Without Reservations (1946) User Reviews (37)

Instead of a Bus It's a Train trip for Claudette

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 March 2007]

Here's an interesting piece of movie trivia for you. What special significance has Claudette Colbert as a leading lady for John Wayne? Answer; she's the last player male or female to be billed above John Wayne in any film. Other than in cameo or guest appearances, the Duke took top billing in every single film he made after Without Reservations.

But I suppose it is just that Claudette take top billing here because in many ways this bears a lot similarity to her Oscar winning role in It Happened One Night. Only oddly enough she's really in the Clark Gable part.

If you remember Gable was the newspaperman down on his luck who spots runaway heiress Colbert in Florida and sticks to her to get the big exclusive story when she's found. Here it's Colbert doing the sticking to Wayne.

Colbert plays Christopher Madden an author who has written a big post World War II best seller. It's getting as much attention as Gone With the Wind back in the day. She's taking a transcontinental train trip to Hollywood where Cary Grant and Lana Turner are scheduled to star in a film adaption of her book. Grant pulls out at the last minute and while boarding the train trip Colbert catches sight of John Wayne in Marine uniform and thinks he should be the unknown who plays the hero of her book.

Wayne may look the part, but he's got views distinctly different from what Colbert wrote in her novel. Circumstances however force the both of them with Wayne's pal Don DeFore to leave the train in Chicago and they have to make their way west just as Gable and Colbert had to make their way north in It Happened One Night.

Oh, and Wayne and DeFore do not know their companion is a celebrity author in the same Colbert did not know Gable was a newspaperman and on to her identity.

Without Reservations is a nice comedy, the last one that Wayne would do in modern times. Comedies that he later did like North to Alaska, Donovan's Reef and McLintock had considerably less sophistication than this one did.

Still like McLintock, Wayne gets to expound on some of his personal philosophy of rugged individualism as being what made America great. In response to the liberal hero of Colbert's book, Wayne has a very eloquent scene in talking about our pioneer heritage about people with all that was against them in a savage wilderness, just being grateful for the opportunity to make it on their own. Without Reservations may in fact be the first film where some of his own personal philosophy gets written into it.

Stealing every scene she's in is Anne Triola who is one of the people the trio meets on the train and later Wayne and DeFore find being a waitress in San Diego. She had such a limited film career, this should have been a breakthrough role for her.

Louella Parsons, Cary Grant, Jack Benny, and Dolores Moran have some brief walk-ons playing themselves. Without Reservations marks the only film any of them ever did with John Wayne. I only wish Cary's bit had been in a scene with Wayne.

These kinds of comedy are what made Claudette Colbert's career. But it was nice to see John Wayne doing one as well. Though some fans of the Duke might regret he does not throw a punch or fire a weapon in this at all.

Funny, entertaining

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 18 September 2000]

Cute comedy about a novelist (Claudette Colbert) who meets a soldier (John Wayne) and realizes she loves him. There's more to it than that, but that's the bare bones of the plot. The movie moves quickly, is VERY funny and who knew John Wayne could do comedy so well? Colbert beautiful and charming (as always). There's also a few appearances from stars of that era. Bright, breezy...well worth seeing.

An author meets her fictional hero in person - so she thinks

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 25 May 2007]

Claudette Colbert chases a soldier "Without Reservations" in this 1946 film which also stars John Wayne, Don DeFore, and Ann Triola, with cameos by Louella Parsons, Cary Grant, Jack Benny, and Delores Moran as themselves.

Colbert plays a best-selling author, Christopher Madden, who has written a book about the world post-war - it looks to be a combination of "Gone with the Wind" and "Atlas Shrugged." En route by train to Hollywood to do the screenplay, she is extremely distressed to learn that Cary Grant will not be available to do the movie version.

She is writing a telegram to the producer when she comes face to face with her fictional hero in the flesh. He's a soldier named Rusty (Wayne) going to San Diego with his pal, Dink (DeFore). She doesn't tell them her identity, giving her name as Kit Klatch.

Kit decides she has to have Rusty star in the film so instead of boarding the train that will take her to L.A., she gets on the train going to San Diego. This leads to all sorts of adventures for the threesome, and it's obvious that Kit and Rusty, despite very opposing political views, have fallen in love.

