Arise, My Love (DVD)

From Mitchell Leisen, the acclaimed director of Midnight, Death Takes a Holiday and Easy Living, comes this romantic comedy starring Hollywood greats Claudette Colbert (The Gilded Lily, The Bride Comes Home) and Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend, Alias Nick Beal) with a script co-written by the legendary team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett (Five Graves to Cairo, The Emperor Waltz). Ace reporter Augusta “Gusto” Nash (Colbert) poses as the wife of imprisoned American pilot Tom Martin (Milland) to save him from execution by Spanish fascists. The gesture lands her a front-page story and the praise of her boss, Mr. Phillips (Walter Abel, Mr. Skeffington). Of course, Tom tries to romance Gusto; but though she likes him, her career comes first, and Tom himself prefers freedom-fighting to settling down. Comedy becomes drama as their mixed feelings lead them on a circuitous path through the deepening chaos and catastrophe of the early days of World War II. Gorgeously shot by Charles Lang (Angel) and co-starring Dick Purcell (The Bank Dick), Dennis O’Keefe (Brewster’s Millions), Esther Dale (The Awful Truth) and George Zucco (The Cat and the Canary), this wonderful blend of action, comedy and melodrama won an Academy Award for Best Original Story.