La Folle Alouette

Lydia (Claudette Colbert) and Tony (Ray Milland) have been married for five years. Tony is in love with his job and his wife is mostly an afterthought. Inexplicably, she accepts this and loves the big jerk in spite of this. However, after years of being neglected emotionally, the problem comes to a head during their anniversary. Instead of a romantic dinner for two, he invites over clients-- clients who Lydia doesn't like--and she has every reason to dislike these nasty folks. She's in a funk and a dashing guy, Jim (Brian Ahern), offers to take her away from this dinner party and she impulsively goes. She returns many hours later--long after all the guests have gone home.

Jim realizes, finally, that his marriage is in trouble. His plan to woo her back--lie to her and tell her he's quitting his job. But, he has no intention of leaving this job--and it really isn't much of a plan. Eventually, Lydia learns about this and leaves him. Soon they are divorced and NOW Jim finally tries to actually do something to win her back. But, considering they are divorced and she doesn't want to see him, it really seems like he's stalking her and is an abusive ex-spouse. It's really quite creepy and about as romantic as a case of the clap. The film might have seemed cute back in 1941, but today it comes off as an endorsement for a man to claim ownership over his 'property'--and Jim would, in the real world, end up in jail for his boorish behaviors!

Considering how good these actors are, the film should have been so much better. I also take off a point for the terribly overdone scene where Lydia keeps falling in the sailboat--it was about as subtle as a stripper at a Baptist picnic. Overall, it's a big disappointment, though the film does have its moments.

This is one of those movies where a childless, jobless wife has an enormous, beautiful house, a cook, a butler, more exquisite clothes than she can count, and we're supposed to feel sorry for her. Because she is married to Ray Milland, who, after five years, gives her a huge, passionate kiss when he comes home. Yeah, that's suffering, all right.

Claudette Colbert's problem is that Ray spends too much time and thought on his job--you know, the one that provides the house, cook, butler, etc. So she flips and takes off with the pleasant but sexless Brian Aherne. Wouldn't be my move.

True, Ray is something of a bully. He literally strong-arms Claudette into coming with him, and harshly orders her in a way that a servant wouldn't take these days. So, to satisfy the women in the audience, he has to be made to grovel. And to keep Claudette from a complete triumph that would make her look domineering, she has to be made ridiculous.

It's all part of the movie's desperation to pretend marriage is romantic and amusing. Can I explain something? It isn't.

I like these actors in most everything I've seen them in, but this one has a whiff of cheese going bad in the fridge. Ray Milland is psychotic over his search for financial success and kicks his wife around like a dog. Colbert has lost her mind and her self-respect as she whimpers fondly around him hoping for a pat on the head. And then things turn weirdly comic as Brian Aherne drops in to distract her.

A divorce seems comfortably inevitable; she and Aherne seem soul mates for sure, until Colbert's own psychosis turns her back towards a scheming Milland. Me oh my, who will she choose? Is anyone following this? I could have used cue cards for applause and hissing because the director didn't know where this thing was going. And it didn't get there.

This mishmash was not fun, and now I've got to carve off the mold to salvage a single bite of cheddar goodness. One of the few times I've rated a film at less than the user average, but at only 103 voters, this fuzzy stinker seems to have kept most of them out of the fridge.

A top cast -- Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland, and Brian Aherne star in "Skylark," a 1941 film directed by Mark Sandrich, and based on the play.

Milland and Colbert are Tony and Lydia Kenyon, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary, and they're having a party. Tony is in advertising, so all of his clients' products have to be on display. He's preoccupied with one client in particular, Frederick Vantine (Grant Mitchell), from whom he's trying to get another million dollars in advertising.

At the party, and right after an altercation with her husband, Linda meets a charming attorney, Jim Blake (Aherne) who becomes very smitten with her. She takes a drive with him to a diner. When she arrives home, the party is over and Tony is furious. The attorney was a guest of the Vantines, and Mrs. Vantine (Binnie Barnes) is angry that she went off with him. He demands that she call and apologize. Lydia does, and then she leaves him and spends more time with Jim -- against the wishes of Mrs. Vantine.

Funny marital comedy about a woman who doesn't want to be a second thought to her husband, and a husband who adores her but is afraid of not being good at his job. He's also jealous of Jim.

Some wonderful scenes and performances: the cast is top-notch, and Colbert's scene on Jim's boat is hilarious, and her encounters with Barnes are delicious. Aherne is likable, debonair, and charming, and Milland shows vulnerability as Tony.

"Skylark" could have better directed, which would have brought the film up a couple of notches. If Leo McCarey or Ernst Lubitsch had directed it, it might have been up there with "It Happened One Night." Nevertheless, it is delightful, with the three stars at the top of their respective games.

Lydia and Tony Kenyon (Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland) are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. Their relationship now contains about as much excitement as a straight line. Along comes Jim Blake (Brian Aherne), providing a point of conflict that defines a love triangle.

This is not a drama. The story comes from a play and its comedy is probably best appreciated if seen as Shakespearean. Blake is a passive-aggressive "Puck" who constantly picks at the relationship's frayed edges. A marriage is in the balance, but the characters banter wittily as if discussing the correct price for a cow. Lydia and Tony could have been played by Myrna Loy and William Powell.

The writing is clever and enjoyable. The characters are fun to watch. If you can let the story just be what it is, you might enjoy it. Suspend disbelief and engage your sense of humor. Otherwise, you might be tempted to think this film makes light of wifely dissatisfaction.