THE MOVIEGOER

Slowed down by feeble dialogue and a tedious plot, "Unfinished Business" has arrived at Harvard Square--with the unintentional revelation that Irene Dunne is "finished." Not that we go in for kicking ex-glamour girls on their way down. Miss Dunne's abortive attempt to play a native young thing from the sticks seeking adventure and romance in the Big City is Hollywood's blunder, not her own. Inescapably forty-ish, she is woefully miscast as the giddy paramour of the Brothers Duncan, acted by Robert Montgomery and Preston Foster.

The veteran playboys battle suavely over fair Irene, who has married the former yet retains "unfinished business" with the latter; but all too rarely do any of the trio manage to rise above the trite monotony of the script. And it is not without pain that we, report that--despite some beautiful scenic backgrounds which are the only saving grace of the film--Miss Dunne can no longer sing.

As inevitable as the happy ending the virtues of national defense make a forced and over-obnoxious entrance into the picture when the drafted Montgomery, who had never been able to match his brother in a trial of fisticuffs, comes back, on furlough and knocks Preston Foster on his ear. This finishes the business.

Hardly as depressing as we expected are Wayne Morris and Brenda Marshall in a red-blooded mystery. "The Smiling Ghost"; we kept awake and smiling. The football movies, however, are easily the outstanding feature of the program. Don't miss that Texas Texas Christian fracas; it's like watching twenty two Peabodies on the field at the same time.