Ladies in Love (1936)

“The trouble with us is all we talk about is love.”

            I am not a romantic girl at all. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be totally in love with someone and have someone be totally in love with me. But those thoughts are usually thought of after I watch a romantic or rom com movie. The next day I am usually so busy thinking of just me with school and work the last thing I want to think about is that someone else in my life. At this moment in my life I cannot handle a boyfriend. Never mind all the drama that usually goes into having one! Two of my best friends have boyfriends. When we are all together they talk about their boyfriends. I do not mind though because I like their boyfriends and they are not the only thing they can talk about. I cannot imagine having friends that all they do is talk about their boyfriends more than I can imagine me having one right now. Thank god! In the 1936 film Ladies in Love all three friends can talk about is love.

            Susie Schmidt (Loretta Young) and Yoli Hayden (Constance Bennett) move into their new apartment. When they walk into the building they find their third roommate and their other friend Martha Kerenye (Janet Gaynor) has already made herself at home by taking a shower. Martha tells the girl an old superstition her gypsy nurse told her: they have to count all the corners in the room then sit down and make a wish. Susie and Yoli count eight and then sit down: Susie wants a hat shop like the one she used to work in and Yoli wants to marry a rich a husband. Martha in the bathroom counts four and wishes for a real home, a husband, and kids.

            One of Martha’s many odd jobs is taking care of experimental rabbits for a Dr. Rudi Imre (Don Ameche). On that particular day Martha was late to take care of the rabbit. Rudi is not too happy with her because the rabbits need to be on a strict schedule for their medicine. She tells him that she moved into a new place a little farther away so it took her extra time to get there. Rudi is upset with her and lets her go.

            At the apartment Yoli boyfriend John comes by with his friend Count Karl Lanyi (Tyrone Power). Susie opens the door and is immediately in love with Karl. Karl asks Yoli to take Susie to a party that night. Susie hears Karl ask Yoli about her going to the party. Yoli tells her that Karl is engaged to another woman already but that does not bother Susie too much. At the party Yoli’s friend Ben tells her he can see that Susie in love it is all over her face. He talks to Yoli about the night she met John. Ben had been talking to her before John walked in. Ben is upset that Yoli is upset about John going away. John and Yoli go to leave the party but happily decide to stay.

            The following day Martha goes to see Susie in the stage show she is in. Martha asks Susie if she knows any men she might be able to sell a tie to. Susie tries to introduce her friend to a magician named Sandor but the magician just brushes Martha off. Martha gets seated in spot very close to the stage. During one of his tricks Sandor calls Martha up on stage. She tries to sell him a tie not realizing she is in the act. Sandor tricks her about buying a tie and giving her money. After the show Sandor needs help getting his shirt off. He fired his help so Martha helps him. He needs a tie too. Martha makes a deal with Sandor to buy a tie for a smaller price and she can become his maid. That day Susie had told Karl she was in love with him. After the show Karl is backstage waiting to take her out to dinner.

            Meanwhile, Yoli and John are at his place. They see legs dangling on the arm of one of his chairs. When they go over a young girl is there. The girl’s name is Marie (Simone Simon) and she is kind of related to John by marriage. Marie tells them that she ran away from. Her mother was trying to make her do something she did not want to do. John is nervous about her staying there and what it might look like to people.

            Martha has been working for Sandor for three weeks. She bosses him around. She tells him to stop drinking and he gives her a bull story that he has a nervous disorder that makes his hand shake just to get her sympathy.

            Susie goes to Karl’s apartment. He is not there but she waits. She sees a note from his fiancé on the table. She reads the letter. The fiancé wrote that they can be married at the end of the week just like he wanted. Beyond crushed Susie leaves the apartment in a hurry.

            Martha goes to see Rudi. She tells him she is working for Sandor and Rudi gets a little jealous thinking she is in love with Sandor. She gets mad at him and leaves in a huff.