Colbert is delightful as usual, and DeFore, kind of a Jack Carson type, is always pleasant to watch. The surprise for some will be John Wayne who's not riding a horse or wearing a cowboy hat. Frankly, this writer has always preferred him that way. I'm not a particular fan of westerns, and the plainclothes Wayne seems handsomer and less stiff somehow.

Here, he's playing the role of someone whose beliefs are close to his own in real life, i.e., somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan, while the Colbert character is a socialist. Tall and handsome, he does the romantic scenes well; one wishes he'd stayed out of the saddle more often.

This is a light, fun comedy that takes place in a world that, like Kit, doesn't quite know which direction to take post-World War II. Seventy-four years later, we still haven't figured it out, and "Without Reservations" remains an entertaining film.

Cute post-war road picture; John Wayne can do light comedy!

[Mark_McD · 17 November 2003]

Most of these reviewers are pretty spot-on, so I can just add my observations: It was a complete surprise to see a John Wayne character deliver a book critique. I was off my pins for a while until he went into his "Why don't you just stop thinking." Movie was like a collision between Ayn Rand and Frank Capra. Still, very breezy, and we enjoyed the contemporary stock location footage of Chicago... with the cute cameo by Jack Benny (taking train back up to Waukegan, no doubt). Also, it presented an interesting peek, though filtered through Hollywood's cockeyed optimism, of a question that was surely on many people's minds. We've saved the world, now how shall we remake it in our image. Surely there were many Kit Masterson writing about what we should do, My theory has long been that the postwar world was most shaped by the GI Bill of Rights, which put a college education and new home within reach of millions of veterans, and created the American middle class, for good or bad. Having lived through the crises of our new century, it's interesting to see people who realized they were standing at other crossroads in history.

mindless entertainment

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 22 July 2006]

This film is a great example of a fun to watch film that you must turn your mind off to a certain extent in order to enjoy. That's because the movie has a lot of plot holes and silliness, but because it makes no pretense, that's okay with me. Instead, you just sit back and take it all in and enjoy the performances.

First off, this is a very unusual movie because at least to me, Claudette Colbert and John Wayne was an odd pairing to say the least! But, as the oddness of their getting together is essential to the plot this can be forgiven. But, I am STILL left thinking "Claudette Colbert and John Wayne---No Freaking Way!". Second, the movie is very reminiscent of another John Wayne picture made just a few years earlier. LADY TAKES A CHANCE is also a movie where Wayne and a city lady take a trek across America and have an on again/off again romance. In fact, many of the scenes in one are almost replicated in another. But, given that they are both cute little films, I guess that can be forgiven. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is a Colbert film that also is pretty similar, though not as similar as LADY TAKES A CHANCE.

The plot of this film involves a famous author (Colbert) traveling cross-country to got to Hollywood to oversee the movie that is being made on her hugely popular book. She's not happy with their choice for leads in the film and on the train during the first part of the journey, she meets two Marines--John Wayne and Don DeFore. She and Wayne hit it off well and she has the idea of making this guy the lead in her film. But, and this is a really weak part of the film, she gives the two fliers a fake name and tells them nothing of her plans. A short time later, she misses her train in order to follow the guys on their train but their adventures are JUST beginning! The trip takes many days and some cute problems develop. The fact that she and Wayne later have a "falling out" is formulaic and predictable, but even though YOU know where this is all going, the mood is so light and likable that this can all be forgiven. This is a light comedy-romance that isn't great but still lots of fun.

What a really fun film...Claudette Colbert could really make these films work

[nomoons11 · 7/10 · 13 November 2012]

This little unknown nugget was a real treat to watch. Claudette Colbert does justice to just about every role she plays. She just plays the damsel in distress or the not-so-smart girl when it comes to relationships like the pro that she was.

A 1st time writer scores a hit with her heroic book about a guy who chooses his country over the girl. She sees life in the same light and wished she could find the guy in the same way. Along comes a train ride to California to see the producer who's gonna make her book into film and her "imagined" guy appears in the form of John Wayne as a returning home GI Marine flier who's trying to get to San Diego. Little does she know he's not anything like she thinks, or wants, him to be. From here we get a trip by train and car and whatever method to get to California. Along the way some serious hi-jinx are in order.

