Adelante, mi amor

An unusually constructed film which starts off like a screwball comedy albeit to the backdrop of both the recently-ended Spanish Civil War and newly-begun Second World War and finishes up as an interventionist call-to-arms against the global threat of Nazism.

I think it works, aided naturally by the writing of the justly celebrated screenwriting partnership of Wilder and Brackett, capable direction of Mitchell Leisen and especially the on-screen chemistry of the emerging Ray Milland and the established Claudette Colbert. You can almost picture the censor of the day's pencil hovering over some of the early scenes in the movie as they coyly play cat-and-mouse with one another, in particular one risqué exchange between the two stars with a double bed prominently featured in the background.

Walter Abel as Colbert's end-of-his-tether editor is rather clichéd but largely speaking, the parts of the lesser characters, such as Milland's two pilot chums and the hotel maid with family caught up in the confusion which add some shade and light to the main characters' motivations are well selected and portrayed.

I particularly appreciated the topicality of the depiction of very recent real-life events such as the sinking by German submarines of the cruise-liner Athenian taking Milland and Colbert back to the States and the montage of succeeding newspaper headlines documenting the at-the-time seemingly unstoppable march of the German Army.

Colbert later named this as her favourite of all her movies and I doubt that's just because the film ended up on the right side of history. It manages that tricky balancing act between comedy and drama in a contemporary setting and still finds room for an eloquent wake-up call to the rest of the world at its time of greatest need.

In the final analysis, a film is about cinematography. From the very beginning at the Spanish prison, extraordinary cinematography is used to an exceptional degree, and it continues through the film. There are minor exceptions, as with the file film of airplanes flying. More importantly, the film claims the obvious: The Spanish government in 1939 had more than casual leanings toward Berlin. The bombing of Guernica by the Nazi air force is testimony, here reinforced. Tom Martin (Ray Millard) says he had a pet rat in his jail cell named "Adolph." Spain's neutrality during World War Two is in question with Paramount Pictures, as it was in diplomatic circles. Of course, a 1940 movie about event of 1939 has the advantage of historical retrospect, yet the public actions of the Spanish government stand. Claudette Colbert as Agusta Nash is the career woman whose career comes before love, who puts her career before all. Her assignment as Special Berlin Correspondent is to tell of Hitler and his gang. A series of unpredictable events leads her to redefine her sense of patriotism. There are, in effect, many loves which must arise and spite the envious moon. Cinematography, historical theme, and some darn good acting all unite for an effective historical perspective on life at the beginnings of World War Two.

Mitchell Leisen was one of the few directors who could introduce tragedy into comedy and vice versa .The first part is absolutely dazzling.Incredible though it may seem ,it's full of unexpected twists,of fine lines ("it's my first execution" says the Padre /It's mine too" says the prisoner).The chemistry between Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland is perfect and their husband-and-wife act compares favorably with that of the actress as a "baroness ,her husband and her children" in "midnight" .The movie loses steam in its second part but it does show Mitchell's fondness for France .Unlike too many American movies,there are plenty of French words and the French speak French between them.I particularly like this sentence "Three sisters used to live in this country :Liberté ,Egalité Et Fraternité " as the German army is marching past the streets of Paris.This francophilia is also present in Leisen's "hold back the dawn" or "Frenchman's creek" .

The last third may be considered a propaganda one ,but many other directors (Hitchcock,Lang,Hathaway,Borzage etc) had theirs too,and Leisen's is certainly smarter than most of the others.Solomon's prayer (which provides the title) is to be taken literally.Augusta is a go-getter ,she plays the heroine just for the sake of fame .After the beautiful scene in the forest ,where the animals run for their lives ,she does arise .The scene in the Compiègne Car is as incredible as Marlene Dietrich as a gypsy entering an inn full of Nazis in "golden earrings" .But the Spanish extravagant tale had warned us:this is not to be taken seriously ,but in a way,it is.

I loved this film from beginning to end. It made me laugh and it made me cry, and it left me with the feeling that I had watched one of the best screen romances ever. The script was so wonderfully written, the dialogues really sparkled like diamonds and ... Ray Milland was handsomer here than in any other film I have seen him!! He treated Clodette Colbere with a mixture of humor ,tenderness and respect, that was very endearing and touching. At moments, he seemed like an insecure little boy, and I am sure that he was never like that with any other of his co-stars. Needless to say, I loved this aspect of his very much!!! Something else that I found interesting is that the film was made almost simultaneously with the historical events it describes. This adds to its authenticity and gives us a sense of watching history in the making. The mixing of comedy and drama does not annoy me. It is more than realistic and in fact welcome, here. We deal with two very smart and out of the ordinary people, living very unusual lives, taking active parts in what goes on around them, so it is to be expected that they will have an acute sense of humor as well as forceful feelings about the war and about each other. In our lives there is place for both comedy and drama, why it should not be so for a movie, who depicts life? Just to add that the DVD now available, (spanish edition but with English audio)has very good quality of sound and picture, and does justice to this uniquely beautiful film.

I am so mad at myself because I watched this in the 80's and 90's on American Movie Classics and like an idiot I didn't record it. Now I haven't seen it on any channel in years and it isn't available on VHS or DVD.

This is just such a breath of fresh air for a 1940 movie. It's a movie where the woman is as smart as the man and is allowed to show it and in the end stands tall with him instead of behind him. The dialogue is funny, which given the exceptional writers like Billy Wilder, is not surprising. Colbert and Milland have wonderful chemistry. It's a movie I adore from start to finish. Now if only Paramount would get off their arses and release this movie on DVD, I'd be thrilled.