The Gilded Lily *** (1935, Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, C Aubrey Smith) – Classic Movie Review 5475

Claudette Colbert stars in writer/ director Wesley Ruggles’s amusing 1935 American screwball romantic comedy film The Gilded Lily as Marilyn David, a New York stenographer/ typist who dithers romantically.

She is unable to make up her mind between an American reporter/ newsman called Peter Dawes (Fred MacMurray) and an English layabout called Charles Gray (Ray Milland), who turns out to be a rich lord.

Marilyn becomes a famed entertainer, while Charles is revealed as Lord Granton, and Peter is her platonic friend who publicises her story as the woman who says no to nobility.

The star power of the delicious trio turns up the voltage on what is already anyway a funny script, and director Ruggles shows exactly the lightness of touch such a soufflé needs.

The screenplay by Claude Binyon, Melville Baker and Jack Kirkland is based on a story by Melville Baker and Jack Kirkland.

Also in the cast are C Aubrey Smith, Luis Alberni, Donald Meek, Warren Hymer, Charles C Wilson and Grace Bradley.

It was filmed from 8 October 1934 to 4 December 1934 at Paramount Studios and at Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Los Angeles.

It was released by Paramount Pictures in the US on 25 January 1935.

It was a success and Colbert called for MacMurray again as her co-star in The Bride Came Home (1935). The Gilded Lily is the first of seven films in which Colbert and MacMurray co-star.

Colbert and Milland made three films together while under contract to Paramount Pictures: The Gilded Lily (1935),  ARISE, MY LOVE (1940) and SKYLARK (1941).

The cast are Claudette Colbert as Marilyn David, Fred MacMurray as Peter Dawes, Ray Milland as Charles Gray Granton, C. Aubrey Smith as Lloyd Granton, Duke of Loamshire, Luis Alberni as Nate, Edward Craven as photographer Eddie, Donald Meek as Hankerson, Claude King as Captain of the boat, Charles Irwin as orchestra leader Oscar, Forrester Harvey as Proprietor of the English inn, Edward Gargan as Guard, Charles C Wilson as Managing editor, Grace Bradley as Daisy, Pat Somerset as Man in London club, Tom Dugan as The Bum, Warren Hymer as Taxi driver, and Eddie Borden as Photographer.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5475

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