The Lady Says No

The Lady Says No is the type of post World War II film that tackled issues the movies would not focus on. In this case, it's feminism. Beautiful Joan Caulfield (Blue Skies, The Unsuspected) was directed by her husband, Frank Ross, to play a man-hating writer of a book telling women to be cautious of a man's desires. David Niven is a photographer for a magazine who tries to do a story on her, but romance steps in...with complications. He gets embarrassed for whistling at her, she takes the heat for her book causing a marital break-up. But, ultimately, things turn around, as a sergeant reunites with his wife and writer and photographer get back together, as well.

Also in the cast are Francis Bavier (Aunt Bee-The Andy Griffith Show), James Robertson Justice, Henry Jones, Lenore Lonergan, and Peggy Malley, with Bavier and Justice as Caulfield's aunt and uncle, Jones and Lonergan as a military couple, and Malley as a friend of the military couple.

Mostly hilarious and predictable (Caulfield's dream of her fighting off jungle women to get to Niven), but stoic in some areas (Niven's lack of comic response), the film was written as a showpiece for Caulfield, who carried the movie. Wouldn't mind seeing it again. In other words, I would love to see Caulfield flaunt her style in Orry-Kelly fashions, while she defends her position of feminism, while a different actor could have been used as a comic foil, maybe Fred MacMurray. A film slightly ahead of its time.

There were two things at least I enjoyed about this frivolous romantic comedy about the author of a book attacking men and her involvement with the type of man she despises most, the jaunty and catchy intro music, and the performance from the stunning Joan Caulfield, who managed to extract the maximum from an inconsistent and under-written part. A pity she didn't become a greater star than she did. By contrast her co-star David Niven appeared understandably rather uncomfortable throughout. The first half was fairly amusing, albeit dated, with the dream sequence the highlight, but the attempts at humour become increasingly feeble and finally moribund some time before the inevitable conclusion is reached.

David Niven is quite good and seems very natural in a comedic role in "The Lady Says No." But, that's about the only good thing about this movie. Niven plays Bill Shelby, a roving photographer who works for "Life" magazine. "Life" was the premier general interest magazine published in the U.S. in the 20th century. It was especially noted for its superb photography-news, feature, portrait and artistic.

Here, Shelby is taking photos in northern California. He lives out of a small house trailer that he pulls with his car. It doubles as a darkroom for developing and printing his photos. He has one specific assignment - to interview and photograph Dorinda Hatch who has written a book, the same title as this film. It turns out that Hatch, played by Joan Caulfield, is a young woman who is generally naive about the opposite sex, love and sex. She's not a psychologist or educator, but she's written a book that is a best seller.

The book is advice about something - apparently women just avoiding and having nothing to do with men. Hatch seems to have come up with the idea while growing up with her Aunt Alice and Uncle Matthew. Frances Bavier plays Aunt Alice and James Robertson Justice plays Uncle Mathew. They fought at times, but most of the time he was away from home - apparently for months or years at a time.

So, that's the setting for this comedy that is portrayed as a battle of the sexes. In the early part it has some good lines and a couple of funny scenes. But the plot quickly gets into a rut with a screenplay that runs all over the place yet goes nowhere. Hatch and Shelby have one encounter after another with various soldiers, a wife and girlfriends from nearby Fort Ord. Peggy Maley plays Midge who's a soda jerk at the Fort Ord PX. Lenore Lonergan plays Goldie who's married to Potsy (Henry Jones), an Army staff sergeant.

Hatch lives in Carmel - one can't image where her small house was located that overlooks the ocean. Shelby parks his trailer on a roadside pullout along the coast. These two are back and forth from her home, to the beach, to Shelby's trailer, to the Wharf Rat bar in Monterey, and to Fort Ord. The script by this time is devoid of any funny or clever dialog. Caulfield's frenzied movements and strange behavior are humorless. She has a dream sequence that's droll at best. She just doesn't have a spark for comedy - not in this film anyway. That could be due mostly to a read dud of a screenplay. But, even in her close-ups, she just can't emote humor.

This film quickly becomes boring - by halfway through. So, it's agonizing to watch it to the end, hoping for anything funny or something different to lift it out of the doldrums. My four stars may be generous. But Niven's character has just enough spark and humor to keep one watching. And the scenes on the Monterey coast and around the former Fort Ord add a little historic touch to boost the film a little. Still, this isn't a film worth buying a dvd or paying to rent at any cost, even for David Niven fans.

Here's the single line one might find somewhat funny. Dorinda Hatch, "Women do wear hats. Especially if they write books like mine." Bill Shelby, "Well, the way I see it, you wrote the book with your brain, and your brain is normally in your head, so let's take a look at your head, huh?" Dorinda, "That's logical."

The team that wrote the classic wartime comedy classic "The More the Marrier" made this innocuous but entertaining early spoof of feminism, starring an offbeat couple: Joan Caulfied and David Niven. It's stood the test of time.

Joan has written the title book, which argues for women to stand up for themselves in a male-dominated society. She's thrown together with a self-assured Life magazine photographer played by Niven, whose innate charm makes his chauvinistic attitudes tolerable, with zero doubt that they will move past detente to become a loving couple by film's end.

Adding quite a bit to the movie's impact is the subsidiary storyline involving Joan's aunt Frances Bavier and her estranged Scots husband James Robertson Justice, a real chauvinist pig. Casting that team seems unlikely, but this pair of opposites are delightful in their bickering, with Justice's comedy flair (staring in many a British comedy of the Fifties) on display.

I've been watching David Niven demonstrating his acting versatility a few years later on "Four Star Playhouse", and his nimble comedy reactions help lift "The Lady Says No". Kudos also to the great James Wong Howe's distinctive camerawork. Watch for some strange little touches by director Frank Ross, including a goofy dream sequence and a "jump and jive" Black girl dancing around in a hallway.

Slight romcom set in around 1950s Carmel, California, where suave bachelor globe-trotting photographer David Niven is assigned to shoot a best-selling feminist author, who turns out to be the virginal, cool and very smartly turned out blonde Joan Caulfield.

At his first tired ploy of getting her to remove more and more clothes, she ends the shoot by walking out. Each further advance on his part is met by more rebuffs, following which she allures him into yet more humiliation. Even her dreams show attraction competing with repulsion. Restless, she starts interfering in the romances and marriages of his blue-collar friends as well. It has to end, as we know it will, with her growing up. The little girl who keeps saying no must become a woman and learn to say yes.

Good support from, among others, James Robertson Justice as her errant Irish uncle, Henry Jones as an amazingly unwarlike army sergeant and Lenore Lonergan as his battleaxe wife.