Aller et retour

Marilyn (Claudette Colbert) meets a nice guy, Charles Gray (Ray Milland) and they fall for each other. What she doesn't know is that this rich member of the British royalty already is engaged...and when he pops the question to her, she rejects him. Her friend, Peter (Fred MacMurray), is a newspaper man and helps her exploit the situation...creating a lounge act for her and billing her as 'The NO Girl'. While she has no singing ability, he insists that this won't be a problem! And, oddly, she becomes quite the sensation.

When she takes her show on the road to the UK, a potential problem arises....Charles. When they meet again, they pick up where they left off...and Pete feels left out...which would seem to indicate he wants her to be more than just his business partner. What's next? See the film...and see who she picks.

Considering the actors, it's not surprising that the movie works quite well. Charming and well worth seeing.

Get that cast... Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Aubrey Smith, Ray Milland, Don Meeks. all so good. Marilyn (Colbert) and Pete (Mac) are buddies, working in new york city. When Marilyn bumps into Charles Gray (Milland), she gets all flustered, and they spend the next couple days running around the city together. but Gray must return to england to break it off with his fiancee. Marilyn sees the photos of Lord Gray in the paper, and thinks he has lied to her... he had, but only to break it off with the one back home. another little problem that snowballs into something much bigger, since someone couldn't tell the truth to begin with. Marilyn hits it big as a singer, and now things really turn around for her. can they pick up where they left off? Aubrey Smith was always the uncle, the congressman, the wise judge. here, he's Gray's father, and wants to avoid any whiff of scandal to protect the family name. Colbert and Milland had been around hollywood a bit, but this was one of MacMurray's first credited roles. it's fun to watch it all happen. liberal use of backdrops. clearly there was a magic between Colbert and Mac. directed by Wes Ruggles.was nominated for Cimarron. he had started in EARLY silents as an actor, and carried on with directing, into the talkies. had worked with the Chaplins. his brother Charles Ruggles was hilarious in so many comedies. Watch this one. shame they don't show it very often.

Just what I wanted from a film-- to feel good, smile, and applaud at the end. Colbert was fantastic.

THE GILDED LILY packs a lot of good-natured fun into a standard Paramount assembly line product. Claudette Colbert, perhaps never more perfectly photographed and framed, plays an office worker torn between two handsome young suitors: a brash newspaper reporter (Fred MacMurray) and a cultivated Englishman (Ray Milland, who, unbeknownst to Colbert, is actually a duke traveling in the States under an assumed name to avoid the press). The plot picks up when Colbert discovers Milland's true identity (via MacMurray who by chance is assigned to do a story on him), whereupon emotions take over, spin out of control and create a whole new world of developments, including Colbert's overnight rise to celebrity-by- association, which relocates her from workaday surroundings to nightclub dressing rooms and luxury hotels, from simple lace collars to glittery evening gowns. There is no logical explanation for how she could become so closely involved with Milland, yet know nothing about him other than the fact that he is English and has no job. But we must suspend disbelief so that the plot can develop.

The first half is the best, beginning charmingly as Colbert and MacMurray's friendly- flirtatious relationship is established on a bench outside the main branch of the New York Public Library where they meet each Thursday to eat popcorn, chat and watch the world go by. Their dialogue provides all the exposition we will need: he is in love with her, plain and simple; she isn't in love with him, because her vision of love is based on an ideal fantasy which no reality has ever matched. From this introduction we are taken on a lively ride as she is soon swept off her feet by Milland in the surging chaos of a packed subway station. Following is a series of beautifully written scenes, expertly played by Colbert, charting the giddiness of falling madly in love through the descent into despair when that love suddenly appears to be a cruel illusion. The peak occurs when Colbert exquisitely botches a nightclub song-and-dance act intended to launch her as a marketable celebrity.

Thereafter the story sags and gets mechanical, contracting into the old "which suitor shall I choose" routine, but momentum resumes toward the end. Even at its lowest points, however, just the beauty of the three main faces in close up is enough to hold interest. It is impossible to judge which of Colbert's many light comedy performances is the finest, but this one would have to be in the top five. MacMurray and Milland are perfectly cast as the opposite love interests. They resemble each other in build, height and hair color, so that even accounting for Milland's accent and slightly more reserved demeanor we can see why it's so difficult for Colbert to choose between them. The resemblance is most pronounced when the men appear together in formal attire.

... as well as his first collaboration with Claudette Colbert. MacMurray plays reporter Peter Dawes who has been thoroughly "friend-zoned" by Marilyn David (Colbert) a stenographer. Every Thursday night, the two friends meet on a secluded bench in Manhattan. They eat popcorn, tell each other about their life, and "watch the world go by." It's obvious that Peter has a crush on Marilyn, but she's set on his being her good friend.

Later, she meets Charles Gray (Ray Milland), a young man with whom Marilyn is instantly smitten. One day, Charles announces that he is going to England for business and will return. Marilyn is sad, but understanding. Later, Peter learns that Charles was hiding a secret and he's actually part of the British aristocracy. He and his father (C Aubrey Smith) were traveling in New York City incognito. Marilyn also learns that Charles was actually engaged, when she was led to believe that they would be married. Marilyn ends up giving Charles the heave ho.

All while this is going on, Peter is in the background looking out for his friend, Marilyn. He learns about Charles' deception and later does not care for how he treats his friend. Peter uses his position at the newspaper to plant some stories about Marilyn, whom he nicknames the "No Girl," and how she dumped Charles. The publicity blows up and turns Marilyn into an overnight celebrity. Her celebrity grows to the point that she's even headlining a nightclub act even though she cannot sing or dance.

This was a really sweet movie. I loved the rapport between Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert's characters. I didn't expect the twist with Milland's character and I always love to be surprised by a movie. The ending of the film came as no surprise, but it honestly was the only ending this film could have. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a sweet romantic comedy.