Seemingly influenced by Ethel Merman's success on Broadway spoofing D.C. hostess Pearl Mesta in "Call Me Madam", Rosalind Russell takes on a part that obviously spoofed Goldie Hawn in "Private Benjamin". She's another pushy broad acting like a brigadier general when she's only a recruit. No wonder her obviously flustered husband Paul Douglas divorced her! As a senator's daughter, Russell is totally imperious from the start, desperately in need of a take-down, nor as a woman, but as a human being who is over-wrought with extreme self importance and pretension, especially when she adds President Truman to her list of character witnesses. While it is amusing to watch her make an absolute fool out of herself, I find the military response to her quite unrealistic.On the opposite end of the spectrum is Marie Wilson ("My Friend Irma"), a dizzy striptease artist who needs more than a little help fitting in. These two outcasts manage to change in different ways while going through basic training and eventually finding their footing. Russell's done much better comedy then this, and the story was much better done more than 25 years later.

Rosalind Russell became a star at 33 with "His Girl Friday" in 1940. Before that, she did mostly small parts. There's a big gap of nearly 20 years in her career before we see her is some of her best later career movies, like "Auntie Mame," "Gypsy," and the "Trouble with Angels" It is nice to see her in a mid-career piece like this from 1953. I watched it on 100 comedy classics from Mill Creek video.This is a reasonably funny piece about an aristocratic woman who joins the army expecting to be made an officer immediately because of her high social standing in society. She learns that the army is a democratic institution and goes through normal training as a WAC.Russell is reasonably delightful. She's given good support by Marie Wilson as a dizzy blond who wants to have a career in intelligence. Paul Douglas plays her husband, perhaps a little too somber and solemn for a piece like this. He's usually better in dramas and film noir.For those who have seen Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates" or "Private Benjamin" or "Stripes," or other army comedies, there won't be too many surprises. Still, its a solidly amusing piece of work most of the time. It proves again that joining the army is just like going to summer camp, only with guns.

Rosalind Russell is a talented comedienne, but "Never Wave At A WAC" is a mediocre vehicle for her. It has a dependable fish-out-of-water premise, but not enough gags. I think it could have been improved by focusing more on the day-to-day struggle with, and gradual acceptance of, military life by Russell's character, and by drastically reducing the role of Paul Douglas, the vengeful but still loving ex-husband. Douglas not only looks too old for his role (hard to believe he was actually the same age as Russell!), but his character does some humiliating things to Russell's character that are more mean-spirited than funny. Although he's supposed, at least at the start, to be the "sensible" one while Russell is supposed to be the "spoiled" one, she is easily the more likable character of the two. And why waste Hillary Brooke in such a small part (she appears only in the opening party sequence)? **1/2 out of 4.

This is a very silly film with a very silly plot and some very silly and impossible to believe characters. Yet, despite all this, if you can suspend judgment, there is still a decent film there to enjoy--making this a bit of a guilty pleasure.Rosalind Russell and Paul Douglas just divorced and Roz is planning on getting remarried to a stuffy colonel. However, Paul wants her back and with Roz's father's conniving, a plan is hatched. Dad convinces Roz that it would be "fun" for her to join the WACs and that with all their political connections (after all, he is a senator and she knows EVERYBODY in Washington who is somebody), she'll be commissioned a colonel herself. Well, based on this pep talk, she rushes to the recruiting office (despite being 45 and WAAY too old to join). However, he tricked her as she does NOT get a commission and is a lowly recruit.The problem is not just how contrived all this is as well as Roz's age but how they wrote her character. She walks around the base and acts like it's the Hilton Hotel. While having her play a spoiled rich brat was cool, no one is THAT obnoxious and stupid to think that they'd get the army to cater to their every whim! This could have sunk the film had it not been for the fact that they played it all for comedy--never taking itself too seriously.Cute writing and dialog managed to make this film harmless fun and a very good time-passer. Sophisticated entertainment? No way--but still cute and enjoyable.