Watch this for Claudette Colbert. She was such a great actress. She was like many who were highly popular at one time but by the mid to late 40's she was not seen in the best of films. This one though is a keeper. Look for cameos from Cary Grant and Jack Benny. This one reminds me a lot of Sullivan's Travels. Take a look at this film and see an actress who was a real gem of her era.

Pretty Innocuous Film Makes for Fair Entertainment

[JLRMovieReviews · 7/10 · 8 November 2013]

Claudette Colbert and John Wayne star in this lightweight comedy about an authoress who may not know enough about men to write about them. Her first book is a smash hit, but John Wayne scrutinizes it a bit, when he meets Claudette, not knowing she wrote it. He and his pal Don DeFore make a nice pair of guys to hang out with, and he and Claudette have good chemistry and repartee, but somehow the last 30 minutes goes off course and keeps this from being a very fulfilling movie experience. They're all good company and they have quite a few madcap escapades together, but things just don't fall into place as they should and the film tends to wander and go on too long. But if you get a chance to see Without Reservations, it's enjoyable and undemanding entertainment for almost two hours.

Not Hilarious,but will make you smile often

[paulccarroll3 · 7/10 · 17 January 2020]

If you know John Wayne films it's not surprising that He could be humorous, even in his heroic roles that He usually portrayed. This film is amusing and the characters are appealing. It's good for a viewing every few years or so. The only problem is a that John Wayne is about 10 years too old for this role. Born in 1906, in 1946, when this film was released, He was about 40 years old. The reason that He wasn't actually in the military during WWII was that He was a little too old. Before His breakout success in "Stagecoach" Wayne spent nearly 10 years cranking out B-Westerns. For the remainder of His career He was almost always a little too old for His character, which was especially evident as He got older. Until his last few films, He was still playing the hero roles that got the girl in the end. I 've always wished that He had played more age appropriate character roles once he was in his 60s. It's only a small gripe, and He does well in this lite comedy.

Cute, fun and romantic comedy!

[florriebbc · 10/10 · 16 November 2003]

Hello, I have loved this movie since I was 10 in 1947. I love John Wayne and Claudette Colbert in everything they do. This is such a cute, fun and romantic comedy it makes a person want to really "be there". It reminds me of "It happened One Night" with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, from a few years earlier. I love that movie, also.

Such fun! Thank you for listening. Florence Stockton Reno, Nevada

"Thanks, God. We'll take it from here."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 28 April 2014]

Claudette Colbert plays a best-selling novelist on her way to Hollywood, where her book is being made into a movie. On the train she meets two Marines (John Wayne, Don DeFore). She immediately sees Wayne as the ideal man to play the lead character from her novel. Unfortunately for her, Wayne's read the novel and hates it, so she keeps her identity a secret as she travels with the two men to California.

Colbert is right at home playing a role similar to ones she had played a few times before. So it's no surprise she is good here. Nor is it a surprise that Don DeFore is good as Wayne's sidekick. But what may come as a surprise for many watching this is just how good John Wayne is at a light comedy role. Anne Triola is also lots of fun as Consuela Callaghan, described as a "beetle" by Wayne & DeFore. For what they mean by that you'll have to watch and see. Beautiful Dona Drake has a small part but she's always stunning to look at. Several celebrity cameos, including Cary Grant. The only time John Wayne and Cary Grant appeared in the same film, albeit not in the same scene. Very charming and funny romantic comedy, the second half of which is in the It Happened One Night vein.

For Fans of Colbert and Wayne

[krdement · 4/10 · 20 April 2008]

As one commentator has noted, this film has much in common with both Colbert's It Happened One Night (with Clark Gable) and Wayne's Lady Takes a Chance (with Jean Arthur). I recommend that you just skip this movie and watch the other two, superior films.

I am a fan of both the Duke and Claudette Colbert. This unlikely pair achieves some good chemistry. They both deliver solid performances, and they both portray likable characters. Don DeFore always seems to have a kind of silly grin on his face that I can never quite overcome. Anne Triola portrays a character known as the "Beetle," who is way too irritating for my taste. Her voice alone drives me up a wall.

