Copyright 4 August 1950 by Roxbury Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Palace: 12 October 1950. U.S. release: 4 August 1950. U.K. release: 9 April 1951. Australian release: 13 July 1951. Running times: 87 minutes (USA), 80 minutes (UK), 65 minutes (Aust).SYNOPSIS: An extremely diminutive but aggressively meddling young woman innocently tries to wreck the lives of four ex-combat servicemen.COMMENT: By independent standards this movie has good production values, including smart sets and lustrous photography, smooth direction and silky film editing. The cast is very capable too. The trouble is the script. Although it offers some promising ideas, it tends to fall between two stools: Too talky but insufficiently witty for a comedy of manners; too clumsy and insufficiently fast-paced for slapstick, though it does have a couple of frantic episodes. The most effective episode has O'Brien slowly beaten up in a prize ring in which Rogell and O'Brien successfully bring off an extremely difficult balancing act. It's funny but it's horrifying. All our sympathy is with O'Brien, but we can't help laughing at him. This sequence alone makes The Admiral Was a Lady worth watching.If O'Brien seems over-boorish in the early stages of the film, put up with him. His character develops. Unfortunately the other players are stuck with more pasteboard figures. Wanda Hendrix is doubly unfortunate. Not only is she an unsympathetic, over-talkative, meddling little fool, but she stays stupid for the whole film. Her devotion to the mysterious Henry seems ill-balanced. The other players have little to do, including Rudy Vallee. We keep waiting for him to come back, but when he does, he doesn't fulfill our expectations.OTHER VIEWS: Saddled with a script that obviously thinks it's much funnier than it actually is, The Admiral Was a Lady offers moderate entertainment at best. Rudy Vallee is wasted in a thankless role. Of course it would all be improved a good deal by cutting. I wonder what the U.K. and Australian prints are like? -- JHR writing as George Addison.

A numb comedy with Edmond O'Brien; Hillary Brooke has a bit role, as a cool divorcée.There is some slapstick; the camera-work has gusto, but occasionally, as in the theater scene (the thrown bottle), and when cars show up. The dialogs aren't very witty, and the movie seems to have been written as a sentimental comedy, perhaps it even acquires some warmth; the storyline, suitably episodic, has even a boxing match (as another occasion for slapstick, perhaps a bit rancid), the crew spends a couple of days with the admiral, so there result a few vignettes (on sea, at the theater, at the boxing match). O'Brien exhaled hopelessness and disheartening, and the role behaves him; he looks creepy and disappointed, but his role requires this, and the movie is essentially a vehicle for him, as the other male players are either bland or unlikable (Vallee). His crew, though, isn't very appealing.The comedy is unusual (and a bit joyless, a bit gloomy, though it wasn't meant as such; but, to be just, this joylessness can't be attributed solely to mediocrity, as the plot reveals the dramatic situations of the crew: only that it does it not gradually, from the beginning, the gleam of dread shows already in the lead's style, and also, though unintentionally, in the vapid cast): a sentimental plot reminding of the '30s, and slapstick gags, and surprising ideas, like the boxing scene. The directing is mediocre, the script: unusual, the cast: variegated and inexpert; the crew should of been colorful, but comes across as indifferent, and almost creepy and untrustworthy, for a girl to team up with them spontaneously, trustingly: for scoundrels and blunderers, the crew is bland, and for bruised guys, they are underplayed. Deeply, O'Brien isn't a comedy actor.To a certain degree, it builds, despite the numbness; it grows on you. By the end, there is an impression of thoughtful plot.Wanda Hendrix was A. Murphy's wife.Here at least, she seems a mediocre actress.

"The Admiral Was A Lady" is a comedy that I've been meaning to watch for a long time now, mainly because I like that title. However, the film itself is tamer than I expected. It's pleasant, with some nice tips on making (or saving) a little money out of nothing, but the script wanders a little too much. Edmond O'Brien is not exactly the most endearing romantic comedy lead, but Wanda Hendrix is - as some of the old posters of the film call her - Wandafull! What she lacks in height she makes up for in beauty (she has a couple of stunning close-ups) and talent: she's game in comedy and sincere in drama. Although the film treats the WWII veterans' readjustment problems in a mostly comedic manner, it does have some dramatic moments, which are surprisingly strong. ** out of 4.

The Hollywood treatment of the problems of returning servicemen after World War 2 took many forms - sob stories, psychological dramas, films noirs, even musicals - but this film is unusual, perhaps even unique, in giving them an irreverent screwball slant. The script sparkles with wise-cracking dialogue, and the action proceeds headlong in unpredictable directions. It is the sort of movie that the phrase "never a dull moment" was coined for. The two leads did full justice to their parts, but they lacked the star status to impress the critics. If Claudette Colbert and Cary Grant had been cast, or Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart, they could have performed no better, but this film would now be assured of its place in the annals of screwball comedy instead of being neglected and almost forgotten. Luckily it is not lost. It is available on DVD in eminently watchable condition, albeit without the full restoration that it deserves.