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.
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.