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This is a corny love story, no doubt about it. Colbert was at her prime, and MacMurray was on the way up. She was shapely, witty and ravishing as the Uptown NYC reporter, and he was sweat-laden, resolute and brawny in the mud somewhere below the Hudson. I saw it about thirty five years ago, and somehow it has stuck with me all these years. Now that I live in Massachusetts, where the taxpayer has just poured $16BN into a death hole below Boston, I just wish that old' Fred was still kicking so he could jump down in that glory hole and make it all right. Claudette could put the ink out on all the shady contractors and corrupt politicians. How come life isn't more like the movies?

Claudette Colbert is a photographer who takes pictures for Mirror Magazine. a current events and topics sheet of a kind. When she's sent on assignment to cover "sandhogs" who are tunneling for the city's sewer, etc. she discovers sweaty, shirtless men underground and Fred MacMurray is one of them. Of course, they do not hit it off well in the beginning. With his swagger, ego, and his obvious gruff way with women, the viewer can see he's used to a certain type of woman and to taking what he wants. But his he-man attitude is lost on her. Or so, she says. She winds up dreaming about this man that his co-workers call "Superman." Of course, the irony here is that Fred MacMurray would be the model that the creator of Captain Marvel took for his inspiration. But, getting back to the movie, this is quite a brisk and fun comedy, with enough sex appeal and quick dialogue to keep the viewer entertained and alert! While no classic, it's still a lot of fun with Fred and Claudette bickering and waiting until the last frame to kiss and make up. And, in the end, someone, who wants to visit them, asks "Can I come tomorrow night?" Claudette responds, "No. Not tomorrow night." Get carried away with people who think they've "no time for love."

No Time For Love finds Claudette Colbert as an acclaimed news photographer who draws an assignment shooting pictures of the sandhogs digging a new river tunnel. When she photographs a beefy Fred MacMurray in a fight with some fellow workers, he draws a suspension and she falls for him.

But he's not part of her world, in fact she's engaged somewhat to Paul McGrath who is the publisher of the magazine she works for. But the two of them can't seem to get enough of each other's company, even with MacMurray putting some moves on burlesque dancer June Havoc.

MacMurray and Colbert were a pretty good screen team with films ranging from the very serious Maid Of Salem to the sophisticated Gilded Lily to the rustic The Egg And I. But No Time For Love just doesn't quite measure up to those other movies. At times the story just seems silly rather than funny.

Highlight of the film is the musical chairs game played sandhog style. Let's say this is a party game these guys both take seriously and party hearty with. There's also a nice scene where Colbert hires body builder Jerome DeNuccio to pose and make MacMurray jealous and he also deals with him sandhog style. Richard Haydn also has a nice part as a friend of Colbert's who thinks she and MacMurray are really suited for each other, try as they might to fight against it.

No Time For Love is a good film, but not up to the comedy standards the leads have both separately and together.

Physical comedy of the kind we call screwball is evident throughout NO TIME FOR LOVE where Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray play a couple from opposite social circles. She's a magazine photographer, he's a sandhog working in a tunnel beneath the Hudson River. She's attracted to him at first sight but doesn't seem to know it--and we know he's going to fall for her after a bunch of mishaps happen.

The mishaps are piled one on top of another in typical screwball fashion with nobody making much sense. Certainly MacMurray's character is about as obnoxious and arrogant as any leading man Colbert was ever set up against, and she acts pretty irresponsibly in that tunnel where she gets up to her neck in trouble and mud--lots of mud.

But somehow, it's all very watchable with a cast that knows exactly how to play this sort of thing. Claude Binyon had a way with writing slight romantic comedies and he gives Colbert and MacMurray some bright lines to work with. Others fortunate enough to get some good moments are Richard Haydn, Ilka Chase, June Havoc and Rod Cameron. If you look closely you can spot Tom Neal in the background as one of the sandhogs.

It doesn't make a lot of sense when you stop to think about it, but it's fun while it lasts, thanks mainly to MacMurray and Colbert who can do this kind of romp effortlessly.

Funniest bit: As MacMurray exits in final scene carrying Colbert like a caveman over his back, Richard Haydn says: "I'll drop by for supper tomorrow night." "Not tomorrow night," says Colbert. Wink. Wink.

Sexy sophisticated photographer Colbert falls for lunkhead tunnel worker. A variation on the old independent city girl falls for ordinary joe that worked in both Mr. Smith and Mr.Deeds Goes to Town. The scenes inside the construction tunnel are pretty well done and Colbert is always great . McMurry is a little hard to swallow as the hunky construction "Superman!?" I think I'm in better shape and I'm 59. Still both are excellent comedy actors so it makes this enjoyable enough.

I have seen this movie many times and am searching for a copy. It is a favorite. Those who have loved Colbert and McMurry in their other pairings will thoroughly enjoy this romp. These two had an on-screen chemistry second only to Hepburn ad Tracy. If you loved "The Egg and I", you will enjoy "No Time for Love". Ilka Chase fans will enjoy her role as she always played her characters with such ease and reality. Colbert, like Roz Russel, always played the woman in command of her life who eventually gives into her leading man. The viewer must remember that "No Time for Love" was a contract movie cranked out at rapid pace by the studios for profit and in an era of war. These movies were needed to lighten the spirit of America and they still do that today.

