She Wouldn't Say Yes
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Alexander Hall
Rosalind Russell
Lee Bowman
Adele Jergens
Charles Winninger
Harry Davenport
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Dr. Susan Lane, a self-possessed psychiatrist, is in New York treating shell-shocked soldiers when one of her patients shows her "The Nixie" comic strip written by Michael Kent. The Nixie is an imp-like creature whose whistle encourages people to yield to their urges. Susan, who believes in controlling one's impulses, bristles at the philosophy of the cartoon character. On her way home to Chicago, Susan stops to buy a train ticket when Michael Kent swings open the door to the ticket office and knocks her down. After the indignant Susan takes her ticket and leaves, Kent, who is traveling through Chicago enroute to San Francisco and the Pacific, where he is to serve as an artistic correspondent in the armed forces, wishes aloud that he could have met Susan under different circumstances. When Kent presents the ticket agent with a Nixie, the agent squeezes the doll, causing it to whistle, and then impulsively assigns Kent to the same berth as Susan. That night, as Kent climbs into his upper berth, he is pleasantly surprised to find Susan sleeping there. Susan awakens, and asserting that the berth is hers, pushes him out into the corridor. Their argument is interrupted by a porter, desperately searching for a doctor to treat a woman passenger who has just attempted suicide. Volunteering, Susan goes to the woman's compartment and there meets Allura, a blonde seductress who is convinced that her kiss is fatal to all men. Susan spends the night consoling Allura, and when the train stops in Chicago the next day, Susan goes to her apartment and is welcomed by her father, who immediately begins to lecture her about the importance of getting married and starting a family. When Kent, who is spending two weeks in Chicago, appears at the apartment later that evening, Susan's father is delighted and voices his admiration for The Nixie. After Susan protests that Kent is interrupting their dinner, Kent excuses himself and promises to return for breakfast. To avoid her visitor the next morning, Susan leaves early for work and when Kent arrives he is greeted by her butler, Albert, who explains that Susan cured him of being a vagabond. Susan is treating Allura when Kent follows her to the office, and after she refuses to see him, he visits Susan's father, a physician who shares the adjoining office. To prove to Allura that her embrace is not lethal, Susan challenges her to kiss any man at random, and when Allura sees Kent standing on the balcony, she picks him. Realizing that Allura may provide the answer to her situation with Kent, Susan invites them both to her apartment for dinner that evening and then fails to appear. When Kent arrives for dinner, Allura tries to seduce him, explaining that Susan prescribed him as her cure. After Kent rejects her advances, Allura leaves in hysterics and when Susan returns home, she finds him waiting for her. When Kent declares that he is in love with her, Susan protests that there is no room for a man in her life. After Kent kisses her, Susan becomes flustered and asks him to leave. At that moment, Allura rings the doorbell and demands that Susan deliver Kent. To placate Allura, Susan agrees to let her complete the experiment. Planning to avoid Kent until he leaves the city, Susan locks herself in her office. Meanwhile, in the adjoining office, Kent and her father convince Judge Whittaker to trick Susan into marriage. When Susan enters her father's office and the judge insists on marrying her, she thinks that he has a mania for marrying people and decides to cure him. To start the treatment, Susan visits the judge at his house that night. As she begins to analyze the judge, Kent rings the doorbell and convinces Susan to help cure the judge by allowing him to marry them. Susan agrees to the ceremony and naïvely returns home, unaware that she is really married to Kent. The bridegroom follows and informs her that the ceremony was real. As the the groom kisses his bride, Allura enters the room and mistakes their embrace as part of the experiment to cure her. Angered by Susan's deviousness, Kent leaves with Allura. The next day, Allura sends Susan a bouquet of flowers, signaling that the experiment has been a success and that Kent has kissed her and survived, thus causing Susan to lose all self control and begin to sob. A final blow is struck to Susan's self confidence when Albert informs her that he has decided to return to the life of a vagabond and presents her with a Nixie doll as a farewell gift. Meanwhile, Kent and Susan's father have boarded the train for San Francisco, and when Kent parts the curtains to his sleeping berth, he finds Susan waiting for him. Seizing the initiative, Susan proposes and they decide to wed again in Nevada.
Director
Alexander Hall
Cast
Rosalind Russell
Lee Bowman
Adele Jergens
Charles Winninger
Harry Davenport
Sara Haden
Percy Kilbride
Lewis Russell
Mary Treen
Mabel Paige
George Cleveland
Charles Arnt
Almira Sessions
Mantan Moreland
Clarence Muse
Jesse Graves
Nick Stewart
Willie Best
Eily Malyon
Ida Moore
Arthur Q. Bryan
John Tyrrell
Ernest Whitman
Alex Melesh
Dudley Dickerson
Russell Hicks
Cora Witherspoon
Marilyn Johnson
Doris Houck
Ray Walker
Coulter Irwin
George Lee
Don Garner
Darren Mcgavin
Gene Garrick
Edwin Mills
Harry Strang
Sam Mcdaniel
Alan Bridge
Elmer Jerome
Carl "alfalfa" Switzer
Ed Gargan
Tom Dugan
William Austin
Crew
Rex Bailey
Travis Banton
Larry Butler
Clay Campbell
Norman Deming
Jack Goodrich
Stephen Goossón
Laslo Gorog
Helen Hunt
John Jacoby
Viola Lawrence
Jean Louis
Russell Malmgren
Wilbur Menefee
Edwin Phillips
Van Nest Polglase
Victor Scheurich
Marlin Skiles
M. W. Stoloff
William Thiele
Sarett Tobias
Virginia Van Upp
Virginia Van Upp
Joseph Walker
Edwin Wetzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Some Call It Love. Alexander Hall previously directed Rosalind Russell in the 1942 Columbia film My Sister Eileen (.)
