A stylish showcase for some of MGM's top stars of the classic era -- Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor and Greer Garson in the second adaptation of a successful Broadway romantic "dramedy." It was aired on TCM, recently as part of their salute to Robert Taylor, and it's a movie that this Joan Crawford fan had never seen! From the start, it's readily evident that MGM has given full reign to their excellent production designers throughout the movie, and it certainly looks as great as any production from that studio in the 1940s. The interiors are lavish and artfully decorated, and the few exterior sequences look fantastic and are expertly filmed in MGM's highest standards of production. And certainly an in-depth review of just the costume design could be possible!
Unfortunately though, the dramatic proceedings presented are much too refined and diluted to be of much interest today, since the drawing room dialog and the plot convolutions seem somewhat antiquated -- if not downright clichéd. Today movies like this can only be wholeheartedly recommended to hardcore "completists" of the stars or the Studio.
Workman-like director Robert Z. Leonard fails to add much punch to the story line of a "love rectangle" involving the three leads, plus Herbert Marshall -- who takes the role of the object of affection of both Crawford and Garson! Crawford is a lady novelist, whose newest book reflects her own personal life, in a plot device that becomes labored at times. Taylor is Crawford's former lover and now platonic best friend, and Marshall is her doting publisher. Garson plays Marshall's somewhat uninvolved, ultra-sophisticated and globe-trotting wife. And apparently both women prefer Herbert Marshall's extremely subtle charms over that of dashing Robert Taylor, which is a plot point that would leave audiences scratching their heads.
The great stars struggle here to inject some sparkle to the proceedings, but the end result is somewhat of a great big yawn. On a positive note, fans of outrageous Hollywood fashion would find much here to appreciate, with some extreme gowns by Adrian worn with panache by the female leads, especially Joan Crawford, whose hooded gown in the opening scene is especially memorable and decidedly impractical.
Greer Garson appears at the height of her luminous beauty, and even though she doesn't make her entrance till nearly halfway through the film, manages to equal Crawford's expert photogenic appeal. Spring Byington is also on hand to supply much of the comic element, doing one of her ditsy takes on an open-minded society lady, who may have taken a somewhat effeminate interior decorator (Rafael Storm, in an amusing role) as a lover.
Never before or since, have two beautiful woman clashed so politely and in such a refined manner. The viewer would have been better served if the writers (Anita Loos included) had turned up the heat, cranked up the volume, and let loose with a little real raw emotion!
**1/2 out of *****
Unfortunately though, the dramatic proceedings presented are much too refined and diluted to be of much interest today, since the drawing room dialog and the plot convolutions seem somewhat antiquated -- if not downright clichéd. Today movies like this can only be wholeheartedly recommended to hardcore "completists" of the stars or the Studio.
Workman-like director Robert Z. Leonard fails to add much punch to the story line of a "love rectangle" involving the three leads, plus Herbert Marshall -- who takes the role of the object of affection of both Crawford and Garson! Crawford is a lady novelist, whose newest book reflects her own personal life, in a plot device that becomes labored at times. Taylor is Crawford's former lover and now platonic best friend, and Marshall is her doting publisher. Garson plays Marshall's somewhat uninvolved, ultra-sophisticated and globe-trotting wife. And apparently both women prefer Herbert Marshall's extremely subtle charms over that of dashing Robert Taylor, which is a plot point that would leave audiences scratching their heads.
The great stars struggle here to inject some sparkle to the proceedings, but the end result is somewhat of a great big yawn. On a positive note, fans of outrageous Hollywood fashion would find much here to appreciate, with some extreme gowns by Adrian worn with panache by the female leads, especially Joan Crawford, whose hooded gown in the opening scene is especially memorable and decidedly impractical.
Greer Garson appears at the height of her luminous beauty, and even though she doesn't make her entrance till nearly halfway through the film, manages to equal Crawford's expert photogenic appeal. Spring Byington is also on hand to supply much of the comic element, doing one of her ditsy takes on an open-minded society lady, who may have taken a somewhat effeminate interior decorator (Rafael Storm, in an amusing role) as a lover.
Never before or since, have two beautiful woman clashed so politely and in such a refined manner. The viewer would have been better served if the writers (Anita Loos included) had turned up the heat, cranked up the volume, and let loose with a little real raw emotion!
**1/2 out of *****