Without Reservations

Without Reservations

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky
Walter MacEwen
Written by Andrew Solt
Based on Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here 
by Jane Allen
Mae Livingston
Starring Claudette Colbert
John Wayne
Don DeFore
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Edited by Jack Ruggiero
Production
company
Release dates
  • May 13, 1946 (1946-05-13)
Running time
 107 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,683,000 (estimated)[1][2]
Box office $3,000,000 (US rentals)[3]

Without Reservations (1946) is a comedy film starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston.

The opening shot shows "Arrowhead" Pictures motion picture studio. This is the actual RKO Radio Pictures building at 780 Gower Street in Hollywood, retouched with "Arrowhead" replacing the RKO signs on the building. It remains a historic structure on the corner to this day.

Plot

Successful author Christopher "Kit" Madden (Claudette Colbert) travels to Los Angeles to work on the film adaptation of her best-selling book Here is Tomorrow. It is supposed to star Cary Grant as the hero Mark Winston and Lana Turner, but Grant has just dropped out and the producer thinks they need an unknown actor to play Winston. On a train to Hollywood Kit meets two Marines, Captain "Rusty" Thomas (John Wayne) and 1st Lieutenant "Dink" Watson (Don DeFore). She considers Rusty the best choice to play Mark Winston, but he is dismissive of her book: she wrote a political allegory and he does not believe Cary Grant would refuse Lana Turner for 400 pages. Unsure how he will react if he discovers she is a famous writer, she keeps her identity secret (saying her name is "Kitty Kloch"). During their journey across the country on trains, the trio end up in various comedic and dramatic situations. When Rusty finally learns the truth, he thinks that she has been using him just so he would be in the motion picture. Nonetheless, after a number of missteps, the couple eventually are able to resolve their differences.

Cast

Jack Benny and Cary Grant make uncredited cameo appearances, as does director Mervyn LeRoy.

Production

The film was originally budgeted at $1.1 million and had the title Thank God, I'll Take it From Here.[4]

Reception

The film made a profit of $342,000.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Box office / business for Without Reservations". imdb.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  2. ↑ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p211
  3. ↑ "60 Top Grossers of 1946", Variety 8 January 1947 p8
  4. ↑ [https://archive.org/stream/variety159-1945-09#page/n55/mode/1up Variety 12 September 1945 p 12
  5. ↑ Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016

External links

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