No Time for Love

I have seen this movie many times and am searching for a copy. It is a favorite. Those who have loved Colbert and McMurry in their other pairings will thoroughly enjoy this romp. These two had an on-screen chemistry second only to Hepburn ad Tracy. If you loved "The Egg and I", you will enjoy "No Time for Love". Ilka Chase fans will enjoy her role as she always played her characters with such ease and reality. Colbert, like Roz Russel, always played the woman in command of her life who eventually gives into her leading man. The viewer must remember that "No Time for Love" was a contract movie cranked out at rapid pace by the studios for profit and in an era of war. These movies were needed to lighten the spirit of America and they still do that today.

Claudette Colbert is a busy, successful and rather self-satisfied photographer on a popular picture magazine. Sent to do a story on a crew tunneling under the river, she encounters brash and beefy laborer Fred MacMurray. Not surprisingly, the two complete opposites take an instant dislike to each other. It's equally not surprising when they can't stay away from each other.

Yes, the plot is pretty predictable, but Colbert and MacMurray manage to entertain nevertheless. Fred is the kind of guy who talks tough but is nobody's fool when it comes to using his brains when he needs to invent a new machine to get his work done. Claudette, on the other hand, lives the intellectual life among magazine editors and pianists-but, it turns out, isn't afraid to get her feet muddy when it comes to helping a friend.

Rhys Williams is a good sport as MacMurray's pal from the tunnel. June Havoc is just right as the dancer who hangs out with Fred but can't compete with Claudette: fun-loving, slightly obnoxious, and just sympathetic enough that we almost feel bad for her.

Highlights include a sequence in the tunnel where mud is seeping through the walls and MacMurray's team-and Colbert-are in it up to their waists. There's also a hilarious bit where Colbert convinces the men to play musical chairs instead of throwing a fight. (They try it, it turns into a fight.)

Quite enjoyable, overall, thanks mainly to the personalities of the two stars. Colbert and MacMurray really are hard to resist.

This is a corny love story, no doubt about it. Colbert was at her prime, and MacMurray was on the way up. She was shapely, witty and ravishing as the Uptown NYC reporter, and he was sweat-laden, resolute and brawny in the mud somewhere below the Hudson. I saw it about thirty five years ago, and somehow it has stuck with me all these years. Now that I live in Massachusetts, where the taxpayer has just poured $16BN into a death hole below Boston, I just wish that old' Fred was still kicking so he could jump down in that glory hole and make it all right. Claudette could put the ink out on all the shady contractors and corrupt politicians. How come life isn't more like the movies?

Yes, it is dated and sexist and kinda clichéd. You can also say that for most comedies of this era. BUT - this is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It has it all: snappy dialogue, perfectly delivered by a stellar cast; loads of broad physical humor; moments you won't believe got past the censors:

Ryan: it was so late when I finished, that-- Katherine: Finished what? Ryan: Are you kidding?

Colbert and MacMurray's supporting cast really shine too. June Havoc as the ditsy Darlene ("Hey, my face was open!"), Richard Haydn as Roger, the composer ("What am I supposed to do here, there isn't even a piano!") and of course, Ilka Chase as Katherine's sister Hoppy, who delivers one of the best comedic lines in movie history: "Doorbells should ring once, then electrocute the ringer."

This has been one of my favorite films for years, so I was thrilled when it was finally released on DVD as part of a Claudette Colbert collection. Do yourself a favor and pick it up...there are five other fun films in the collection, but none top "No Time for Love."

Sexy sophisticated photographer Colbert falls for lunkhead tunnel worker. A variation on the old independent city girl falls for ordinary joe that worked in both Mr. Smith and Mr.Deeds Goes to Town. The scenes inside the construction tunnel are pretty well done and Colbert is always great . McMurry is a little hard to swallow as the hunky construction "Superman!?" I think I'm in better shape and I'm 59. Still both are excellent comedy actors so it makes this enjoyable enough.