The Gilded Lily

1935 "It Happened One Night On a Park Bench!"
6.8| 1h20m| NR| en
Details

Secretary Marilyn David falls in love with British aristocrat Charles Gray, to the dismay of her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, who secretly loves her. When Peter learns that the already-engaged Charles has hurt Marilyn, he fabricates an article casting her as the "No Girl" who refused to marry a callous aristocrat. But when the publicity brings Marilyn unexpected fame, and Charles returns, she is forced to choose between the two men.

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Reviews

Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
mark.waltz And that's to the type of man any 30's shop-girl would want. The girl is Claudette Colbert and the boy is Ray Milland, a British Lord who is incognito as a tourist. In a Pat O'Brien type role, Fred MacMurray is the guy Colbert obviously loves as evidenced by their recurring scenes right outside the main library in New York on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. In fact, the stone seats they take over are still there today! Colbert gets a bit of notoriety because she publicly rejects him when she finds out who he really is, and ends up singing at a fancy nightclub even though she really has no talent as a singer. The scene where she fumbles the song but brings her audience to laughter by ad-libbing is very funny. However, the dress she wears (with a huge feather in her nose) is tacky.It's obvious whom she'll end up choosing, but it's how she makes the choice that will keep audience's interest and the trouble she gets into as she makes up her mind. This isn't one of the better 30's screwball comedies as it's not a great script, and the story has been done better. There are, however, some great scenes of 30's New York on the subway and in Coney Island that are of interest today. Colbert and MacMurray do share a good chemistry, which is why they appeared in more than half a dozen similar films over a 15 year period.
kidboots Sassy and feminine is how I would describe Claudette Colbert. Fred MacMurray and Claudette were teamed in 7 films - almost all of them frothy comedies. Although they were an unlikely duo something about them clicked with the public who found them a perfect match. This was their first pairing - she was a veteran of nearly 30 films and a big star, he was a gangly newcomer, who had had the juvenile lead in a minor film "Grand Old Girl" starring May Robson, but they displayed great chemistry together. "The Gilded Lily" poked fun at the craze for celebrities (has anything changed!!)Claudette plays Marilyn David, a stenographer (Colbert had once been one in her pre-acting days). She and Peter Dawes (Fred MacMurray), a celebrity reporter have a regular Thursday night date where they shoot the breeze in the local park, debating the merits of peanuts verses popcorn. She wants to marry (just not to him), settle down and cook and clean for her man. He feels that if anyone had a chance at fame or celebrity they would grab it.Marilyn meets Charles Gray (Ray Milland) in a subway scuffle. It is love at first sight and they spend a fun day at Luna Park. She is very concerned that he doesn't have a job and makes him promise to find one but unbeknownst to her he is really a Lord !!! and also engaged to an English girl. Charles' father (C. Aubrey Smith) tells him he must go back to England and break his engagement if he wants to make it alright with Marilyn, who Charles tells that he is leaving town for a few weeks in search of work. Peter is given an assignment to get some pictures of Lord Gray and when Marilyn sees his picture in the paper she feels betrayed - she didn't know he was a Lord!!!!Peter concocts a story about her broken romance - how she was jilted but still believes in love. Of course Marilyn has no knowledge of the story but she still becomes a celebrity, known as the "No Girl"!!! She is hired to do an act in a run down nightclub. It is the funniest sequence - she is a sensation!!! She goes on, forgets the words to her song, does an impromptu dance, falls over - "I'm a freak!!!" and the crowd goes wild!!!It is a great satire on what it is like to be a celebrity. Even though Pete started it, he realises that he has created a monster. She has so many obligations they never get a chance to see each other. Gray comes back on the scene but only to bask in her notoriety. This is a super film that is highly recommended.
movingpicturegal Entertaining romantic comedy starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray as a pair who have a "date" each Thursday meeting on a city bench to eat popcorn together, sans shoes. He seems to be in love with her, but she longs to meet her dream man for her idea of an ideal romance. And she does - in the form of handsome Ray Milland, who assists her in a crowd situation on the subway. They have a fun date together at Coney Island where the camera takes us on a wild ride on the roller coaster with them; they fall in love instantly. She thinks he's out of a job - he doesn't tell her he is a Lord (and has a fiancée back home in England!). But when she sees his picture in the paper (coincidentally attached to a story done by MacMurray, a reporter) she believes she's been duped. Follows a series of publicity newspaper stories, out of her control, which causes her to become famous as "The No Girl" for saying "no" to a lord. Then he thinks she was just in the whole relationship with him for the publicity. Well, based on her huge public fame, she is amazingly hired to sing and dance in her own solo nightclub act - even though, as seen in a quite amusing performance scene, she has zero talent! This is a fun, enjoyable romp - a little frustrating in the way of many romantic comedies in which you feel like you know a couple should be together, but misunderstandings have caused them to remain apart. The ending of this was not particularly what I hoped to see either. But - Claudette Colbert sparkles as always, she's great. Fred MacMurray also does a fine job in his part, Ray Milland looks very young, handsome and, well, rather dashing! One thing I wondered about in this film - why are the Colbert and MacMurray characters so satisfied with just a date on a bench once a week, how come they never desire to get together for a dinner out, go to a movie, or any other normal type activity?! Seemed a bit odd to me. All in all, a quite enjoyable film.
fedor8 Lame ol' comedy that is as unfunny as it is absurd in plot. I mean, did I miss something?... Colbert gets the WRONG man in the end! She ends up with MacMurray instead of Milland. MacMurray plays a deceitful journalist who'd sell his own mother for a good story, plus he ruins Colbert's romance with Milland out of sheer jealousy - yet he is the one we are supposed to find likable, whereas Milland is supposed to be a snob! This is the only (comedy) film - as far as memory serves me - that has the girl getting the wrong guy. Besides, MacMurray is bland.It was weird seeing a young Milland; I don't know if I would have recognized him very quickly had I not read his name in the opening titles. MacMurray had his breakthrough with this movie, and only God knows why. Colbert is charming and cute, and does her best but the script offers little.There is the absurd way in which Colbert and Milland fall into a dumb bad-comedy-style "misunderstanding". Later, when MacMurray publishes lies about Colbert she isn't even properly angry at him! Jesus, even comedies have to follow SOME basic logic regarding human behaviour.