User Reviews

Claudette Colbert has long been, for me, the actress that could do no wrong. I never saw her in a film that I didn't like. Until tonight.

It's not that the acting here is bad. It's fine. It's the plot that smells to high heaven. We have Colbert's character -- the wife -- who is so disgusted with her husband's selfish focus on his career that she urges him to quit, even though that will leave them with no income to support their relatively wealthy life style. We have Ray Milland's character -- the husband -- who will tell any lie and commit any decent to get his wife back. And then, he stalks her even after the divorce. Ironically, the one fairly nice character in the film is Brian Aherne -- the other man. And in the end, Colbert goes back to her lying, deceitful husband.

This movie could have been saved by simply rewriting about 5 scenes and turning it into a drama, rather than a misguided comedy.

As mentioned, the acting here is fine. Claudette Colbert is fine as the wife, although I would hardly see this as one of her finer films. It's hard to root for her because her character is such a sap.

Ray Milland is fine as the lying, deceitful husband. But no way you can root for him. I rather liked Brian Aherne here, and usually he is not one of my favorites. Walter Abel is along as the best friend, and plays that role well...as he always did.

Sorry Claudette, I give this film a big thumbs down. How sad that you allowed yourself to be put in a film that is so demeaning toward women.

There's lots to like in this film version of the hit Broadway comedy that was a star vehicle for Gertrude lawrence, but on screen, it's so much like many other screwball comedies involving marital issues between sophisticated people. Claudette Colbert is glamorous as always, and she doesn't exactly get what she expects on her fifth wedding anniversary to Ray Milland so she runs out for a quick adventure with attorney Brian Aherne which leaves Milland alone trying to save an advertising account for wealthy Grant Mitchell.

A scene between Colbert and Mitchell's much younger wife (Binnie Barnes) is loaded with venom and results in Milland leaving her after he loses the account. But when he comes back, he finds Colbert and Aherne involved and tries to win her back, resulting in all the typical complications that come in these plays and films that show what happens when a wife tries to help her husband advance in his career. The sequence with Colbert trying to get dinner together on Aherne's boat during a storm is very funny although I can't imagine it having been easy to do on stage.

It's obvious from the moment that Milland and Colbert separate what's going to transpire in the second half of the film. The first half has a few amusing sequences, showing Colbert interfering in assistant, Walter Abel, arranging for her anniversary present in a jewelry store and changing the transaction as soon as Abel is gone. Mona Barrie steals every moment she's on as Colbert's confidante. This is glamorous and easygoing although at times the lead characters can be a bit obnoxious. It probably worked a lot better on stage where the characters could be fleshed out, but in typical Hollywood fashion, it ends up being defused when put on celluloid. There's a reason why some starry movies end up being forgotten, and this is an example of why they don't always reach out to the stars and grab them by the Comet.

Although I saw this film in a copy of rather poor quality, I enjoyed it very much. The script was clever, very efficiently tackling a problem commonly faced by married couples: the husband is so devoted to his career that he neglects his wife without even understanding it and a third person is soon there to take advantage of the situation. We follow with interest the reactions of the heroes. At first, we completely justify the wife, but later on we take sides with the husband, and wish that true love wins. Both Ray Milland and Claudette Colbert deliver lessons in acting, they are simply magnificent. Brian Aherne and Walter Abel are also very good. In short, a very entertaining film, that leaves you with a sense of good feeling when it ends. I sincerely hope that it is soon available in an official DVD, it certainly deserves it much more than so many mediocre films that are currently in circulation.

Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland here play in top form but do not appear alone as a dynamite duo for much of the picture. When they are gone the movie goes from a perfect 10 to a boring and not well edited grade The storyboard unravels and the plot seems contrived.

Very cute movie, about a wife that is sick of playing second fiddle to her husband's advertising job. It is obvious that he loves her but, he is so obsessed with his job, and little else, he loses her. Claudette Colbert is great as usual, and has some very funny scenes. She proves she was never afraid to get messy as long as it got a laugh. Ray Milland is dashing, but we don't like him in the beginning of the film when he makes Colbert apologize to his clients wife for running off with her other man, played so well by Brian Ahern. One of the funniest lines is when he "gifts" his clients his cook. Mona Barrie who plays the best friend of his wife says: "Lookie, lookie, lookie, there goes cookie". She leaves Ray, and then he realizes what a mess he made and tries to win her back. She gets involved with Ahern, who is charming and attentive and totally lovable. Ray lies about quitting his job, but she catches him in the lie and that is that. I really like this film, it is funny and touching and we are wanting Ray to win her back. He is so good looking and when he realizes that she is all that matters, we see him wear his heart on his sleeve for her. In the end, love conquers all over the job and the dog food.

