No Time For Love (1943)

I'm boggled at how hard it is for me to really enjoy a classic movie lately. Either they've been really boring and I had no interest. Not a new issue I'm handling but a frustrating one it is. So once again I pushed aside my netflix arrivals thinking I was in for another disappointment. I wasn't in the mood. I as set to play the movie as a background as I typed up my lecture notes and surf the net.

Ahh...the wonders of surpise.

"No Time For Love" is weirdly titled but such a great rom-com. We have Kate(played by Claudette Colbert), a very successful photographer who works for a newspaper. Kate is frustrated by the superiors since they don't "get" her photos ( Quite frankly neither do i. Her photos would definitely be featured in a MOMA exhibit today. It's that modern art style that I just can't fathom the meaning...). Instead of taking pictures of ballet dancers as she's assigned to, she takes pictures of inanimate objects such as a chair, an egg. This naturally pissed off her manager. So instead of taking the heat she quits. But...since her boyfriend is the head honcho of the newspaper group, the manager is forced to call her back and apologizes.
 Why? Check these lines of dialogue

       head honcho: "we can't afford to lose her....but we would regret losing you..."

 What? What! Woooooooooow. That is harsh! So the manager is naturally even more pissed off (rightfully so) that when he calls to apologizes, Kate gets all high and mighty and says that she is to be treated liked any other photographer, no special treatment. ::evil twisting of hands::
   So she is given a dirty assignment (literally, there's mud). She is the photograph the workers that are digging a tunnel under the bridge.  The Irish workers aren't happy to see her since she's a woman and will bring bad lucj (I thought that was just on ships?I dunno).  She calls them "superstitious children" and they grumble themselves back to work (this woman is psychotic!). As she's there she eyes a well-muscled young man, Ryan (mmm hmm...yummy) who she immediately latches onto and takes photo. As she's framing the shot, a distracted worker (looking at her) loosens a valve and causes a huge accident where the big heavy hammer thing comes swinging and knocks the young man over. Kate pulls him away and ultimately saves his life. Should that make him happy? Nope. He gets all miffed that she was there causing trouble! So begins their path of meddling in each others lives and love.

 I just love the characters so much. Kate is a crazy biotch! She's obnoxious, self-centered, know-it-all, crazy biotch. I owe it all the acting power of Colbert to making this character not only lovable but endearing and charming. Kate is a rich snob but she can definitely hold her own. Her temper is powerful and so is her right hook. I can so relate to her.

One of the most memorable scene was the dream sequence. It is on top of a huge broken chair. On the seat are a bunch of scraggly rocks. A miniture Kate and her fiance Fred are dressed up in overly-dramatic villain and heroine clothes. She mimes fear and tries to run away, only to fall over to the side. She falls gracefully through the air admist her billowing dress. Then Ryan, in a super-man-like costume flies over. As he approaches her, he twitches his wrists like an airplaine, scoops her up and they fly back to the chair. Evil fred tries to shoot at Superhero Ryan only to have the bullets bounce harmlessly from the chest. In the background, kate is all smiles and cheer. Then evil ryan is pushed off and the dream ends! Sweet dreams!

To continue the hilarity, Kate is disturbed at her dreams. She reasons that if she fabricates ryan in real life, then she could deal with him in reality therefore transfering that persona to her dreams. Yeah, it doesn't make sense which is the point. She's sitting at the table with teacups talking to the empty space before her as if ryan is actually there. She is playing with an imaginary ryan. IMAGINARY!! how many rom-com actresses can you think of that can play crazy and yet make it seem so cute?! not many! not many at all!!

 ryan...oh ryan is an irish dream. he is all brawn and principle. he is strong in strength and intelligence. he may work at digging out the mud, or flirt with vapid dancers or brawl at the strangest moment but he can built an engineering machine that can stop a flood of mud (i dunno how. just run with it).he's tall, muscular, handsome. yet sweet, kind, and romantic. when he arrives at kates apartment to return her missing equipment, he barges in demanding to see the chair that she proclaimed had more charm and personality then he. It's just a dainty bedroom chair. which he promptly sits down upon and destroys. he just walks away. kate is livid and tries to yell at him. only to have him grasp her and kiss her.
        Kate : Oh, you---you coward! Kissing a   
                   woman!
        Ryan : What am I supposed to kiss?


I'm barely scratching the surface on what made this movie so much fun. In a nutshell there was great romance, action, and suspense. The dialogue was fun and witty with the occasional sexual quip thrown in for fun. Yes it sounds like a "superman" type of story. Strong man rescues feeble woman of that type. But this was so much more. They both had strong and weak qualities that complimented each other. kate was obnoxious wheres as ryan pointed out that those people she looked down upon worked hard and she wouldn't be able to do what they do. she gets herself into stupid, STUPID situations. he rescues her but he doesn't  coddle.he acts appropriately, he walks away. she deserved that. it was stupid how she put herself at these situations. for a high class lady, she's dumb as hell.

The weird running gag was how the irish could quickly bring themselves to fight one another.i dunno if that was just a harmless joke or a racial slur but it did bring out the funniest moment in the movie. a huge fight is about to arupt between the men. frantic, she urges the men to try her method of solving a fight without fists. how? musical chairs.

yes. MUSICAL CHAIRS. imagine 8 brawny irish men eying each other evilly trying to do musical chairs. once the music stops, instead of sitting, they just grab the chairs! and then the fists start flying!!! it didn't have to be irishmen to make this funny. just grown men doing musical chairs is awesome enough!

if your a rom-com fan, definitely watch this. seriously go now.

I will leave with the most memorable quotes of the movie. one kate makes her decision to go for ryan, he swoops her up caveman style and marches out the door passing their good friend:
                        Ryan: Thank you buddy. Come by for dinner sometime
                        Friend: Tomorrow night then
                       Kate: Oh no. Not tomorrow night

Hee hee...cause they're gonna hit that!!! get it? get?!??!?!