The problem with this movie is a script that just never seems to jell for me. Parts of this movie just seemed to drag - especially all of the letter-exchanging between Colbert and DeFore that occupies the latter stages of the movie. That is part of Colbert's campaign to catch Wayne by making him jealous. All of that business is not comical, but just straight plot development; it is boring and overly long. The lack of any direct interaction between Wayne and Colbert for that seemingly long stretch of the film is a major weakness. There are zillions of films that employ the ol' jealousy gambit - almost every one of which is better.

Colbert and Wayne have deep philosophical differences. Yet they never really cause major conflict, and are never overtly resolved. They are constantly being swept under the carpet - not necessarily by the characters but by plot devices. Instead other minor conflicts arise, such as Wayne's feeling he has been misled by Colbert and his flirtation with a young chiquita. These are easily swept away.

One of the key scenes in this movie is Colbert's discussion of "love" with a recent Mexican immigrant (Frank Puglia). He sets her straight about love: true love involves abuse and violence! This scene is so superficial and wrong-headed that it is a completely implausible basis for Colbert to somehow change her perspective on love - as well as other profound issues.

This movie ultimately fails because of the very poor writing. Yeah, sometimes real world experience can alter one's hypothetical perspectives on the issues of life - but not on the shallow basis provided by this film. The differences between people's world views are important, and usually they are not so easily overcome in the pursuit of love. They are never overcome on the strength of some lame-brain idea that violence and abuse are part and parcel of love! The shallowness of the script and the stupidity of the dialog undermine some pretty good performances. Skip this one.

"John Wayne can indeed act"

[TSF7 · 8/10 · 13 March 2005]

Many in the Hollywood elite belittled John Wayne. To get back at him for his Americanist views, liberals panned his movies and acting ability. If you have seen "The Quiet Man" or "The Searchers" or "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" or "The Sands of Iwo Jima" amongst many others, you already know that John Wayne could indeed act.

Watch "Without Reservations." My family loves John Wayne but who would have thought he could do comedy? And then do it well?

"Without Reservations" is a funny, amusing, delightful movie which is one of my wife's favorite (a New York City liberal by the way). Get a big bowl of popcorn. Sit back with your family and enjoy a lighthearted adventure. Cobert and Don Dafore are perfectly cast.

Three's company in this 'It happened one day' romp.

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 14 September 2018]

One of the several romantic comedies played by John Wayne in the '40s. His lady love is the beautiful and charming Claudette Colbert. In contrast to Wayne, this type of romantic comedy was in line with most of her films. In fact, we can see some basic similarities with her most famous comedy: "It Happened One Night" , with Wayne(as Rusty) taking the place of Clark Gable. The public didn't see this film as being as irresistible as the original. However, it did turn a handsome profit for RKO. Besides the early action taking on or near a train, rather than a bus, this film differs from the original in that the male lead has a buddy(Don Defore as Dink) who tags along for the entire trip. They must have been very good buddies, as Wayne receives all the romantic attention from Claudette(as Kit)........Kit is traveling from NYC to Hollywood to work on the film version of her best selling book "Here is Tomorrow". Cary Grant was supposed to be the lead male, but has just pulled out. For some reason, the producer wants an unknown to take his place. This upsets Kit, but after a chance meeting with a duo of marines(Rusty and Dink),who are traveling to Camp Pendleton, CA., she has the feeling that Rusty might make an ideal replacement for Grant, whatever his acting experience. But there's the problem that Rusty dismisses her book, of which she shows a copy, as so much malarkey. He's a staunch conservative, including matters between the sexes, whereas the book espouses a liberal philosophy, including matters between the sexes. At this time, she doesn't divulge that she is the author, providing the pseudonym Kit. Kit almost loses Rusty and Dink in their train troubles out of Chicago. But, by then, Rusty was hooked on Kit, and took measures to ensure that they stuck together. While walking down a rural road, they meet a gentleman fiddling with his old car. Kit buys it from him, and they're off for CA. At one point, they run low on water for their car out in the dry land of NM. They come upon a Mexican American ranching family, and hope they can help them supply water. The cute marriageable daughter, played by Dona Drake, is an outrageous flirt, ignoring the presence of Kit, coming onto Rusty with song. Jealous Kit tells the father that the 2 men aren't really marines, but stole their uniforms, hoping this news would cause him to throw them out. The father is enraged, picks up his rifle, and threatens the men. The 3 quickly get in their car and speed off. ......I will not reveal the remainder of this film, except to say that Kit and Rusty eventually resume being friends despite stormy weather in between.

