In This Our Life (1942)

Released in 1942 by Warner Bros. and directed by John Huston, In This Our Life is a drama adapted from the novel of the same title written by Ellen Glasgow. The film stars Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland as sisters - Stanley and Roy respectively - two very different women born to the wealthy Timberlake family of Richmond, Virginia.

We learn at the onset that the sisters' father, Asa (Frank Craven) has just lost his portion of a successful tobacco company to his wife, Lavinia's (Billie Burke) brother, William (Charles Coburn).

Roy is married to Dr. Peter Kingsmill (Dennis Morgan) and runs a successful operation as an interior decorator, while Stanley is just days away from marrying her fiance, Craig (played by George Brent).

The evening before her wedding Stanley runs off with Peter and it becomes apparent to everyone that they've been having an affair for some time now. Roy is devastated, but her hurt quickly turns to anger and she vows to move on with her life. She divorces Peter and he and Stanley marry and move to Baltimore soon after.

Stanley's betrayal forms a sort of bond between Roy and Craig and the two become friends then, over time, their friendship turns into romantic love.

Of course, while things are starting to look up for Roy, Stanley's situation has grown progressively worse. Her wild nature and Peter's hard drinking have resulted in an unhappy marriage and soon word reaches the Timberlake clan that Peter has killed himself, which means Stanley is moving back to Richmond...



Bette Davis initially pursued the role of Roy, but was forced to take the role of Stanley instead. She felt she was too old for the role and was dissatisfied with the script and the film, which she thought was a watered-down version of a powerful and moving novel that shed light on racial injustice.

I haven't read the novel, so perhaps my opinion of the movie would be different if I had, but I enjoyed the film and found it to be an entertaining diversion. Bette Davis is always interesting, even if I do think she was miscast - I had no problem with her age, but I didn't find her entirely believable as a femme fatale.

Olivia de Havilland is lovely, as usual. She had the "woman of quiet dignity" part down pat, didn't she? The role of the "good sister" suits her well in the film and she looks absolutely gorgeous.

Charles Coburn is sufficiently creepy as the sisters' uncle who has an unnatural interest in niece Stanley. George Brent and Dennis Morgan are nice additions to the film, though there isn't a lot of dialogue for either of them, which I found disappointing. It was interesting to see Morgan in an unflattering role as a cheating husband.

The film also features Hattie McDaniel as Minerva Clay, Parry's mother and the Timberlakes' maid. Unfortunately, it's a very small role for her. (I was also disappointed with Billie Burke's very boring role as the sickly mother.)

In an effort to avoid spoiler alerts, I won't go into specifics, but I will say that I really enjoyed Ernest Anderson's portrayal of Parry Clay, a young African American man who aspires to become a lawyer. It was so refreshing to see a film from this time period portray a person of color in a positive and realistic light. Anderson won the 1942 National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performance.

Overall I enjoyed In This Our Life and found it to be a solid drama with a fine cast. An extra ten minutes might have helped to flesh out the characters a bit and I think the film would have been more powerful if we had been given more time to truly understand and care about the characters and what happens to them.

I Love You Again (1940)

For me, Myrna Loy is never better than when she's playing verbal volleyball with William Powell and I Love You Again is another fantastic demonstration of the pair's chemistry: chock full of sass and those droll one-liners that Loy and Powell both do so well.  

Released in 1940 by MGM Studios, the film was directed by W. S. Van Dyke (who directed Powell and Loy in the first four movies of The Thin Man series) and went on to be a big success. 

I Love You Again stars William Powell as stuffy, penny-pinching businessman Larry Wilson...at first.  The film opens at the bar on a vacation cruise and here we meet Larry, whose uptight personality has earned him quite a reputation with his fellow passengers, who call him Grape Juice Man in reference to his signature drink: ginger ale and grape juice.

On the last night of the cruise, an inebriated man named 'Doc' Ryan (Frank McHugh) hassles Larry for being too high-and-mighty to have a drink with him, but when Doc slips and falls into the ocean, Larry jumps in after him and winds up saving his life, taking an oar to the head while he's at it. 

