mark.waltz 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

gudpaljoey-78582 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.

bkoganbing Rosalind Russell stars in What A Woman in one of her career girl parts, that of a literary agent and one high powered agent she is. She's the daughter of a US Senator Edward Fielding.That's enough to get free and easy free lance writer Brian Aherne interested enough to do a profile. Especially since Russell has a new project. She wants to get one of her authors reserved English professor Willard Parker to shed his pseudonym from the steamy romance novel he's written and become an actor.She operates under the thesis if you can write it, you an emote it. As it turns out beneath the shy exterior of the professor lies a budding Errol Flynn.Russell's high powered agent complements beautifully the slow paced and unhurried pace of Brian Aherne. Her big problem is she might just have fallen for her own creation in Parker.The ever wise Aherne realizes that Roz will inevitably grasp they are meant for each other.It's all a bit silly, but the leads do carry it off. After over 70 years What A Woman still holds up beautifully.

ksf-2 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.