La signorina e il cow-boy

I love Jean Arthur. That voice! Distinct... kinda nasal but not annoying... and intelligent yet unarrogant. And she's cute despite not being a traditional forgettable beauty.

John Wayne is relatively young here, still attractive and ungrizzled, and so he still makes for a good prince in this cowboy-meets-city girl fairytale. And the movie does start off that way - very charming and romantic - but of course it doesn't last, since what kind of a movie would it be if the boy and girl lived happily ever after after 15 minutes.

So it's too bad then that it goes downhill from there, when the couple starts encountering forced obstacle after forced obstacle and lame joke after lame joke. It's only by the grace of its charming stars that this movie rises a notch above mediocrity.

Another reviewer noted that the setting for this 1943 movie was 1938, a few years before the U.S. got into World War II. Life went on in time of war in the U.S., and Hollywood made many comedies to help relieve the home front stress and worry about the war. But the country also had rationing, reduced use of gas, and other product restrictions. So, it's not too likely that there were many bus tours around the country, as in this film. And, if there were some, the movie industry wouldn't want to be put on the spot encouraging Americans to splurge in a time of shortage. So, the time of the film taking place was just set back a few years.

"A Lady Takes a Chance" is a fun comedy romance that paired a couple of unlikely stars. Jean Arthur was one of the top female movie comics of the time, and John Wayne was known then for his long string of mostly Westerns. Wayne had ventured into comedy once before, in "His Private Secretary" (1933), and I think he did quite well. This movie showed that he could do comedy well – especially as a straight man against a comic partner.

The Arthur-Wayne pairing works very well in this movie. The Western and war film fans of John Wayne should enjoy this comedy-romance as well.

This is a funny and enjoyable movie. Jean Arthur plays Molly Truesdale, a young woman that needs a break from her job and the pursuit of three fellows wanting her companionship. She signs up for a fourteen day bus trip west. The vacation gets interesting when she meets a cowboy at a rodeo. That cowboy is Duke Hudkins (John Wayne), who is smitten with her coy flirtations. There is a magical interaction between Arthur and Wayne that seems to make the black and white film glow.

Phil Silvers plays the tour bus guide. The cowboy's side kick, Waco, is played by Charles Winninger. Also in the cast is Mary Field and Jean Stevens.

I thought I was going to see a John Wayne shoot-em-up western, but instead I got a fun black and white comedy. The only western action is in watching the rodeo scenes. John Wayne plays a total cowboy-- he is stuck in his cowboy ways and loves his horse more than anything else. Although John Wayne's character is prominent in the story, he is obviously not the lead. His character was there for Jean Arthur to play against. I will go as far as saying that the part of Duke Hudkins could have been played by another actor. Even without the John Wayne touch, the movie would have been just as good because of Jean Arthur as Molly Truesdale. It was a good role for Jean Arthur, and she made it the best it could be. This was her movie, and she got top billing.

I love her voice!

This is a movie about two people who are the least likely to couple. Our girl Molly(Jean Arthur) is taking a cross the country bus tour to clear her head of men. Seems she has three of them! They just aren't her type though.

Bring in John Wayne as Duke Hudkins. A good looking rodeo rider that runs into our Molly and thinks she would be a great one night stand. That's what he thinks. She does like him alot. He is after all, a REAL man who is unlike the other men she has met in New York. Seems rodeo men are kind of scarce there. The Duke likes women, ALOT, and has no thought of settling down. That's what he thinks. Now Molly wants him bad. How to hog tie this cowboy is the question.

This movie is cute though with an quite impossible plot, but hey it's Hollywood. Not a classic like "Devil and Miss Jones", "Easy Living" or "More the Merrier", but a good film just the same.