Eheposse

I like these actors in most everything I've seen them in, but this one has a whiff of cheese going bad in the fridge. Ray Milland is psychotic over his search for financial success and kicks his wife around like a dog. Colbert has lost her mind and her self-respect as she whimpers fondly around him hoping for a pat on the head. And then things turn weirdly comic as Brian Aherne drops in to distract her.

A divorce seems comfortably inevitable; she and Aherne seem soul mates for sure, until Colbert's own psychosis turns her back towards a scheming Milland. Me oh my, who will she choose? Is anyone following this? I could have used cue cards for applause and hissing because the director didn't know where this thing was going. And it didn't get there.

This mishmash was not fun, and now I've got to carve off the mold to salvage a single bite of cheddar goodness. One of the few times I've rated a film at less than the user average, but at only 103 voters, this fuzzy stinker seems to have kept most of them out of the fridge.

Lydia (Claudette Colbert) and Tony (Ray Milland) have been married for five years. Tony is in love with his job and his wife is mostly an afterthought. Inexplicably, she accepts this and loves the big jerk in spite of this. However, after years of being neglected emotionally, the problem comes to a head during their anniversary. Instead of a romantic dinner for two, he invites over clients-- clients who Lydia doesn't like--and she has every reason to dislike these nasty folks. She's in a funk and a dashing guy, Jim (Brian Ahern), offers to take her away from this dinner party and she impulsively goes. She returns many hours later--long after all the guests have gone home.

Jim realizes, finally, that his marriage is in trouble. His plan to woo her back--lie to her and tell her he's quitting his job. But, he has no intention of leaving this job--and it really isn't much of a plan. Eventually, Lydia learns about this and leaves him. Soon they are divorced and NOW Jim finally tries to actually do something to win her back. But, considering they are divorced and she doesn't want to see him, it really seems like he's stalking her and is an abusive ex-spouse. It's really quite creepy and about as romantic as a case of the clap. The film might have seemed cute back in 1941, but today it comes off as an endorsement for a man to claim ownership over his 'property'--and Jim would, in the real world, end up in jail for his boorish behaviors!

Considering how good these actors are, the film should have been so much better. I also take off a point for the terribly overdone scene where Lydia keeps falling in the sailboat--it was about as subtle as a stripper at a Baptist picnic. Overall, it's a big disappointment, though the film does have its moments.

"We walked out on the party tonight, it wasn't so hard. Why can't we walk out on the world this morning?"

Certainly watchable because of the infinitely charming Claudette Colbert, this romantic comedy has her character torn between her husband of five years (Ray Milland) and a guy who tells her he can show her the moon (Brian Aherne). She's more than a little tempted because her husband is a workaholic who doesn't pay much attention to her and prioritizes the needs of his boss's snooty wife (Binnie Barnes) over her. "I didn't say you didn't love me. It's only, lately you haven't been *in* love with me," she says. Meanwhile the new guy blatantly pursues her, even giving the husband a little advice on how to keep her:

"Spit in your boss's eye. Take your woman by the hand. Climb to the top of a hill. Look us over, moon. She's a woman. She's life itself. She makes the grass grow, see? I've got hold of her hand, and I'm not letting it go. She's a skylark."

Colbert has lots of great moments here, like holding the giant scrapbook she's made as an anniversary present over her head as if she's going to strike Milland in frustration, telling off the boss's wife, ending with "Goodbye, you tramp," and coming on to Milland while pretending she's willing to go to South America with him just as his lover for a month or two. She even gets a little slapstick in while getting tossed around in the galley of a boat during a storm.

Unfortunately the male characters are tougher to like, despite the fine casting. The husband is an idiot who lies to her, and the other man is a philanderer - it's implied that he's been having an affair with the boss's wife, and the name of his boat is "Who's Ever On Her." And of course, because this was made during the Production Code era, we know how this will end, despite the quick "Reno divorce" that's arranged. I didn't believe the husband's transformation for a second, but we couldn't possibly have her find happiness with a new man, could we? The conservative sensibilities of the film seem to side with one of the women on the subway in that marvelous scene where a crowd listens to the married couple arguing; she chimes in with "If you were any kind of a man, you'd take her over your knee and spank her, right here and now."

Last note, and really tangential to the lighthearted story - as this was 1941, the film has a character on the subway drop in a little topical reference to the trouble in the world. He says "With all of the agony in Spain, Poland is laid out in a corner, France is a shamble, China is rumbling like an earthquake, and you! You're worrying about something exclusively personal."

Lydia and Tony Kenyon (Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland) are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. Their relationship now contains about as much excitement as a straight line. Along comes Jim Blake (Brian Aherne), providing a point of conflict that defines a love triangle.

This is not a drama. The story comes from a play and its comedy is probably best appreciated if seen as Shakespearean. Blake is a passive-aggressive "Puck" who constantly picks at the relationship's frayed edges. A marriage is in the balance, but the characters banter wittily as if discussing the correct price for a cow. Lydia and Tony could have been played by Myrna Loy and William Powell.

The writing is clever and enjoyable. The characters are fun to watch. If you can let the story just be what it is, you might enjoy it. Suspend disbelief and engage your sense of humor. Otherwise, you might be tempted to think this film makes light of wifely dissatisfaction.

A top cast -- Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland, and Brian Aherne star in "Skylark," a 1941 film directed by Mark Sandrich, and based on the play.

Milland and Colbert are Tony and Lydia Kenyon, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary, and they're having a party. Tony is in advertising, so all of his clients' products have to be on display. He's preoccupied with one client in particular, Frederick Vantine (Grant Mitchell), from whom he's trying to get another million dollars in advertising.

At the party, and right after an altercation with her husband, Linda meets a charming attorney, Jim Blake (Aherne) who becomes very smitten with her. She takes a drive with him to a diner. When she arrives home, the party is over and Tony is furious. The attorney was a guest of the Vantines, and Mrs. Vantine (Binnie Barnes) is angry that she went off with him. He demands that she call and apologize. Lydia does, and then she leaves him and spends more time with Jim -- against the wishes of Mrs. Vantine.

Funny marital comedy about a woman who doesn't want to be a second thought to her husband, and a husband who adores her but is afraid of not being good at his job. He's also jealous of Jim.

Some wonderful scenes and performances: the cast is top-notch, and Colbert's scene on Jim's boat is hilarious, and her encounters with Barnes are delicious. Aherne is likable, debonair, and charming, and Milland shows vulnerability as Tony.

"Skylark" could have better directed, which would have brought the film up a couple of notches. If Leo McCarey or Ernst Lubitsch had directed it, it might have been up there with "It Happened One Night." Nevertheless, it is delightful, with the three stars at the top of their respective games.