Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

mark.waltz A Life Magazine photographer (David Niven) takes on a beautiful but frigid non-fiction author (Joan Caulfield) whose latest book, "The Lady Says No", is obviously anti-male, anti-sex, anti-romance, and definitely anti-marriage obviously anti-researched. She might as well become a member of the now defunct religious sector, the Shakers, as she goes about humiliating Niven in public at a women's meeting by showing the ladies (most of them well beyond the age of romance) how to deal with a masher. That offensive sequence, handled in the most juvenile manner, is followed by Caulfield obviously learning the error of her ways, basically becoming a hypocrite by chasing Niven and trying to reconcile a couple who have separated because the wife is now an obsessed follower of her ideals, having earlier poo-poo'd the whole thing when Niven picked her up as a hitch-hiker.Ultimately, this extremely unfunny comedy with no wit, little intelligence and zero point, is a waste of dead trees, both with the script and the book utilized on screen. "The Andy Griffith Show's" Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea) has a rare major film role as Caulfield's aunt, a woman whose own husband (James Robertson Justice) ran out on her years ago and has presumably returned just to cash in on the profits. Character actor Henry Jones ("The Bad Seed's" LeRoy and TV's "Phyllis", among many other credits) has a major part as the Army Sergeant whose wife left him. If it wasn't for the cast, this would rate a total bomb. A dream sequence in the movie only stresses the obnoxiousness of the film.

bkoganbing The Lady Says No casts Joan Caulfield in a part that Katharine Hepburn would have taken one look at and rejected out of hand. Caulfield plays an early advocate of women's liberation and who authors a book where she tells her female readers many different ways to say 'no' to a man and make it stick. The woman is in some real danger of having that work all too well for her readers and herself.David Niven plays a Life Magazine photographer who's been all around the world and sampled females from many walks of life. He's assigned to do a feature photo story on Caulfield and the two of them start their antics of courtship which you know will only end one way. Back in 1951 it could only end one way with the Code in place.Speaking of the Code, this independent United Artist Release is the only kind of film the Breen Office might have been sloppy with the censoring. Otherwise no way a line like "with my trusty female native guide, I thrust myself into the interior of Borneo" could have made the cut. It was the biggest laugh in the film for me.David Niven could barely summon enough interest to be vaguely charming in this film. The Lady Says No was produced and for one time only directed by Frank Ross for his wife Joan Caulfield. Maybe the film might have rated a bit higher had a comedy specialist like Mitchell Leisen or George Marshall did the directing.In any event it's a dud and a waste of a talented cast.

writers_reign Frank Ross distinguished himself in various ways - he was married to one great actress (Jean Arthur) and one acting joke (Joan Caulfield), he produced a couple of Sinatra titles (The House I Live In, Kings Go Forth) and a fairly risible pseudo-religious entry (The Robe). Somehow he got the idea he was equipped to direct a film and given that his second wife Caulfield was sorely in need of a vehicle that may remind viewers she had once been in the same film (Blue Skies) as Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, coming a bad nowhere despite co-star billing, he must have seen this as a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Alas ... the teaming of two actors of monumental unequal talent (David Niven and James Robertson Justice) was only eclipsed a couple of years later when Fred Astaire wiped the floor with Jack Buchanan in The Bandwagon and the chemistry between Niven and Caulfield could only have been eclipsed by Garbo and Mr. Bean. One best forgotten.

wes-connors Suave LIFE magazine photographer David Niven (as William "Bill" Shelby) arrives to do a feature on the female writer who made her "The Lady Says No" a feminist bestseller. She surprises him by being shapely blonde Joan Caulfield (as Dorinda Hatch). Mr. Niven attempts to thaw the icy beauty by getting her to wear less for his photo spread, but Ms. Caulfield resists. You can guess the rest."The Lady Says No" is predictable to a fault and only pretends to be sophisticated. Don't give up on it too early, lest you miss Caulfield's dream sequence - she ties Niven up after he leads his bikini-topped harem by a collective rope around their pretty necks. Director Frank Ross was Caulfield's husband. Favorite aunt Frances Bavier (as Alice) and Henry Jones (as Potsy) are always fun to see.**** The Lady Says No (1/6/52) Frank Ross ~ Joan Caulfield, David Niven, Frances Bavier, Henry Jones