Inane little comedy

[dexter-10 · 4/10 · 3 November 2000]

It is surprising how inane this comedy is when one considers quality of the leading actors. In a real sense, this movie is emblematic of those who thought life would return to "normal" upon the completion of World War Two. In fact, at one point in the film, Rusty Thomas (John Wayne) says to Kit Madden (Claudette Colbert): "Why don't you just stop thinking?" Rusty, like so many servicemen in 1945, returned to a country which had changed enormously, including, as in this film, the role of women in society. Kit's proper name is Christopher! And her character is that of a professional woman. John Wayne's role is that of the boy-pilot. He is "big and strong," as the Mexican lad (Fernando Alvarado) notes. As a returning pilot, Rusty knows how to fly, but he still seems like a recent high school graduate. War has not prepared him, or many real veterans, for the new America--and neither was Hollywood prepared, it seems. The movie overflows with sexism and non-essential trivia in the "across the country in a car" format. Yet, Colbert manages to squeeze all she can out of her character, Wayne seems to do not as much. In a curiosity, this is one of the few major films where John Wayne's presence on the screen does not dominate, and it is actually overpowered by that of Colbert. It is strange to see the character of Rusty fade into a weakness given Wayne's exceptional talents. In the final analysis, chalk one up for Claudette Colbert. "Without Reservations" is recommended without reservation.

OK, A Few Reservations

[lratchford · 25 October 2002]

"Without Reservations" is a cute but canned knock-off of "It Happened One Night" (also with Colbert) -- a road picture pitting the sexes against each other and then against the elements of a screwball universe. Though very flimsy in plot structure, Colbert and Wayne end up as interesting foils. Colbert puts out with her usual impeccable timing, urbane wit and unique, feminine charm. It strikes one that Wayne is not left behind in her proverbial comedic dust, a testament to the plain fact that he was actually a fine actor masquerading as a big lug, and moreover capable of playing comedy.

For any fellow "reactionaries" there is some good dialogue delivered by Wayne against Progressivism and in favor of freedom, which, except for its brevity, might as well have been lifted directly from a James Edward Grant script. Unfortunately these ideas (symbolized by the Wayne character) are categorized as the non-thinking position, but nonetheless they are involved in the overall plot resolution.

In all, the film means well but doesn't deliver, and the actors take in the slack where possible.

John Wayne versus Screwball Comedy.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 24 June 2011]

Actually, Wayne is pretty good in this light-hearted ripoff of "It Happened One night." Claudette Colbert is a famous author of a "cream puff" novel about love. Traveling by train from New York to Hollywood, where her book is to be turned into a movie, she meets Marine aviators Wayne and Don DeFore, to whom she introduces herself as "Miss Klotch." Wayne is the better-known star and the object of Colbert's affections. DeFore ("Dink") is there mainly to trade wisecracks with Wayne, smile approvingly as Wayne and Colbert become closer during the trip, and act as panderer when Wayne leaves Colbert in a huff over the misunderstood identities. DeFore is the guy who is busy fixing the car while Wayne and Colbert make love in the moonlight on a hay stack.

You can tell Wayne is the lead. He's a little taller than DeFore, he outranks him (captain over first lieutenant), and has one more campaign ribbon.

The conflict between Wayne and Colbert is there at the start. When they first meet, they happen to discuss Colbert's successful novel of love and intrigue and doubt. Wayne argues that it doesn't happen that way. "He loves her?" Yes. "She loves him?" Yes. Wayne shrugs, spreads his hands and proposes his own eisegesis: "Then that's IT." Literature bites the dust. But throughout the movie, through ups and downs in their relationship, Wayne sticks to his guns. "You're the one who's always analyzing things." And, "Awww, why don't you quit thinking?" If you've seen "It Happened One Night," which swept the Oscars almost ten years earlier, you have a rough idea of the plot. It's a road movie. Colbert, because she has disguised her real identity, is thrown off the train in Chicago. The Marines nobly follow. Another train, choked with freaky passengers, leaves them in La Junta, Colorado. They scrape together enough money to buy an antique Italian convertible which takes them as far as Raton, New Mexico, before the next contretemps. A happy stereotypical Mexican family is involved there somewhere. Like its model, "Without Reservations" weakens a bit when the lovers are apart, but it all ends happily.