High-minded famed modern photographer Katherine Grant (Claudette Colbert) quits Mirror Magazine once again after arguing with the editor. Publisher Henry Fulton has a crush on her and forces him to apologize. She insists that she doesn't get preferential treatment and the editor promptly sends her into the tunnel construction under the river. Her presence causes an accident leading to meathead sandhog Jim Ryan (Fred MacMurray) getting into a fight. She starts dreaming about the hunk and decides to confront it. Henry releases a picture of Ryan fighting causes him to be suspended. Katherine hires him as her assistant and rom-com chaos ensues.

I like the pairing of Colbert and MacMurray. The actors have a nice chemistry with physical comedy and biting lines. The main drawback is that MacMurray doesn't fit the meathead role. He can play clueless but once he put on a suit and bow tie, he no longer fits the blue collar superman hunk character anymore. I would love to see this remade. This is a fun silly little rom-com.

This sexist "romantic comedy" has very little going for it except the wonderful cast, and a few funny scenes such as the "sand hogs" playing their musical chairs game. Claudette and Fred surely do the best they can with hardly anything to work with. There are good production values all the way and the tunnel work looks very realistic. Hollywood was always ready to go the "whole hog" for very little result.

Claudette Colbert is a busy, successful and rather self-satisfied photographer on a popular picture magazine. Sent to do a story on a crew tunneling under the river, she encounters brash and beefy laborer Fred MacMurray. Not surprisingly, the two complete opposites take an instant dislike to each other. It's equally not surprising when they can't stay away from each other.

Yes, the plot is pretty predictable, but Colbert and MacMurray manage to entertain nevertheless. Fred is the kind of guy who talks tough but is nobody's fool when it comes to using his brains when he needs to invent a new machine to get his work done. Claudette, on the other hand, lives the intellectual life among magazine editors and pianists-but, it turns out, isn't afraid to get her feet muddy when it comes to helping a friend.

Rhys Williams is a good sport as MacMurray's pal from the tunnel. June Havoc is just right as the dancer who hangs out with Fred but can't compete with Claudette: fun-loving, slightly obnoxious, and just sympathetic enough that we almost feel bad for her.

Highlights include a sequence in the tunnel where mud is seeping through the walls and MacMurray's team-and Colbert-are in it up to their waists. There's also a hilarious bit where Colbert convinces the men to play musical chairs instead of throwing a fight. (They try it, it turns into a fight.)

Quite enjoyable, overall, thanks mainly to the personalities of the two stars. Colbert and MacMurray really are hard to resist.

Thoroughly mediocre and predictable. Claudette Colbert is a photographer for a Life Magazine clone. (Kids: Still photographs were very popular in 1943 because nobody had hand-held video cameras yet.) Her assignment: Take pictures of the "Sandhogs" working in caissons under the East River. An accident, Sandhog Fred MacMurray is fired, and Colbert hires him as an assistant out of guilt. Guess what happens by the end.

There's no real point in going on about this movie because it doesn't deserve any close scrutiny. MacMurray is a he-man who gets into fist fights with his fellow sweaty, shirtless Sandhogs all the time, but it's never serious. He decks three of them at once. Colbert -- well, Claudette Colbert seemed to be forever getting caught up in some plot with a bemuscled, beef-brained behemoth, didn't she? Beginning with "It Happened One Night," with no-nonsense Clark Gable, and continuing through the next decade with "No Reservations", co-starring a no-nonsense John Wayne.

I can't recommend it but my taste is warped and some may find the movie tinged with pique. If so, they haven't seen a movie in a long time.

No Time for Love (1943) : Brief Review -

A handsome sandhog, a beautiful photographer, and their messily funny love story. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray make such a cute couple here that even a messy love story looks adorable. The film features Colbert in the role of a photographer who starts to fancy a sandhog. After stealing her sleep at night, he is given a job by her to assist in her work. She is trying to rid herself of her dreams by making a fool of him but instead starts genuinely liking him. The man, on the other hand, is a tough, straightforward guy when it comes to speaking about love. In that car scene, he openly asks her if she's nuts about him or not, and, a little afraid of her pride, she says no, prompting him to immediately decline her. The very next moment, she admits it, and he falls for her for real. That was a cute scene, and there are a few more like it. However, I must note here that the love story soon becomes messy, especially during the breakup part. I was kind of expecting Colbert to leave her engagement and run away (like in It Happened One Night!) and find Fred at the gate or something, but it felt too corny to see that big, egoistic, macho guy come in and break up the engagement so easily. It could have been sweeter and more humorous. Nonetheless, MacMurray and Colbert's charming chemistry carried the film. Mitchell Leisen creates an enjoyable romantic comedy, reflecting the charismatic era precisely. But since we have seen hundreds of films with the same charm in this genre, the competition makes it feel a little less impactful. Still, it's a good one-time watch, or rather, something more than that, because the romantic gestures are simply gorgeous and delightful. They didn't make more like this after that when modernization took over.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Yes, it is dated and sexist and kinda clichéd. You can also say that for most comedies of this era. BUT - this is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It has it all: snappy dialogue, perfectly delivered by a stellar cast; loads of broad physical humor; moments you won't believe got past the censors:

Ryan: it was so late when I finished, that-- Katherine: Finished what? Ryan: Are you kidding?

