Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fantastic!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This was the fourth out of six Paramount films for which Billy Wilder received a screenplay credit (he actually worked without credit on as many again) and the third of the six (after Bluebeard's Eighth Wife and Midnight) to star Claudette Colbert but whilst the first two were out- and-out comedies Arise, My Love is a fine blend of drama and romantic comedy set against the outbreak of World War 11 and shot just as Paris fell to the Germans in 1940. Another difference between the first two films is that in both Colbert had sterling support from the likes of David Niven, Edward Everett Horton, John Barrymore, Mary Astor whilst here, she and co-star Ray Milland carry the bulk of the plot with Walter Abel sharing a handful of scenes. Although Wilder was unhappy with Mitchell Liesens' directing - he helmed several Wilder screenplays - and claimed that Liesen was the reason he fought to direct his own screenplays the fact is that Leisen makes a fairly decent fist of a fine screenplay and coaxes excellent performances out of the two stars.

"Arise, My Love" is billed as a comedy-romance and drama. But, this film is as much a war story for its time and setting. A blossoming love is the core of the film, around which a myriad of small adventures and escapades coalesce. Indeed, the setting of early wartime Europe provides the basis for the love story. The humor is peppered throughout the film, mostly with its main characters. And like other films of this period – from the early months before to the start of WW II, this movie gives a look at the news media of the day and the American news sources in Europe. Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland are excellent in their roles of Augusta Nash and Tom Martin. "Gusto" Nash gives another side plot view of a woman striving for a professional career above all else. Walter Abel is excellent as the Associated News Agency European chief, Phillips, and adds to much of the humor. Colbert and Milland work well, and have a good chemistry that makes their roles believable as they segue from the humorous to the serious and a deep love. The rest of the supporting cast are fine, but beyond Phillips, few other roles have much substance. This is a film that is heavily weighted with the two leads and leading supporting role of Abel's. The production values and direction are very good in handling a fairly complex script with so many deviations and diversions. The script is mostly very good, but toward the end it skips over a chapter in which Tom is injured while flying against the Germans in Norway. The film has a lot of action, and touches on several historical events, albeit with the fictional characters involved. Nash rescues Martin from a Spanish firing squad in a clever plot. The two commandeer a plane on the ground and flee pursuing fighter planes. Later, they are among the survivors of the British passenger ship, Athenia. A German submarine torpedoed the ship off the Coast of Ireland on Sept. 2, 1939. It was the first hostile action on the seas by Germany, even before the official start of WW II. The scenes filmed of the rescued lifeboats are quite dramatic on the Irish coastline. Tom and Gusto were on the ship after the U.S. government urged Americans to return home following Germany's conquest of France. Deeply in love, the couple plan to marry and contribute to the war effort back home. Instead of flying fighter planes and reporting the war headlines, they will take safer jobs where they can be together in Cleveland. Onboard the Athenia, they toasted farewell to their former selves – fighter pilot Tom Martin, and big name reporter Gusto Nash, and tossed the champagne glasses overboard. Now, on the beach after their rescue, as they decide to stay, Gusto says, "God knew better. He threw us right back at them."This movie premiered on Oct 17, 1940, in America – more than a year before the U.S. would enter World War II. It covers just a short period from after the Spanish Civil War (April 1939) through the fall of France in May of 1940. It's one of the few American films made well before the U.S. entered WW II, and it doesn't hold back on the criticism of Nazi Germany, expressed mostly by Milland's character, Tom Martin. With it's bouncing around from one place and event to another, "Arise, My Love" may lose some viewers. Those who know a little history of the time will find the details more interesting. But, history knowledge or not, most viewers should enjoy this film. It has adventure, humor, romance, and the early stages of war. The title for the film comes from the Bible. Tom tells Gusto that he says this short prayer whenever he takes a plane up. It comes from Song of Solomon, Verse 2:13b: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."

Mitchell Leisen was one of the few directors who could introduce tragedy into comedy and vice versa .The first part is absolutely dazzling.Incredible though it may seem ,it's full of unexpected twists,of fine lines ("it's my first execution" says the Padre /It's mine too" says the prisoner).The chemistry between Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland is perfect and their husband-and-wife act compares favorably with that of the actress as a "baroness ,her husband and her children" in "midnight" .The movie loses steam in its second part but it does show Mitchell's fondness for France .Unlike too many American movies,there are plenty of French words and the French speak French between them.I particularly like this sentence "Three sisters used to live in this country :Liberté ,Egalité Et Fraternité " as the German army is marching past the streets of Paris.This francophilia is also present in Leisen's "hold back the dawn" or "Frenchman's creek" .The last third may be considered a propaganda one ,but many other directors (Hitchcock,Lang,Hathaway,Borzage etc) had theirs too,and Leisen's is certainly smarter than most of the others.Solomon's prayer (which provides the title) is to be taken literally.Augusta is a go-getter ,she plays the heroine just for the sake of fame .After the beautiful scene in the forest ,where the animals run for their lives ,she does arise .The scene in the Compiègne Car is as incredible as Marlene Dietrich as a gypsy entering an inn full of Nazis in "golden earrings" .But the Spanish extravagant tale had warned us:this is not to be taken seriously ,but in a way,it is.

