No Time for Love

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 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.

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.

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.