Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Steineded How sad is this?

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

dougdoepke Certainly can't blame the sparkling Russell if the last part of the comedic hijinks seems labored. The first part shines, especially the fancy ball where Jo (Russell) flits around like the proverbial social butterfly, while divorced husband (Andy) tries to rescue his dog without anybody noticing. Too bad Douglas is largely forgotten. He had about a ten-year period where he played the likable grouch to perfection.It's interesting to compare this film with its male counterpart No Time for Sergeants (1958). Here Jo is a sheltered socialite who thinks joining the WACS will be a lark, plus put her closer to her colonel boyfriend (Ching). Needless to say, she's in for the proverbial rude awakening, though not too rude. In No Time…, Andy Griffith is Jo's opposite, a naïve hillbilly who gets drafted, has similarly rude adjustment problems, except his are from the other end of the social spectrum. Both movies get a load of laughs from sticking unmilitary types into training camp, strict military style.But frankly, I thought the slapstick of putting Jo through the rigors of testing new equipment came across as labored and not very funny. It also amounts to an unfortunate stylistic break with the previous lighter mood. Nonetheless, rolling around the mud does symbolically rid Jo of her social pretensions, and make it so she and Andy can get back together on a more honest plain. So at least the testing works on a plot level.Anyway, the film's an okay comedy, produced by Russell's husband and independently distributed, at a time when the studios were unfortunately breaking apart.

bkoganbing Never Wave At A WAC is the apparently weird combination of Buck Privates and Woman of the Year. The odd thing about it is that it actually works and still will get a few laughs from today's audience. This might have been a script offered to Katharine Hepburn, but Hepburn never really got as physical in her comedy films as Rosalind Russell does here. Still the part of socialite daughter of a United States Senator would normally have been something Hepburn might have done. Yet Russell makes the part all her own.Russell's a bit of a snob and her father Charles Dingle well knows it. During a party where her ex-husband, Paul Douglas, crashes she meets another socialite friend who has just got a commission in the Woman's Army Corps. Russell's current boyfriend is another commissioned officer from public relations, William Ching, borrowed from an Ad agency. He's been assigned to NATO headquarters in Paris. Of course dear old dad will pull some strings and make her an officer and a lady. Except Charles Dingle doesn't want to do it. He says let her in as a buck private and it takes a bit of getting used to before Russell realizes she's not a VIP on the base. And when Douglas who is a scientist doing work for the army arrives on her base the fun really starts.Roz has some good physical scenes, check out the one where she and other WACS are part of a Douglas experiment in arctic conditions. They're not as physical as the ones in Private Benjamin, still Russell gets ample opportunity to display her comic timing.There's also a nice subplot involving Marie Wilson, a stripper who joins the WACs and falls for Sergeant Leif Erickson. Charles Dingle is always one of my favorite character actors and it was really nice to see him as a good guy for a change. He's either a nasty villain like in Edge of Darkness or he's a pompous horse's rear like in Welcome Stranger. He's neither in this film, just a nice down to earth man who happens to be a United States Senator and not pleased with the snobbish ways of his daughter.Obviously because he believed in getting more women in the Armed Services, the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar N. Bradley made a guest appearance as himself. He has a moment when calls about Russell's status reach his ears and he refers them to his good friend Senator Dingle who's on a fishing trip.Never Wave At A WAC though eclipsed somewhat for the current past two generations by Private Benjamin still has a lot of laughs. And it's a great introduction to one of the best and most versatile stars from the age of studio Hollywood, Rosalind Russell.

BrianUWS The plot of this movie is more than a little similar to "Private Benjamin." It's fun to see Rosalind Russell as a sort of WASP version of Goldie Hawn, indignant at the treatment she's being given in the WACs. The first half of this film is nearly a laugh a minute, but it bogs down in the second half when it does duty as a propaganda film and tries to put a button on the story line.I found a DVD copy of this included on one of those discs that cram several movies on to one disc and cost very little. The title of the disc is "Comedy Classics" and includes (along with "Never Wave At a WAC") "New Faces," "Hazel Flagg," "The Smallest Show on Earth," and five others.This movie is well worth the effort to locate, if only to see the scene in the doctor's office, Miss Russell with cigarette in hand.

KDWms Ex-soldier's civilian job (improving uniforms) requires him to continue co-ordinating with the military. His socialite ex-wife's boyfriend is a Colonel, ordered to Paris. To be near the officer, the spoiled gal (Rosalind Russell) joins the WACS, expecting her elbow-rubbing father to smoothen her ride, but dad sees service as a means of tightening the reigns on her, so, she "starts from the bottom." To make matters worse, ex-hubby crosses paths with - and makes life more difficult for - her, although he eventually mellows toward her. Companion plot follows showgirl-turned-WAC's romance with Sergeant. But viewers of this film will discover whether Roz seeks boyfriend's or former husband's next stop. Not terribly deep but not a waste, either.