Claudette Colbert stated that Ernst Lubitsch was "by far" her favorite director, but this film, directed by Mitchell Leisen, she stated to be her favorite movie. Released in 1940, it marked her fourth collaboration with Leisen (he'd co-directed without credit sequences of the 1932 Cecil B. DeMille production "Sign of the Cross," the movie which made Claudette a star), the man who directed her in more films than any other director.One can see why Claudette liked this film the best: it gave her a meatier role than the parts she'd played over the preceding several years. Ever since 1934's "It Happened One Night" Claudette had mostly done comedy films. This isn't a complaint – the lady had better comedic timing than just about any other actress in Hollywood. But here in Arise My Love she was able to cover the gamut of her talent, from comedy to drama, something she hadn't gotten to do since the Pre-Code years (check out her 1933 "Torch Singer" for an example). Indeed it's this mixture of genres which seems to offset the critics of today. For Arise My Love answers the unasked question: "What if Casablanca had been done as a screwball comedy?" Produced so in-the-moment that the script was rewritten daily to encompass the latest events, Arise My Love was released in 1940 and covers the hectic events of one year, starting in the summer of 1939. Claudette is Gusto Nash, a no-nonsense newspaper reporter who dreams of scoring big headlines. She frees Tom Martin (Ray Milland), a Nazi-hating pilot who's imprisoned on death row in Spain, part of the Liberty battalion of US soldiers who helped that country fight the encroaching Nazis (and lost). The first thirty minutes of this movie are 100% action, with escape via land and air. After this the film moves into screwball territory, with Tom hot for Gusto and Gusto trying to reign in her feelings; she wants to focus on her career. After this we move into drama; together at last, Gusto and Tom are soon separated, Gusto to cover the Nazi menace in various points of Europe, Tom battling the Germans in the Polish air force.Everything hangs together despite the mixing of genres. If I had any complaints it would be that the film ends a bit too weakly, Claudette delivering a passionate soliloquy to a silent Milland. Doubtless this gung-ho speech was intended to stir patriotic fervor in the audience of the day, but now, decades after WWII, it seems a bit anticlimactic. Indeed, the opening thirty minutes of the film are more climatic than the ending. But there are a lot of enjoyable moments. Claudette and Milland have good chemistry and both get a chance to display comedic and dramatic skills.The Sturges/Brackett script is up to the level of their previous Claudette productions ("Bluebeard's Eighth Wife" and "Midnight"), though, again, they don't get as much chance here to unleash their trademark comedy. Leisen's direction is good, too, as is the cinematography and production values. Claudette and Milland traipse about Europe in a variety of locales, from Paris to countryside inns deep in France; all of it done on a set, all of it featuring that Classic Film glamor.Released well after the enforcement of the puritanical Code, Arise My Love still gets in a few surprises – first, there's a delightful scene where Gusto comes up to Tom's room to snap his photo for her article. Tom however thinks she's coming up for sex. This develops into a scene filled with hilarious misunderstanding, with Gusto arranging the setup and Tom becoming increasingly bewildered: "So where shall we do it? How about the chair?" "What?" "Right – too conventional." All of it like "Three's Company," but still very funny. Also, shortly after this scene Gusto and Tom talk in a restaurant; Tom's pretending he's waiting for a (nonexistent) Swedish girl, but really he just wants to be with Gusto (who thinks she's just getting material for her article). There's a moment where Tom asks Gusto to pick out some flowers – flowers he pretends to be buying for the Swedish girl but are really for her. As Tom purchases the flowers she picked out, Gusto looks at him with a dawning understanding that turns into a look of longing – and then, very abruptly, she puts her pen in her mouth. Dr. Freud calling!Despite Claudette's preference for this film, it's never been officially released – not even on VHS. You'll need to scour the sordid world of online DVDR trading/sales to find yourself a copy, one which most likely will have been sourced from a cable TV broadcast.