Unfinished Business

I found this to be a very disquieting film. Not only because it seems to straddle genres between screwball comedy and bittersweet romance but because I simply can't believe Irene Dunne's character. She acts well in this film but I cannot believe that she would let herself succumb to Preston Foster's villainous charms and then carry a torch for him after what we are led to believe is a one night stand. Dunne's character is completely wrapped up in that encounter and she can't believe that the love she imparted will never be returned. She is the only one who can't see that she is just another notch on Preston Foster's belt! And all the while a new love, Robert Montgomery, is ready, willing and able but yet Dunne is oblivious to the depth of his feelings for her. Though she marries him and bears him a child, it is not until the very end of the film that they come full circle as a couple and then only after each has found their own identity--she as a chorus member in the opera and he as a soldier. On the plus side, it is refreshing to watch veteran character actors Eugene Palette and Esther Dale in small but crucial parts, the former providing much needed comic relief. Almost skipped this one entirely, only Miss Dunne's loveliness and Robert Montgomery's acerbic wit saved it.