Just as a note.....I just came across a Vanity Fair article about Claudette Colbert where she said that she and Milland had planned a tryst at her secretary's apartment. Both were married at the time. She got half way there and turned around and went home. No tryst but she admired him all thru her life. Milland was a big womanizer, and maybe she thought better of the situation. They are so good together that it does not surprise me.

One can see why many reviewers don't think "Skylark" is a first-rate comedy romance. I agree - because it is something else. Recognizing that for what it is might give many viewers cause to consider its quality anew. This is a problem with occasional films that are so-labelled when, in reality, there is something deeper - a love story. But, since Hollywood never got around to establishing such an overall film category, it settles for "romance." While it's fair to say there is romance in this film - with Brian Aherne's Jim Blake romancing Claudette Colbert's Lydia Kenyon, this is a story about a true and deep love that goes awry, and then heals in the end.

Obviously, such a story has some drama, so this film might more accurately be called a drama and love story with some comedy. The comedy is very light. And the drama is a story - as most have noted, of a man who becomes obsessively attached to his business and success, that love for his wife slips out of first place. This may not be so common in the 21st century - obsession with business and/or success, but it seemed to be and got quite a lot of attention in novels and the movies in the mid-20th century. Still, there will always be some people - today and into the future, who become obsessed, either with fame, power, riches, or success.

If this film was more accurately labeled and understood as a drama and love story, the dislikable character of Tony Kenyon that Ray Milland plays may not be seen as so villainous. For, as badly as he behaved and treated his wife, he loved her deeply. Obsession with anything affects people, and never positively. But obsessions can be licked. And, Tony's love for Lydia won out and conquered the obsession. He came to his senses and quit the job that had so driven him. And, he tried to win Lydia back. Their love was genuine, true and deep. It wasn't just romance. He asked her to take him back and to go with him to South America for his new job. In the end, she was unable to marry Jim because of her deep love for Tony. So, they reconciled with a happy ending in this film.

No, "Skylark" is not a good comedy romance at all - because those are such poor labels to give to this film. But it is a very good love story, with drama and some comedy. It's a good story about a couple deeply in love, and a man who was swayed by riches and power to the point of losing his wife and love, and then of his redemption and their reconciliation. So, for a love story, this is a very good film. I have no idea how the play was written, intended or performed on stage - as a comedy or what. But as filmed, directed and acted here, it's sure much more than a flighty comedy romance. And, I think all three leads of this film were of such intelligence, talent and integrity that that's how they saw the film as they made it.

Here are some favorite lines, funny and otherwise.

Lydia Kenyon, "You haven't heard a word I said." Tony Kenyon, "Mmhmm." Lydia, "A hippopotamus walked in and sat right on my knee." Tony, "Mmhmm."

Lydia, "Thanks for everything." Jim Blake, "Remember - there'll always be a boat burning in my window for you."

Tony, "And, did she happen to suggest in so many words, that I quit my job?" Jim Blake, "You wouldn't do that, would you?" Tony, "You think I'm crazy?" Blake, "Might help, pal. Spit In your boss's eye. Take your woman by the hand. Climb to the top of a hill. Look us over, moon. She's a woman. She's like herself. She makes the grass grow, see? I've got hold of her hand and I'm not letting it go. She's a skylark."

Tony, "Just how do you fit into this picture, anyway?" Blake, "Oh, I'm a Mr. Nobody see, and you're Mr. Somebody. A woman starts out by picking her man. But if he can't play the part, the words are still there, aren't they, chum? Maybe Mr. Nobody can say 'em - and mean 'em."

Lydia, after sitting down in Blake's law office, "Couldn't you put me at ease? Say something about the weather." Blake, "It's raining."

Blake, "She said she went up to the island - she had to think." Tony, "Oh.... Oh! The island. Well, that's interesting." Blake, "Where is it?" Tony, "I don't know. Lots of islands - Staten Island, Governor's Island, Coney Island." George Gorell, "A thousand island." Blake, "Keep quiet, you!" George, "I was only trying to be helpful."

Tony, "Hello, Charlotte... you don't seem surprised." Charlotte Gorell, "I haven't been surprised since I married George."

Lydia, "It's difficult to erase five years from your memory overnight."

When Ray Millan hits a good ball and it strikes the painted tree canvas, bouncing off it, you just know this will be a bomb! The lame ocean scene in a storm and the ocean liner - obviously shot in a studio, complete the cheapness of this bad movie.