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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.
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.
Rejected following an [[opera]] audition, Nancy must take a job as a [[Switchboard operator|telephone operator]] performing [[singing telegram]]s. 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.
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.
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* [[Chester Clute]] as Mr. Beck
* [[Chester Clute]] as Mr. Beck
* [[Hugh Beaumont]] as Hugh, Bridegroom
* [[Hugh Beaumont]] as Hugh, Bridegroom
* [[Mary Gordon (actress)|Mary Gordon]] as Miss Brady
* [[Helene Millard]] as Helen
* Norma Drury as Cousin Nell
* [[Renie Riano]] as Ross's Secretary
* [[Yolande Donlan]] as Manicurist
* [[Yolande Donlan]] as Manicurist
* [[Fortunio Bonanova]] as Impresario
* [[Fortunio Bonanova]] as Impresario
* [[Virginia Brissac]] as Aunt
* [[Virginia Brissac]] as Aunt
* [[Pierre Watkin]] as Lawyer
* [[Paul Fix]] as Reporter
* [[Paul Fix]] as Reporter
* [[Dorothy Granger]] as Woman
* [[Phyllis Kennedy]] as Woman
* [[Hillary Brooke]] as Woman
* [[Hillary Brooke]] as Woman
* [[Dolly Haas]] as Woman

}}
}}


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==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* Fetrow, Alan G. ''Feature Films, 1940-1949: a United States Filmography''. McFarland, 1994.
* 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.


==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0034340|Unfinished Business}}
*{{IMDb title|0034340|Unfinished Business}}
*{{TCMDb title|94457|Unfinished Business}}
*{{TCMDb title|94457|Unfinished Business}}
*{{allMovie title|115149|Unfinished Business}}


{{Gregory La Cava}}
{{Gregory La Cava}}
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[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]




{{1940s-comedy-film-stub}}
{{1940s-comedy-film-stub}}
{{1940s-US-film-stub}}

Latest revision as of 13:43, 22 December 2024

Unfinished Business
Directed byGregory La Cava
Written byVicki Baum
Eugene Thackrey
Produced byGregory La Cava
StarringIrene Dunne
Robert Montgomery
Preston Foster
CinematographyJoseph A. Valentine
Edited byRussell Schoengarth
Music byFranz Waxman
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • August 27, 1941 (1941-08-27)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Reception

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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

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

Bibliography

[edit]
  • 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.
[edit]


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