   

The blow knocks him unconscious and when he comes to, Larry Wilson is no more.  Doc is there in his room with him, wishing to befriend the man who saved his life, but the two of them soon discover that he is not the same man that just rescued Doc from drowning.  

Larry Wilson is really George Carey, a suave conman who suffered amnesia for the past nine years after he took a blow to the head.  Unfortunately for George, he has no memory of his life as Larry Wilson - he doesn't know what he does for a living or even where he lives, but a quick glance at his bank account balance indicates that he has saved up a sizable chunk of money ripe for the taking.

So, in typical swindler fashion, he decides to go "home" to Habersville, New York and collect his money, which he agrees to share with Doc in exchange for his assistance in pulling it off. 

He doesn't count on the surprise waiting for him at the pier, though: turns out he's married to a beautiful woman named Kay (Myrna Loy) and he thinks it's his lucky day, but he soon finds out that he and his wife are separated and she is ready to make the separation legal.  So much so that she's already seeing other people.

George doesn't care all that much, at first.  After all, Kay is really Larry's wife, not George's, and he doesn't feel one way or the other about her or anyone else in Habersville.  All he wants is the money.  Unfortunately, nothing is ever easy and he learns that the hundred grand he thought was his is, in fact, money held in trust for community projects.  He only has a modest savings to call his own.

So George, ever the enterprising fellow, cooks up a scheme to bilk some of the town's wealthier men out of their money.  But when the best laid plans mix with the worst of intentions, George finds himself in spot after spot of trouble, all the while falling in love with his own wife.  

Will George go through with it or will he choose Larry's life over George's?

There are so many fantastic scenes in the film: George dancing with himself, Kay dumping eggs on George's head, George tramping through the woods with a troupe of reverent Boy Scouts.  William Powell is very funny as debonair George Carey, especially in scenes that put George out of his element.   Powell delivers his lines with perfect timing and inflection, but this role also showcases his skill as a physical comedian, which is an absolute treat.  

Myrna Loy is fantastic, as always.  She doesn't get as much screen time here as in some of her other pairings with Powell, but she is effective and engaging in every one of her scenes.  She is the perfect counterpart to Powell's character: wholly (and often humorously) unimpressed with George, who is using every trick in the book to win her back.  

The supporting cast is good.  Frank McHugh as Doc, George Carey's partner of sorts, is funny and gets a lot of good lines.  I enjoyed his performance a lot. The film also features Nella Walker as Kay's mother,  Donald Douglas as Kay's boyfriend and Edmund Lowe as the "villain of the piece".

I Love You Again is a wonderful film.  The story is original, fast-paced and immensely funny.  I love every minute of it.

Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1813, is pretty much universally considered to be her most beloved novel.  Personally I like Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility best, but Pride and Prejudice is without question my favorite Austen story to watch.  I put on the BBC's 1995 mini series every few months or so - it's a tough one to beat!


That being said, when Turner Classic Movies recently aired the 1940 film adaptation, I knew I had to watch it.  Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier?  Yes, please!  And just as I'd hoped, I had a lot of fun watching this version of Pride and Prejudice (1940).

Set in early 19th century England, the story follows Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Greer Garson), the intelligent, vivacious and witty second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, played by Edmund Gwenn and Mary Boland.  She lives with her family in their modest country house just outside the neighboring village of Meryton.

Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet

The Bennet Sisters

The film opens in a dress shop in Meryton, where Mrs. Bennet and her two eldest daughters, Elizabeth (Garson) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) are shopping for new gowns.  Through the shop's window, they witness the arrival of an elegant carriage and its three impressive inhabitants, two gentlemen and a lady.

Mrs. Bennet and her daughters soon learn very good news: the gentlemen, Mr. Bingley (Bruce Lester) and Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier), are both wealthy and single, and as we all know: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy

Mr. Bingley, they learn, has just rented Netherfield Park, a long-vacant estate in the area, and he has brought his sister Caroline (Frieda Inescort) and his good friend Darcy to stay with him for a while.

