David Traversa Why does she blink all the time? The shy ingénue type? at forty? Preposterous. After a while it gets to be quite annoying. Is that the added touch to round up a dumb character? whatever, it's very difficult to accept Marlene Dietrich in such a disguise.She wears huge mink coats, shiny evening gowns (even in her kitchen and in the hospital scene) a la Cher (Yes, I know, Cher came later, but you know what I mean). Even in her more dramatic scenes she grabs that mink coat and doesn't let go, crying and all (It could have been a Carol Burnett sketch).I can only think that in those years people were extremely naive and took all these unreal props as part of movie life, so removed from their humble, dreary little lives and made it so enchanting to go home after the movie and dream while reading Photoplay or whatever movie magazine was issued back then.The movie is entertaining to a point but after a while you just want to give it up and go, do something else. All the situations are so outrageously phony that if you pretend to analyze them you'll stop watching this movie after the very first scene is completed.Froth to the nth degree.

samhill5215 This is one of those escapist, nonsensical, utterly unrealistic and yes, downright silly movies from a time when the world was anxious. Europe was under Nazi occupation and the US was contemplating its own role in the conflict. Hollywood had become very good at giving Americans just this kind of comic relief. So why should anyone bother with it? Because despite all the silliness the four leads manage to pull it off with great aplomb. Marlene Dietrich is just as exotic and glamorous as she was in 'The Blue Angel' if not more so. She was forty and a show-stopper without compare. How could Fred MacMurray help himself but fall for her. His role here is an early version of his absent-minded professor. And the supporting leads, Aline MacMahon and Stanley Ridges, are equally good and fun to watch. So sit back and enjoy the show!

Neil Doyle Whatever faults THE LADY IS WILLING has can be traced immediately to the script. Despite this, Mitchel Leisen's direction guides MARLENE DIETRICH and FRED MacMURRAY through their paces and gets some very good performances from both of them. Marlene, in particular, is surprisingly effective playing a naive, bossy, and very "dumb" Broadway actress who casually walks off with a baby simply because it's cute and she can afford to take care of it.Complications arise, of course, when it's discovered that she's the woman in the screwy hat who took the child away from the scene of an accident. MacMurray is the handsome doctor she calls when she needs help in supervising the child and from then on the story veers between comedy, romance and even drama toward the end.Dietrich is lovingly photographed, perfectly lit by an astute cameraman no matter what the situation is and glamorously gowned throughout. MacMurray is an old hand at screwball comedy and is thoroughly adept at handling his bumbling chores with his usual expertise.A couple of good-natured twins were used for all of the baby's scenes and Dietrich seems to really care about how she interacts with the infant. It's an unusual role for her and she demonstrates an ability to toss off screwball dialog with the best of them.This sort of fluff is given above average handling by Leisen and his stars, although the material itself is decidedly below par screwball comedy that turns maudlin toward the end.

sadie_thompson I watched this (after going through heck to get the video) because I wanted to see Marlene Dietrich do something different. I'd seen "The Blue Angel" and all the other big Dietrich movies, but I'd gotten the idea that this one stood out from the rest. Well, yes, in a way.Lili Marlene plays Elizabeth Madden, a popular musical comedy star and a complete moron. (That's where this differs from her other movies, I think--I don't recall her being so blasted ignorant in anything else.) SPOILERS AHEAD!!! We are talking about a woman who steals a baby because she's so cute, decides to keep it, and somehow fails to realize the baby is actually a boy. She names him Joanna. Her reasoning behind the mistake is this--everybody knows that girls wear pink and boys wear blue. The baby was in pink, therefore the baby was a girl. I had a hard time believing Marlene as such a NAIVE person, especially when it came to children and reproduction. Elizabeth is a darling person (I know that sounds silly, but she is), but she isn't Marlene and Marlene doesn't seem to be able to manage the deception. If you can get past that, then this can actually be a delightful little movie. Elizabeth is very earnest, caring, and generous, as evidenced by her list of "friends" that she gives all her money to. Because of that, she can't legally adopt. Her job isn't very stable, apparently, and she doesn't have much money in the bank. In walks pediatrician Corey McBain (lovable Fred MacMurray), who inadvertently provides an answer. Then comes the whole marriage of convenience (she gets her baby, he gets part of her apartment and money to study some disease in rabbits), and whoops! They fall in love. Gee, who didn't see that one coming? All in all, this movie's okay. Not great, but it's a nice viewing. If you're expecting belly laughs, you won't get them from this. (There were many other funnier movies that came out around this time: "The Lady Eve," "The Palm Beach Story," "Sullivan's Travels," etc.) Of course, what can you say about a movie whose claim to fame is the star being clumsy and breaking her ankle?