
those stunning costumes which only
career women seem to wear is that
of female psychiatrist. The point
of her being a psychiatrist seems to
be that it fortifies her that much
more firmly in her feeling that men
are snare and deluSion. At any
rate, it is an Intellectually fixed posi-
ton from which she resists the vir-
tually all-out attack of Lee Bowman.
Mr.. Bowman represents a. new
profession among the males who
have pursued an elusive Miss Russell
through her romantic farce career.
He is comic strip artist whose
subject is a gnomish little figure,
the Mike, who goes around telling
people to yield to their impulses.
You might expect a comic strip Gre
ator in the movies to be different
from other heroic types. but
Bowman is just one more wolf in
war correspondent uniform. 1t may
sound silly to hear him talking from
time to time about having to win
Miss Russell in two weeks because
he is going to Japan, but Columbia
could not have known the war was
going to be over before the picture
came to the Earle.
In making "She Wouldn't Say
Yes" that studio evidently concluded
that wartime congestion, particularly
on railroads, justified it in relaxing
in some of the films more intimate
moments.
At any rate, regardless of the
Interstate Commerce Commission
and other regulatory agencies, it
presents the principles in the Earle's
picture getting into situations that
are politely known as adult, which
seems to mean that you will find
them funny If you are not quite
adult enough to be bored by them.
X X x X
The dialogue of "She Wouldn't
Say Yes" is generally on the brittle
side, with occasional brightness tax
ing your mind off the zany improb-
abilities of the plot
Miss Russell, of course, is up to-
making it sound as if she talked
that way all the time, but some OF
the others are unable to get over
seeing to be self conscious in say
ing such supposedly smart things.
That seemed to be especially true
of Adele Jergens, a stunning blond
thing, in the role of tempestuous
Bolivian doll whose kisses have been
fatal to three men. 1t is to get over
that handicap to a happy love life,
incidentally, that Miss Jergens be-
comes a patient of DR.. Russell.
A couple of the better comedy
passages of "She wouldn't Say Yes"
are those which center around Percy
Kilbride. Mr.. Kilbride, with that
Down East voice of his, impersonate
judge whose approach to life is
so simple that he thinks Psychi-
artist Russell is~wacky. He makes
| it quite convincing and humorous.
Alexander Hall, who directed "She
Wouldn't Say Yes" patiently has
been inspired to no wild flights of
fancy by the script of the picture.
In fact, he has fallen back rather