Mrs. Bennet, thinking of her five unmarried daughters, hauls Elizabeth and Jane out of the dress shop and into their carriage, frantic to get home to her husband so she can share this news with him and urge him to call upon their new neighbors and - fingers crossed - set in motion the events that will lead to a wedding (or two).

Their neighbor, Lady Lucas (Marjorie Wood), who has also just learned the news, rushes after Mrs. Bennet, hauling her own unmarried daughter Charlotte (Karen Morley) into their carriage and rushing off toward home to speak to her husband.

The ensuing race scene is one of my favorites of the film.  No, this does not happen in the novel and yes, it is silly and implausible, but it surprised me and made me laugh, so I ignored my inner critic and just enjoyed it!the critic in me.

The Bennet girls eventually do meet the newcomers when the village gathers at a ball.  Mr. Bingley, amiable and kind, is an immediate favorite with his new neighbors, particularly Jane.

Miss Bingley and Mr. Darcy, however, do not make a favorable impression.  Mr. Darcy especially is seen as proud and haughty, even insulting Elizabeth when he tells Mr. Bingley he will not dance with her because he "is in no humor tonight to give consequence to the middle classes at play". Of course, he has no idea Elizabeth is within earshot when he says this and, although she laughs it off, the damage has been done.

Elizabeth meets another young man at the dance: Mr. Wickham (Edward Ashley Cooper), a militia soldier stationed in Meryton.  She likes Mr. Wickham immediately and, already halfway to hating Mr. Darcy, is shocked and disgusted when Wickham tells her of the terrible wrong he suffered at Darcy's hands.

Soon after, Mr. Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins (Melville Cooper) arrives at Longbourn for a visit. The Bennet family has never met Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet is predisposed to hate him, as he will inherit their home and land upon Mr. Bennet's death.  Her feelings are soon changed, however, when Mr. Collins, who is looking for a wife, makes it clear that he would be willing to marry one of the Bennet girls in the hope that this gesture will smooth out any ill feelings toward him.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, Mr. Collins settles on her.  (But only after learning that Jane is already practically engaged to someone else.)

Another ball brings Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together again when Darcy saves Elizabeth from Mr. Collins, who has been chasing her around all day.  This, followed by a little light flirtation (during a darling scene in which Elizabeth trounces Darcy at archery),  goes a long way toward changing Elizabeth's opinion of him.  Unfortunately, her family's less-than-model behavior and Darcy's snobbery clash and he turns on her again.

Mr. Darcy "schools" Miss Elizabeth on archery

The film goes on to reveal secrets, scandals, surprise marriage proposals and a twist at the end that is nothing at all like the book and likely angered its fair share of Austen fans.  I enjoyed this version of Pride of Prejudice, even with the changes and omissions.  It is far from a faithful adaptation of the novel (which is set around 1813, NOT 1830-something as in the film), but I was pleasantly surprised by the passably authentic language and overall I found the movie fun to watch.

Greer Garson is beautiful in this film, as always.   Her face was always so expressive - for me, she dominates every scene, in this movie and every movie she's in.  She was 36 years old when they made this film, so she was considerably older than Elizabeth Bennet is in the novel, but Garson's sparkling screen presence made me forget all about that.

Laurence Olivier's Darcy was a bit wooden at times, as if he was going for "proud and rigid" and fell a touch short.  I thought the scenes that allowed him to be a little flirtatious or tender were better suited for him.  He seemed romantic then and Olivier excelled at romantic.

Overall, the supporting cast was great with Ann Rutherford as Lydia Bennet, Heather Angel as Kitty Bennet, E.E. Clive as Sir William Lucas and Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Frieda Inescort was so elegant - I thought she was a wonderful Caroline Bingley.  Karen Morley was far too pretty to play Charlotte, who is described as plain in the novel (which is thought to be the main reason she never expects to find a husband).

I particularly enjoyed Marsha Hunt as Mary Bennet - she was adorable in this role and I wanted her to have more screen time.

In the end, I thought this was an enjoyable version of Pride and Prejudice.  If you like the core story of the novel and don't mind a few changes to the plot (and a complete change in time period to allow for large, puffy-sleeved gowns, because they are apparently more interesting) I think this version is worth a watch.