I could understand why, when the trio of travelers are staring out the train's window at the majestic and unspoiled landscape, they dream of the day when the forests will be cleared and the plains plowed under and replaced by farms and housing projects, but frankly it made me wince a little. In 1945, the population of the country was less than 150 million. Now it's about 320 million. That paradisaical future has arrived, and by express.

It's a diverting production though, with some charming moments, and Wayne isn't bad in one of his rare attempts at comedy. DeFore is the mannequin the role calls for and Colbert has been through this before.

Vacuous but deft Hollywood-on-Hollywood comedy

[shakercoola · 6/10 · 2 January 2020]

An American comedy; A story about a famous author who needs an actor to portray the lead character in the upcoming movie version of her worldwide bestseller. She begins to imagine a macho passenger as the lead, and attempts to stay in his company, but he doesn't like the book. This light-hearted romance has a lot of effervescence, and frivolity with its cute, cliched situations and amusing cameos. Past the brilliantly paced and bouyant first act it falters by being a bit too breezy and it resorts to begging for laughs along its thin plotline. That said, Claudette Colbert delivers an amusing performance and John Wayne as the Captain in her sights gives handsome support. There are some funny swipes at Hollywood studio system and all in all it is watchable and fun.

John Wayne in a "Buddy" Comedy? Yes, It's True!

[malvernp · 7/10 · 14 February 2022]

While John Wayne and Don DeFore were launched as a comedy team for the first (and last) time in Without Reservations (WR), viewers may be struck by their similarity to the Dennis Morgan/Jack Carson pairings featured in a number of Warner Brothers "buddy" comedies from the 1940s. DeFore resembled Carson's comic persona in many ways, although he never quite equaled Carson in overall acting ability. Wayne and DeFore made an enjoyable comedy twosome in WR, and it is too bad that they never got another chance to reprise their act. In fact, Wayne demonstrated a subtle---almost understated comic flair in WR, and it is a shame that he didn't pursue similar roles in his future career choices along with those many other Western and military films.

One of the pleasant surprises in WR was the abundant scene-stealing of little known Anne Triola. Her ditzy shrill supporting performance was both funny and engaging. Triola should have enjoyed a more substantial film career than the one she actually realized.

Another positive addition to WR was the bit role played by lovely Dona Drake, as the sexy Mexican girl Wayne and DeFore encounter in their travels. As noted in her IMDB biography, Drake had a most interesting background in real life. She was the child of African-American parents, and generally "passed" as a non-Black ethnic type (usually Mexican) in order to try to further her show business career. IMDB pointed out that Drake's life story actually resembled certain aspects of that of the Fredi Washington character from the original film version of Fanny Hurst's Imitation Of Life. And notwithstanding her considerable beauty and talent, Drake (like Triola) was destined to have a similarly limited future as a movie performer.

This was the first time that Wayne was directed by the veteran Mervyn LeRoy. The two men worked well together, and developed a lifelong friendship. Many years later, Wayne contacted LeRoy to assist him in his directing of The Green Berets film. LeRoy graciously agreed to help his old friend. His uncredited participation represented the last such movie project of LeRoy's decades-long career.

When they made WR, Claudette Colbert was 43 and John Wayne was 39. This was one of the first times that Colbert was paired with a younger actor in a romantic film. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the latter phase of Audrey Hepburn's own acting career trajectory.

Others have pointed out a certain plot resemblance between WR and Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, and the interesting fact that in WR Colbert was cast in the somewhat similar "Clark Gable role" of the earlier movie. Like so many such attempts to repeat the success of a previous classic, WR lacked the intangible "something" that often distinguished the "good" from the "great." Nonetheless, WR is an entertaining film that has its own charms, and is worthy of your attention in its own right.

