Main Cast: Rosalind Russell, Paul Douglas, Marie Wilson, William Ching, Arleen Whelan
Release Year: 1952
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
Self-centered Washington socialite Rosalind Russell joins the WACS in order to be near her boyfriend William Ching, a GI stationed in Paris. Russell is certain that her DC connections will enable her to get out of the service as easily as she got in. Unfortunately for her, Russell's ex-husband Paul Douglas decides to teach her a lesson by pulling a few strings himself. Several of the army-camp scenes are stolen by Marie Wilson as an amply proportioned chorus girl, who's joined the WACS to escape stage-door johnnies. Filmed in part on location at the Women's Army Corps training center at Fort Lee, Virginia, Never Wave at a WAC was produced by Rosalind Russell's husband, Frederick Brisson. The film was released in England as The Private Wore Skirts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The inimitable and uniquely charming Rosalind Russell makes Never Wave at a WAC a pleasantly diverting way to pass a couple of hours. Russell's contribution to WAC's success is impossible to overestimate, for without her commanding presence, nimble way with a one-liner, willingness to throw herself into any physical demands the comedy requires and ability to turn a double-take into a very peculiar double-and-a-half-take, the film would be seriously deficient in genuine laughs. Russell is not the whole show: Marie Wilson's dumb blonde routine provokes quite a few chuckles, and Paul Douglas, with his ability to be both tough and a softy combined with a finely honed sense of comedic playing, scores heavily. But without Russell to play off of, Douglas would be working in a void, and Wilson's part is too much of a supporting role to fill in were a lesser star in Russell's place. The screenplay isn't bad, mind you, but it's pure nuts-and-bolts, the kind of vehicle that's put together in the way that it's put together because the writers know that Russell's velvet-with-ice voice is going to take the basic they give her and play it for all its worth. Even with Russell, WAC threatens to run out of steam -- but whenever it starts to, Russell girds up her loins and puts it back on track. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