Colbert and MacMurray's supporting cast really shine too. June Havoc as the ditsy Darlene ("Hey, my face was open!"), Richard Haydn as Roger, the composer ("What am I supposed to do here, there isn't even a piano!") and of course, Ilka Chase as Katherine's sister Hoppy, who delivers one of the best comedic lines in movie history: "Doorbells should ring once, then electrocute the ringer."

This has been one of my favorite films for years, so I was thrilled when it was finally released on DVD as part of a Claudette Colbert collection. Do yourself a favor and pick it up...there are five other fun films in the collection, but none top "No Time for Love."

This is one of those "snooty society dame learns what's what from a a real working-class joe" comedies that were never bettered after "It Happened One Night," so it's kind of depressing to see that film's lead Colbert in an inferior imitation. The comedy here is pretty lowbrow, which would be OK in a knockabout B-grade film, but comes off lazy and stupid in a glossy Paramount "A" for two major stars. A year before "Double Indemnity," MacMurray plays another two-fisted lout in less mortal peril from a glamorous dame, a hard-hat tunnel-digging "sandhog" to her glossy-magazine photographer. He could do comedy, obviously, but the characters and writing don't do him or Colbert any favors.

Nor does the material do much for Leisen, a gay director who voluntarily or otherwise adopts the usual mainstream Hollywood formula for class warfare: The upper classes are all gay (or, worse, women), and the lower classes are all he-men (apparently their women are scarce) who talk like they stepped out of Damon Runyon story. There's a really silly dream sequence where Macmurray is Superman (or something like), and you keep expecting a song or two to likewise liven up the predictable "I hate you you great big ape, oh I...love you!!!" progress, but that never arrives. It's a watchable but completely contrived and uninspired waste of first class talent all around, even if it does get somewhat better toward the end by turning into a sort of action thriller. It must have done all right at the time, though, since the same director and stars were back against the next year in "Practically Yours."

. . . most gender-confused major-studio American movie of all time. Maybe the writers felt guilty about being male civilians in wartime, maybe they were just homophobic or closet cases; the fact is that the cast-list of this film falls into three gender categories: macho men who nance around at the smallest excuse; nelly men (and I do mean nelly: the butchest item among them is Hollywood-fey icon Richard Haydn); and neuter (Ilka Chase). Oh, make that four categories; at this point in her career, Claudette Colbert deserves one of her own.

This is not a good movie; the comedy is lame, the drama lamer. But for anyone interested in Tinseltown's erratic progress toward self-knowledge in sexual matters, it is required viewing. It certainly confirms the long- time rumor that director Mitch Leisen was gay. And for gay males of a certain age it includes a precious (in both senses of the word) sequence in which one of those pectoral-less Charles Atlas-style "strongmen" flexes for Colbert's camera in (I'm not making this up) a leopard-pattern posing peplum, on a set featuring (I tell you I'm not making this up) a plaster "broken" Greek column that must have been borrowed for the day from Athletic Model Guild. (No that can't be right; Bob Mizer didn't set up AMG until '45. Do you suppose he snapped it up after Paramount was through with it? If so, it's even more historically significant.)

Point for further study: 30s and 40s male stars like Clark Gable, Johnny Weissmuller, and Fred Macmurray were all pretty flat-chested. When did Hollywood discover pectorals?

In New York City, "Mirror" magazine photographer Claudette Colbert (as Katherine Grant) is scolded for not including enough "leg" in her pictures. Apparently, Ms. Colbert's termination is par for the course, and she remains a successful employee. For her next assignment, Colbert is sent to photograph men digging an underground tunnel. The muscular "sandhogs" think women in the dangerous workplace are bad luck; consequently, they adopt homosexual mannerisms. Sure enough, an accident occurs. Colbert meets arrogant Fred MacMurray (as Jim Ryan). Called "Superman" by co-workers, after the comic book character, Mr. MacMurray is tall and muscular. He beats up weaker men and forces a kiss on Colbert...

A aroused Colbert has dreams featuring MacMurray as a flying super-man. She hires him as her personal photographer's assistant. MacMurray shows off a great physique in a long shirtless scene; for most of his career, he was seen in suit and tie. Reportedly, "No Time for Love" inspired the creation of Fawcett's super-hero "Captain Marvel" (herein, he is clearly meant to evoke National/DC comics' "Superman"). When people noted the film was released in 1943, too late to inspire "Captain Marvel", the association was dropped. MacMurray is still said to have inspired the hero, however. He does look the part, although neither "Captain Marvel" nor "Superman" would act like the violent, womanizing character he plays.

**** No Time for Love (11/10/43) Mitchell Leisen ~ Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ilka Chase, Richard Haydn