Skylark
November. 21,1941As her fifth wedding anniversary approaches, a woman realizes that she is fed up with always coming in second to her husband's advertising business. Just at the moment when she is trying to decide what to do, she meets a handsome attorney, and their innocent flirtation begins to turn into something a bit more serious.
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The Worst Film Ever
How sad is this?
Absolutely the worst movie.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Familiar theme yet played to the hilt by Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland in this totally enjoyable film.Realizing that her husband's success in business is primary to him, Colbert runs off with an attorney played by an irascible Brian Aherne and he successfully is able to get her to divorce the Milland character.The rest of the film is devoted to Milland trying to woo her back. The scenes in the subway and at the musical theater are both quite funny.Binnie Barnes is terrific as the wife of Milland's boss; acting high society although her background is probably humble at best. She also has designs on Aherne.The scenes where Milland has lied to his wife about quitting his job are funny; that's until Barnes shows up and in front of Colbert, she fires him which proves he had lied to Colbert.
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.
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) leaves her husband Tony (Ray Milland) who she has been married to for 5 years because he puts his career first. Jim (Brian Aherne) moves in on her and she rather sluttishly encourages his flirtations. Lydia and Tony divorce and Lydia starts to hang out with Jim....If the above summary sounds interesting to you, and you expect nothing else to happen, then you'll like the film. Personally, I lost count of the number of times that I slipped off into a daydream. What a waste of a good cast. Colbert and Milland are fine to watch, though - Milland gives the best dramatic moment as he concedes defeat to Aherne and walks away from the new lovers. Whilst Milland starts as a dislikable character, the audience turns in his favour as the film develops. He is extremely tolerant of the nasty Aherne character - the number of times he tolerates his presence verges on the saintly. Colbert is a silly bitch in this film.Overall, despite an effort to engage myself in the proceedings, there was only about half an hour's worth of story in this effort, and so I couldn't. It's boring. Women will probably like it.