            That night Susie goes out with John and Yoli. She sees Karl walk into the club. A man who gossips sees Susie and talks to him about Karl. To avoid speaking to Karl she goes off with the man when Karl comes up to her.

            Rudi waited for Martha outside the theater. He apologizes to her and takes her out to dinner. He gets jealous of Sandor again when Martha mentions the magicians. Martha gets very upset with Rudi for analyzing her when he cannot analyze himself. She storms out of the restaurant.

            Marie has run away from her boarding school. She confesses to him that ever since he had taken her out to lunch when she came sever years ago with her mother for vacation she has been in love with him. That is the reason she ran away from home. Marie manages to get John to marry him and take her to South America. John is truly happy around Marie.

            Sandor admits to Martha that he hired her because he was lonely and he was hoping she would fall in love with him. Martha does not love Sandor in any way. He kisses her and then says he thought he was losing his grip. Martha runs out of the apartment.

            Susie watches from a café Karl walking into a church with his bride to be married. At the apartment Susie drinks too much champagne. Martha shares in a bit of Susie’s misery and drinks some champagne as well. Susie is so depressed she puts sleeping syrup in her drink to kill herself. She put the glass down near Martha’s and Martha winds up picking Susie’s glass.

            Yoli goes to the train station to see John. She sees Marie going with him. Yoli walks off of the platform and Ben is there waiting for her. When Yoli comes home Rudi is there trying to keep Martha awake. Susie feels awful she cannot believe she just almost killed her best friend. Rudi comes to check on Martha and Sandor comes in at the same time. Sandor thinks Martha tried to kill herself because of him. She starts laughing and cannot stop when he says that. Rudi plays some game with Sandor to get him out of the apartment. Rudi tells Martha he got a real job and wants to marry her.

            The ladies move out of their apartment. Susie got her store thanks to some help from Yoli and Ben. Yoli marrying Ben who has really loved her. They all cannot believe all that has happened to them since they had moved into their apartment.

            The cast was fantastic. I loved seeing Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, and Constance Bennett together. Gaynor was so adorable I could not take it. She looked and sounded like such a little kid she was perfect as Martha because Martha was in so many ways a dreamy little girl. Young was gorgeous and wonderful. I liked how Susie could not stop talking when they first moved in she was so excited. Bennett is a great actress. It seemed like she did not want to be making the film though. Maybe it was the character but it looked like Bennett was not giving the part her all. Don Ameche did not have his mustache and I could not believe how much more handsome he was without it! I loved him and Gaynor together they were so cute. Tyrone Power is actually listed in the credits as Tyrone Power, Jr. His father was an actor so I guess to distinguish the young from the old they put Jr. at the end. Not too long later they dropped the Jr. Power is not really in the film that much. This was mostly likely one of his very early films for Fox.

            Ladies in Love was a cute film. Although I am far from the romantic type I did like the story.  The story was good because Susie did not really get what she wanted. All the ladies had to go through heartbreak and silly things (in Martha's case) to get to where they wanted and what they wanted. Secretly sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in love. For now I just live vicariously though film characters which is all I have time for right now! Haha. Ladies in Love is definitely worth watching especially if you like any of the cast members. 

This Above All (1942)

“What’s the use in fighting for the past when we’re fighting for our future?”

            Today is Joan Fontaine’s 96^th birthday. This classy lady is one of very few actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood who is still alive. Fontaine was one of the very first classic actresses I became a fan of. The first film I saw her in was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca. At the time I was working at Best Buy where my job was stocking the CDs, DVDs, video games, and MP3s. Hitchcock’s Notorious, Spellbound, and Rebecca had been released in a special edition DVD. I bought Notorious and Spellbound for Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman for myself and also around Christmas time for my great-grandma (who happens to be a few months older than Fontaine and is also still alive). My great-grandma asked me if I had ever seen Rebecca and I told her I had not and she told me I should see it. The next day when I went back to work I bought the movie. I liked Fontaine right away. I liked her acting and wanted to find more of her films to watch. Since Rebecca I have seen Joan Fontaine is over ten films and there are still many more I still need to see. Each of her films have been a pleasure to watch because of her acting.

