Unfinished Business (1941 film)

Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business
Directed by	Gregory La Cava
Written by	Vicki Baum ; Eugene Thackrey
Produced by	Gregory La Cava
Starring	Irene Dunne; Robert Montgomery; Preston Foster
Cinematography	Joseph A. Valentine
Edited by	Russell Schoengarth
Music by	Franz Waxman
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	August 27, 1941;
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Unfinished Business is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Irene Dunne, Robert Montgomery and Preston Foster.^[1] It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Plot

On a train to New York City, small-town singer Nancy Andrews meets and falls in love with sophisticated playboy Steve Duncan. However, Steve ignores her when they reach their destination.

Rejected following an opera audition, Nancy must take a job as a telephone operator performing singing telegrams. Nightclub impresario Billy Ross likes her voice and offers her a job. At the club, Steve's brother and attorney Tommy Duncan becomes inebriated and reveals that Steve is soon to marry another woman. Nancy, also drunk, agrees to escape with Tommy to South Carolina for a quick elopement.

The following day, Tommy discovers that Nancy does not love him. After they return to New York and throw a party, Nancy kisses Steve, angering Steve's new wife and Tommy's old girlfriend. In his disappointment, Tommy enlists in the army and leaves for a year.

When Tommy returns, he punches Steve and prepares to grant Nancy her divorce. However, he learns that he and Nancy are parents of a baby boy and that she is overjoyed to know that Tommy still loves her.

Cast

Irene Dunne as Nancy Andrews
Robert Montgomery as Tommy Duncan
Preston Foster as Steve Duncan
Eugene Pallette as Elmer
Dick Foran as Frank
Esther Dale as Aunt Mathilda
Walter Catlett as Billy Ross
Richard Davies as Richard
Kathryn Adams as Katy
Samuel S. Hinds as Uncle
June Clyde as Clarisse
Phyllis Barry as Sheila
Ferike Boros as Sarah, Nancy's Maid
Chester Clute as Mr. Beck
Hugh Beaumont as Hugh, Bridegroom
Mary Gordon as Miss Brady
Helene Millard as Helen
Norma Drury as Cousin Nell
Renie Riano as Ross's Secretary
Yolande Donlan as Manicurist
Fortunio Bonanova as Impresario
Virginia Brissac as Aunt
Pierre Watkin as Lawyer
Paul Fix as Reporter
Dorothy Granger as Woman
Phyllis Kennedy as Woman
Hillary Brooke as Woman
Dolly Haas as Woman

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote:

Any picture which brings Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery to a state of matrimony, with the directorial blessing of Gregory La Cava, must, perforce and in truth, have a great deal to recommend it. And a great deal of random charm and pleasantly caustic humor there is, without any dispute, in Universal's 'Unfinished Business,' which provides that denouement in a manner somewhat less than harmonious but sufficiently withal ... But this oddly 'Unfinished Business,' in which they are so desperately involved, is something to tax the credulity of even the most lenient mind. ... In brief. like many another picture, it makes a romantic plot but not much sense. ... Mr. La Cava has done a lot to disguise a foolish script with glib action, but the trick doesn't quite come off. The unfinished business here lies dead in someone's typewriter.^[2]

References

^ Fetrow p.551
^ "Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery Pick Up 'Unfinished Business,' at the Rivoli". The New York Times. 1941-09-02. p. 20.

Bibliography

Fetrow, Alan G. Feature Films, 1940-1949: a United States Filmography. McFarland, 1994.
Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.