John Wayne

[btreakle · 7/10 · 3 September 2020]

Not my fave hohn watne but I'm a fan so I watched it. Worth the watch

An unusual Wayne flick - but a pretty good comedy.

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 16 April 2008]

The plot of WITHOUT RESERVATIONS is about how popular novelist Claudette Colbert is traveling to Hollywood to assist in the screenplay of her best selling novel. The producer is Thurston Hall. But his ideas are typically grandiose - get well known Hollywood stars for the film (the names of Cary Grant and Lana Turner are being bandied about*). Colbert feels the hero of her novel (a Marine) is someone that should be a new face - and so she is traveling across the country by train looking for such a face. She meets two air force fliers heading to California to San Diego. They are John Wayne and Don DeFore. Wayne and DeFore and Colbert soon form a threesome in going across country, and the film follows their adventures in Chicago, getting tossed off the train in in a small town on the plains, acquiring an antique automobile which takes them to New Mexico, getting involved with a family of Mexican immigrants (which ends with them being chased away by the family head with a rifle), and finally reaching Albequerque. In the meantime Hall is going crazy as the delayed arrival of his star novelist is playing havoc with his well planned publicity campaign.

(*Oddly enough, this particular casting pairing was never to appear in real life in any film of the careers of Turner and Grant. Turner never developed a semi-independent view of film selection that others in her lifetime (including Grant, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, and even Hedy Lamarr) did. Turner seemed more willing to accept projects her studio handed to her.)

To add to the problems is that Colbert has found Wayne read her novel and did not care for it, and so she has disguised her identity from her. How long can she keep up this masquerade - and can she get Wayne to Hollywood to surprise him with a film test for the role. Also can she maintain his interest in her, which is difficult because Wayne's conservative nature (which is eloquently expressed by Wayne in critiquing Colber's book) is easily transferred to Colbert when she talks to him. She can become quite insistent on her point of view.

It is not as odd a film as it seems. Wayne could co comedy (John Ford frequently found small bits of business in his films for Wayne to kid around with). But here he is in the middle of a character comedy that manages to keep his own persona and political views up front. And it is not a strain when he talks of them. Also other bits of his personality come out. He is vamped by a Mexican woman who takes a fancy to him, and he returns the interest. Wayne, of course, liked Mexican people in general, and Mexican women in particular.

His chemistry with Colbert is not as good as her chemistry with say Don Ameche or Ray Milland, but it is strong enough to work. In particular when she quietly uses various stratagems to help him and DeFore out (like when she reveal her true identity to liquor store proprietor Erskine Sanford, in order to get several bottles of scotch when it is being rationed per bottle per customer). She is able to see that her views of her characters in the novel and the fate of mankind might not be as correct as she originally rigidly maintained.

There are other nice bits in the film. Don DeFore had a good supporting part as Dink, Wayne's pal who is less intolerant about being lied to than Wayne is. By the way, this is one of the few times DeFore actually gets a chance to sing a little in a movie. Frank Puglia and his family make an interesting early example of a Mexican American family who seem fairly realistic for a change (at least until Puglia believes he's been tricked). This film, ably directed by Mervyn LeRoy, is the only film that Colbert shared screen time with Cary Grant (just about half a minute dancing). It was also the last film in Wayne's career where he had second place in the billing.

On the whole then it is a reasonably good comedy of the limitations of abstract literary arguments between the sexes about the future (which is what Colbert finally learns by the time the movie ends). Life is more than what we write in books - fortunately the lesson is not a costly one. And frequently it is presented in a funny manner here.

DEspite Colbert & Wayne, this seems interminable

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 26 May 2011]

The first thing wrong with this film is that almost half of it occurs on a train. There may be a change of scenery outside the train, but it gets pretty stale inside. Talk about action-adventure movies...there's no action here...sit and talk and sit and talk. Fortunately, Claudette Colbert gets kicked off the train and she and John Wayne and Don Defore head west in a car.

Okay, the original premise is fine...the woman (Claudette Colbert) writes a book about a fictional hero. Hollywood buys the book for a movie and decides to do a Scarlett O'Hara type search for the book's hero. Along comes John Wayne, who just happens to look like the drawing of the hero on the book cover. So all Claudette Colbert has to do is convince Marine Wayne to become a movie star. Except he didn't like the book and doesn't know she's the author.

