MovieChat Forums > No Time for Love (1943) Discussion > One of a handful of Mitchell Leisen Movi...

One of a handful of Mitchell Leisen Movies I Love

posted 14 years ago by PretoriaDZ
1 reply | jump to latest

Midnight
Easy Living
No Time for Love
Arise My Love
To Each His Own
Remember the Night
The Mating Season

All wonderful romantic comedies with witty dialogue and double entendres to get past the censors (Like when Fred McMurray calls an effiminate young man "doll face"). Even though they are romantic comedies (and the last 4 have some pretty dramatic moments in them), the female leads all have brains and personal character so that when they get knocked down, they get right back up again.

[–] HarlowMGM 12 years ago

I think Leisen is underrated and he is generally a terrific director. His reputation suffered due to the homophobic Billy Wilder who disparged him repeatedly in the 1970's and 1980's and most of the Wilder fanboys fell in line.

The qualities you note in the women in the Leisen films you love are pretty much there in every Leisen film, these were gals who could take care of themselves.

Besides the fine films you mention don't forget he also directed these great films:

No Man of Her Own (1950)
Golden Earrings (1947)
Kitty (1945)
Frenchman's Creek (1944)
Lady in the Dark (1944)
No Time for Love (1943)
Take a Letter, Darling (1942)
The Lady Is Willing (1942)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
I Wanted Wings (1941)
Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
Hands Across the Table (1935)
Murder at the Vanities (1934)
Death Takes a Holiday (1934)

That's an outstanding lineup of films; Leisen should not only be considered George Cukor's main rival as a "women's director" but on the list of the top directors of the era period.