Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray enjoyed a successful collaboration which began in 1935. For the next fourteen years the two stars would turn out a series of box office hits, all of them in the romantic comedy vein except one. These comedies had a specific formula, usually a variation on the boy-gets-girl plot. Situations were often outlandish, and the duo would encounter serious complications before the happily ever after inevitably occurred.
In NO TIME FOR COMEDY, Miss Colbert plays a glamorous career woman. She earns a substantial salary and develops a reputation as one of the country's most renowned magazine photographers. The character is said to be inspired by Margaret Bourke-White. We learn Colbert won't refuse any assignment, even ones where her publisher boyfriend (Paul McGrath) sends her to snap pictures of men working the city's most dangerous jobs.
This is where Mr. MacMurray comes into the story. He's a construction foreman with knowledge in engineering; and he leads a group of rough and tumble men. Not only do they labor despite hazardous conditions, the temperatures in an underground tunnel beneath New York's Hudson River are quite hot. What's interesting about this set-up is how the job environments of the two main characters are so dramatically different. The contrast couldn't be greater.
Director Mitchell Leisen has a background in set design, so we see Colbert's apartment and office space elaborately furnished and decorated. She operates in a hoity-toity yet somewhat sterile atmosphere. She is not alone here, though; she has assistance from her sister (Ilka Chase) and receives visits at all hours from her numerous upper-class friends, which include Richard Haydn.
Meanwhile MacMurray toils under harsh and thankless conditions. He is usually seen without his shirt on, breaking sweat and busting his butt...trying to get his project completed on time. When Colbert first arrives to photograph him and his crew, the two do not exactly hit it off. Part of this is because the guys think that when a woman shows up down in the tunnel, it's bad luck and she's a jinx. Their superstitions seem verified when an accident soon takes place.
The romantic and comedic elements take shape when MacMurray arrogantly assumes that Colbert has the hots for him. He all but accuses her of lusting after him, since he is just so darn desirable and women can't help but be drawn to him. She insists she finds him repulsive, regardless of how much skin he bares. In fact, she calls him an ape several times in the movie. These are meant to be insults, but he takes these remarks as compliments. What's a girl to do? The trouble escalates when she experiences a dream that Freud would have a field day analyzing. It involves a chair in her bedroom that she told him has more personality than him!
As Colbert tosses and turns in her sleep, the dream (nightmare?) continues. She falls off the chair and needs help getting up. A figure appears in the sky out of nowhere. It's a bird. No wait. It's a plane. No wait. It's Superman. No wait. It's MacMurray dressed as Superman. Supposedly this riotous dream sequence was filmed in an enclosed area by Leisen and his cinematographer Charles Lang. For its time, the special effects and editing are rather advanced. Plus it's clear that MacMurray and Colbert are having a blast filming it.
As the story continues, Colbert realizes this man and his brazen attitude have seeped into her subconscious. Of course it doesn't help when he turns up at her place one day and asks to see the chair that she compared him to...she takes him to the bedroom to see it (big mistake) and that is when he impulsively kisses her. As if that were not enough, he informs her and her sister that he's been suspended without pay because one of the photographs that had been published in her company's magazine was not very flattering. She now feels responsible for his temporary unemployment.
In the next part, she hires him as an assistant until his suspension ends. It's not the best idea she's ever had...they still don't really get along, and he certainly knows nothing about photography. But she figures she can teach him. There's an amusing bit when a bodybuilder (Rex Ravelle) shows up at her studio for a spread she's shooting. Of course, macho MacMurray is a bit annoyed with this he-man Mr. Universe type jerk.
Another reason Colbert hired MacMurray to assist her is because she thinks that she will see all the man's flaws up close and personal. If that happens, then she'll come to dislike him so much that she'll never have another dream or fantasy about him. You know where this is going...She only falls for him more in spite of her best efforts not to do so. A further complication occurs when they go out on a new assignment, in which she's scheduled to photograph a bunch of chorus girls at a Broadway theater. During these scenes, a sexy chorine (June Havoc) catches MacMurray's eye, and they begin dating. This makes Colbert jealous.
