Without Reservations

Claudette Colbert plays a best-selling novelist on her way to Hollywood, where her book is being made into a movie. On the train she meets two Marines (John Wayne, Don DeFore). She immediately sees Wayne as the ideal man to play the lead character from her novel. Unfortunately for her, Wayne's read the novel and hates it, so she keeps her identity a secret as she travels with the two men to California.

Colbert is right at home playing a role similar to ones she had played a few times before. So it's no surprise she is good here. Nor is it a surprise that Don DeFore is good as Wayne's sidekick. But what may come as a surprise for many watching this is just how good John Wayne is at a light comedy role. Anne Triola is also lots of fun as Consuela Callaghan, described as a "beetle" by Wayne & DeFore. For what they mean by that you'll have to watch and see. Beautiful Dona Drake has a small part but she's always stunning to look at. Several celebrity cameos, including Cary Grant. The only time John Wayne and Cary Grant appeared in the same film, albeit not in the same scene. Very charming and funny romantic comedy, the second half of which is in the It Happened One Night vein.

Hello, I have loved this movie since I was 10 in 1947. I love John Wayne and Claudette Colbert in everything they do. This is such a cute, fun and romantic comedy it makes a person want to really "be there". It reminds me of "It happened One Night" with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, from a few years earlier. I love that movie, also.

Such fun! Thank you for listening. Florence Stockton Reno, Nevada

If you know John Wayne films it's not surprising that He could be humorous, even in his heroic roles that He usually portrayed. This film is amusing and the characters are appealing. It's good for a viewing every few years or so. The only problem is a that John Wayne is about 10 years too old for this role. Born in 1906, in 1946, when this film was released, He was about 40 years old. The reason that He wasn't actually in the military during WWII was that He was a little too old. Before His breakout success in "Stagecoach" Wayne spent nearly 10 years cranking out B-Westerns. For the remainder of His career He was almost always a little too old for His character, which was especially evident as He got older. Until his last few films, He was still playing the hero roles that got the girl in the end. I 've always wished that He had played more age appropriate character roles once he was in his 60s. It's only a small gripe, and He does well in this lite comedy.

Cute comedy about a novelist (Claudette Colbert) who meets a soldier (John Wayne) and realizes she loves him. There's more to it than that, but that's the bare bones of the plot. The movie moves quickly, is VERY funny and who knew John Wayne could do comedy so well? Colbert beautiful and charming (as always). There's also a few appearances from stars of that era. Bright, breezy...well worth seeing.

Most of these reviewers are pretty spot-on, so I can just add my observations: It was a complete surprise to see a John Wayne character deliver a book critique. I was off my pins for a while until he went into his "Why don't you just stop thinking." Movie was like a collision between Ayn Rand and Frank Capra. Still, very breezy, and we enjoyed the contemporary stock location footage of Chicago... with the cute cameo by Jack Benny (taking train back up to Waukegan, no doubt). Also, it presented an interesting peek, though filtered through Hollywood's cockeyed optimism, of a question that was surely on many people's minds. We've saved the world, now how shall we remake it in our image. Surely there were many Kit Masterson writing about what we should do, My theory has long been that the postwar world was most shaped by the GI Bill of Rights, which put a college education and new home within reach of millions of veterans, and created the American middle class, for good or bad. Having lived through the crises of our new century, it's interesting to see people who realized they were standing at other crossroads in history.