There is a nice cameo appearance by Jack Benny early in the film, and one by Cary Grant later in the film.

Claudette Colbert is every bit as warm and lovable in this film as she was in most of her movies. John Wayne does fine in the romantic lead. It's just that the plot is sort of...slow. Probably the most interesting part of the film is when the trio (Colbert, Wayne, and pal Defore) stop at the home of a Mexican family.

Lesser Colbert

[evc-11418 · 5/10 · 10 June 2018]

Sometimes it's where you are when watching a film or what else you've been viewing lately, but this one bogged down for me. It just seemed a bit "done" and nothing much special or different. Perhaps a completist would add this one, and there is the novelty of John Wayne and the cameos of the several stars. The train shtick came across like a trite recycle, and the time out with the New Mexico family bored and drug on to my view. This is one and done for me.

Someone likes Preston Sturges

[gerritschroder · 8/10 · 16 February 2002]

This movie is worth watching just for the chance to see how much of an influence Preston Sturges had on the comedies of the 40's and early 50's. Colbert plays Christopher Madden, on route to Hollywood to rewrite her bestseller as a Hollywood film. As in Palm Beach Story, Colbert ends up an a train without luggage or ticket, engaging in a bizarre class dialogue, this time with Marine John Wayne (who plays the comedy almost as well as Cary Grant, whom Colbert's character wants Wayne's character to replace...interestingly confusing in a film that mocks post-war propaganda and Hollywood). Marines and trains and propaganda -- anyone else love Hail the Conquering Hero?

Colbert's character has outlined a "progressive" post-WWII heroic future for the country which runs counter to everything she experiences in her cross-country journey (and Sullivan's Travels). This may be the first movie to deal with the post-war propaganda era, and it does it pretty well. Colbert's novel is itself a kind of propaganda: "Here is Tomorrow" (she's the progressive doppelganger of Ayn Rand). Interestingly, the movie's war of the sexes casts the ordinary women Madden meets, in the role of reactionaries, just where the establishment in the next decade wanted them to be.

Watch a couple Sturges flicks before you see this one. Smoke em if you've got em.

In an effort to bring some life to this flick . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 24 March 2016]

. . . after seeing that actress Claudette Colbert was top-billed as the romantic interest for the much younger John Wayne, I shot a jumbo banana magazine of Beebees into the shiny side of my DVD, and then played it at 1/3 speed, just reading the English subtitles and trying to guess who was saying what as the actors' faces were constantly sliding off into digital limbo, and only every fourth line of dialogue popped onto the screen. I think my viewing technique improved WITHOUT RESERVATIONS a lot (mostly by keeping me awake), so I'd recommend it to others. This RKO flick was released in 1946, and Ms. Colbert was being kissed under haystacks decades earlier as a Silent Movie Star! Her bare leg may have stopped a car and won an Oscar in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, but then a Longggg Great Depression and World War happened, and the average American aged at least two decades by 1946. (Some went downhill by three or more, like Ms. Colbert.) As in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, all of Ms. Colbert's crow's feet were coming home to roost at once as they shot RESERVATIONS. Apparently she had aged so much by the end of the shoot that when the producers saw the "dailies" of her final reunion scene with Mr. Wayne's character, they were forced to re-shoot it with Claudette entirely off-screen!

Should be better

[AAdaSC · 5/10 · 15 May 2010]

Christopher (Claudette Colbert) has written a best-selling book that is being turned into a Hollywood film and the hunt is on to find someone to play the lead role. On the train to Hollywood, she meets Rusty (John Wayne) and Dink (Don DeFore) and she feels that Dusty is perfect for the role. However, Dusty doesn't think much of her book while Christopher doesn't admit to being the authoress. They become travel partners and love is in the air before the truth is revealed.....

Wayne and Colbert play nicely off each other, while the funniest moments come from DeFore. Unfortunately, there are not enough funny moments and we are subjected to tedious drawn-out sequences such as the mock aeroplane landing on the train and a boring episode with a Mexican family. And why has Claudette Colbert been given the ridiculous name of "Christopher"? That's a man's name! This film could have been shorter and better.