However, we know that MacMurray and Colbert will still end up together to facilitate a happy ending. But getting there is a lot of fun. The dialogue is frequently witty, sparks fly, and there is a playful way that Leisen and his team put the material across on screen. No one escapes Cupid who has all the time in the world for love.
In NO TIME FOR COMEDY, Miss Colbert plays a glamorous career woman. She earns a substantial salary and develops a reputation as one of the country's most renowned magazine photographers. The character is said to be inspired by Margaret Bourke-White. We learn Colbert won't refuse any assignment, even ones where her publisher boyfriend (Paul McGrath) sends her to snap pictures of men working the city's most dangerous jobs.
This is where Mr. MacMurray comes into the story. He's a construction foreman with knowledge in engineering; and he leads a group of rough and tumble men. Not only do they labor despite hazardous conditions, the temperatures in an underground tunnel beneath New York's Hudson River are quite hot. What's interesting about this set-up is how the job environments of the two main characters are so dramatically different. The contrast couldn't be greater.
Director Mitchell Leisen has a background in set design, so we see Colbert's apartment and office space elaborately furnished and decorated. She operates in a hoity-toity yet somewhat sterile atmosphere. She is not alone here, though; she has assistance from her sister (Ilka Chase) and receives visits at all hours from her numerous upper-class friends, which include Richard Haydn.
Meanwhile MacMurray toils under harsh and thankless conditions. He is usually seen without his shirt on, breaking sweat and busting his butt...trying to get his project completed on time. When Colbert first arrives to photograph him and his crew, the two do not exactly hit it off. Part of this is because the guys think that when a woman shows up down in the tunnel, it's bad luck and she's a jinx. Their superstitions seem verified when an accident soon takes place.
The romantic and comedic elements take shape when MacMurray arrogantly assumes that Colbert has the hots for him. He all but accuses her of lusting after him, since he is just so darn desirable and women can't help but be drawn to him. She insists she finds him repulsive, regardless of how much skin he bares. In fact, she calls him an ape several times in the movie. These are meant to be insults, but he takes these remarks as compliments. What's a girl to do? The trouble escalates when she experiences a dream that Freud would have a field day analyzing. It involves a chair in her bedroom that she told him has more personality than him!
As Colbert tosses and turns in her sleep, the dream (nightmare?) continues. She falls off the chair and needs help getting up. A figure appears in the sky out of nowhere. It's a bird. No wait. It's a plane. No wait. It's Superman. No wait. It's MacMurray dressed as Superman. Supposedly this riotous dream sequence was filmed in an enclosed area by Leisen and his cinematographer Charles Lang. For its time, the special effects and editing are rather advanced. Plus it's clear that MacMurray and Colbert are having a blast filming it.
As the story continues, Colbert realizes this man and his brazen attitude have seeped into her subconscious. Of course it doesn't help when he turns up at her place one day and asks to see the chair that she compared him to...she takes him to the bedroom to see it (big mistake) and that is when he impulsively kisses her. As if that were not enough, he informs her and her sister that he's been suspended without pay because one of the photographs that had been published in her company's magazine was not very flattering. She now feels responsible for his temporary unemployment.
In the next part, she hires him as an assistant until his suspension ends. It's not the best idea she's ever had...they still don't really get along, and he certainly knows nothing about photography. But she figures she can teach him. There's an amusing bit when a bodybuilder (Rex Ravelle) shows up at her studio for a spread she's shooting. Of course, macho MacMurray is a bit annoyed with this he-man Mr. Universe type jerk.
Another reason Colbert hired MacMurray to assist her is because she thinks that she will see all the man's flaws up close and personal. If that happens, then she'll come to dislike him so much that she'll never have another dream or fantasy about him. You know where this is going...She only falls for him more in spite of her best efforts not to do so. A further complication occurs when they go out on a new assignment, in which she's scheduled to photograph a bunch of chorus girls at a Broadway theater. During these scenes, a sexy chorine (June Havoc) catches MacMurray's eye, and they begin dating. This makes Colbert jealous.
However, we know that MacMurray and Colbert will still end up together to facilitate a happy ending. But getting there is a lot of fun. The dialogue is frequently witty, sparks fly, and there is a playful way that Leisen and his team put the material across on screen. No one escapes Cupid who has all the time in the world for love.