A writer is heading to Hollywood where her first novel is about to be filmed. On her way there she meets a Marine pilot who she thinks would be perfect for the lead role and (supposedly) hilarious antics ensue.
This is a lightweight piece of romantic comedy fluff, the kind of formulaic filler Hollywood churned out by the dozen. Wayne by this point in career is effortlessly comfortable onscreen but, as I’ve said in previous articles, the role of a romantic leading man was ill suited to his talents. Few of his classics have much romance in them and those that do mostly featured Maureen O’Hara. Here he plays Rusty Thomas, the Marine officer, and while he’s charismatic and even amusing at times, there is no onscreen spark between him and Claudette Colbert as the author Christopher 'Kit' Madden.
I’m sure she has her fans, but Colbert does nothing for me and this may be the reason the love story failed to engage my interest. You don’t care what happens to characters you don’t like and Madden is annoying almost from the opening scene. It’s hard to believe this airhead could write her own name, let alone a bestselling novel.
Don DeFore plays Wayne’s Marine buddy and is obviously supposed to provide comic relief. Sadly the script lets him down, it’s just not funny. It’s a shame as he makes a pretty good comedy sidekick but you can only work with what you’re given and a comedy without a funny script is a sad thing indeed.
Crime thrillers were the forte of director Mervyn LeRoy and his best film was I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932). He seems as wrong for the film as Wayne does, and with a duff script and stars lacking in chemistry, he doesn’t really have a hope of making anything memorable out of the film. In fact the longer it goes on the worse it gets and the ending feels as though it was cobbled together just prior to filming.
This was the sort of film studios put Wayne in a lot during the forties, made by workmanlike directors who lacked any real vision, they are time wasters for rainy weekend afternoons at best and at worst mind-numbingly banal. Not long after this Duke made Red River and finally found a director (other than John Ford) who knew what to do with him.
As with Reunion in France this will only really appeal to the true Duke fanatic and it’s doubtful even they would watch it more than once. Cary Grant fans may be interested to know he makes a brief cameo appearance in the film playing himself.
Article comments