A successful novelist meets two marines on a train and becomes convinced one of them is the perfect man to star in her new film.
Author Kit Madden (Claudette Colbert) is travelling by train to Hollywood to oversee the adaptation of her latest bestseller. En route, she meets a pair of Marine Corps pilots, Rusty Thomas (John Wayne) and his friend Dink Watson (Don DeFore). Convinced that the charismatic Rusty is the ideal actor for her film’s hero, she conceals her identity to get to know him better. The journey becomes a series of misadventures and romantic misunderstandings, including a brief stint in jail, as Kit tries to manoeuvre the unsuspecting marine into a screen test.
The film places John Wayne in territory more commonly occupied by Clark Gable, casting the Western star as a charming flyboy in a light romantic comedy. He proves an effective foil for the sophisticated wit of Claudette Colbert, and their mismatched pairing fuels the narrative. Director Mervyn LeRoy populates the story with a string of uncredited celebrity cameos, including appearances from Cary Grant and even LeRoy himself. This inside-joke quality reinforces the film’s playful, self-aware tone about the machinery of Hollywood stardom.
Production Co: RKO / 107 minutes / 1946
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Screenplay: Jane Allen, Mae Livingston, Andrew Solt
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert (Kit Madden), John Wayne (Rusty Thomas), Don DeFore (Dink Watson), Anne Triola (Connie Callaghan), Phil Brown (Soldier), Frank Puglia (Ortega), Thurston Hall (Henry Baldwin), Louella Parsons (Louella Parsons)