            In honor of Joan Fontaine’s birthday I have watched her 1942 film This Above All she made with Tyrone Power.

            Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine) is a young British woman of the privileged class. She   makes a call to her house to say she will be late for dinner. When Prudence arrives home she reveals she went into town to join the WAAFs. Her aunt and uncle are not happy about Prudence joining a group with women of the lower class. Prudence yells at her aunt and uncle and their friends for being so behind the times.

            At camp Prudence meets Violet. Violet pairs Prudence up with a friend of her boyfriend’s named Clive Briggs (Power). While out walking at night Prudence and Clive see the Germans bombing a town by the Thames Estuary. Clive notices she is part of the British aristocracy from her accent. He tells her he does not care for the aristocracy. They agree to meet the following day in the afternoon in the light where they can see each other better. They spend entire day together. While waiting for a bus they have a drink and kiss.

            Prudence is given three weeks leave. She was supposed to go home instead she goes away with Clive for six days. At a seaside hotel she sees her aunt walking down the stairs but neither woman says a thing to the other. In the middle of the night Prudence, in another room, hears Clive calling out in his sleep. The next day Prudence decides to leave saying it is unromantic now that someone knows where they are. Soon enough though, Prudence changes her mind after going to a small inn with Clive that he used to go to. Once again Prudence hears Clive call out in the middle of the night. She goes to him. He tells her it is nothing she can leave and go back to bed. She asks is he was in the army. He was but he was ill after he fought at Dunkirk.

            Clive’s friend Monty comes by the inn. At a bar Prudence asks Monty about Clive. Monty tells her Clive is a hero he is receiving a medal. When Prudence is dancing with another soldier Monty tells Clive he is there to get him to come back. Clive had a month’s leave in July and it is now September. He refuses to go back. If he does not go back he will be posted as a deserter. Prudence finds out what is going on and she gives him a speech about fighting for England and for their future. The next morning Prudence wakes up to find a letter from Clive. He is now a fugitive on the run.

            Clive comes to a church and speaks to the parish priest. The priest reaches Clive who is tired of running. After this Clive decides to give himself up. He manages to call Prudence and asks her to marry him. He gets caught in the store he is making the call from by two MPs. He asks the head of the MPs to let him have two hours leave. He is granted the leave because of his war record. As Clive leaves the MP’s building London is being bombed. He helps to save a little boy from a burning building. The building collapses on Clive.

            Prudence waited for Clive all night. She goes to her father at his doctor’s office in the city she wants his help to find Clive. They find out he has been wounded on his head and needs surgery. The day of his surgery Clive and Prudence are married.

            Joan Fontaine and Tyrone Power were interesting together. Power is not the typical overpowering actor Fontaine usually acted with. Power’s acting, to me, was very sensitive and emotional compared to other actors. I am not sure if it was the characters or if it was truly their acting but Fontaine seemed to be the stronger of the two. I liked both of their characters very much. The character of Prudence was very much a morale booster and poster child for women during World War II. She was brave and courageous and the kind of woman that if she had been allowed to would most likely have fought right next to the men on the battlefield. I liked how Prudence did not push Clive to return nor did she hate him for deserting. She just gave him one of the best speeches in a war film about fighting for the future of the country and the people of the world. Joan Fontaine looked beautiful in every scene even in her uniform. This one of my favorite films I have seen her in.

            This Above All is a very good film I wish my synopsis of it could do it more justice. Never once was I bored with the plot or the characters. This is a film I wish could be shown more often because it is patriotic without all of the fuss thrown in your face. It might even make you believe that America was once worth fighting for. If you are a fan of Joan Fontaine’s or Tyrone Power’s This Above All is a film of theirs’ not to be missed.