The Feminine Touch (1941)

A college professor (Don Ameche) has written a book on jealousy which he believes has no place in modern marriages. This upsets his wife (Rosalind Russell) because she feels jealousy shows that she is loved. When the publisher (Van Heflin) of the professor's book shows a romantic interest in her, she attempts to make her husband jealous. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke (THE THIN MAN), this rather dire comedy espouses the dubious theory that jealousy in a relationship is healthy. Rosalind Russell is one of the great screen comediennes but she's off course here. She's best at playing strong, smart confident women and here she's playing an unconfident (and often whiny) wife who needs her husband to punch any man who flirts with her to prove he loves her. She's even delighted when her husband drags her through the forest (think THE QUIET MAN) like a caveman. It's embarrassing! If there were some wit to the proceedings, we could excuse the outdated sexual politics but there's none to be found. With Kay Francis, Sidney Blackmer, Henry Daniell and Donald Meek.