A Woman of Distinction (1950)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Edward Buzzell

Writers:

Hugo Butler (story)
Charles Hoffman (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson...

Plot Keywords:

College | Beautiful Woman | Female Executive

Cast

Rosalind Russell	...	Susan Manning Middlecott
Ray Milland	...	Professor Alexander 'Alec' Stevenson
Edmund Gwenn	...	Mark 'J.M.' Middlecott
Janis Carter	...	Teddy Evans
Mary Jane Saunders	...	Louisa Middlecott
Francis Lederer	...	Professor Paul Simone
Jerome Courtland	...	Jerome

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Susan Middlecott: What sort of razor do you plan to use?
Jerome: Electric.
Susan Middlecott: Oh. Are you... are you A.C. or... D.C.?

Typical '40s unmarried woman with no room for romance

Major slapstick is the highlight of "A Woman of Distinction," a 1950 film starring Rosalind Russell, Ray Milland, Edmund Gwenn and Janis Carter. Russell has one of her uptight, cold women roles so often depicted in the '40s. You know the one, no room or time for romance until a man melts her down. The melter here is Ray Milland.

Russell is the dean of a girls' school in New England; Milland plays a visiting British astronomer. Will she succumb to his charms? Sure, after she beats him with her handbag, and she's sprayed with water, smeared with mud, and falls out of chairs. Wouldn't you? The laughs are all supposed to come from the slapstick; in truth, there's not too much of a script, and what's there is predictable and derivative. The cast is likable, and Russell proves she can do just about anything. In the end, it's not much of a movie.