The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

“I don't like anybody pushing me around. I don't like anybody pushing you around. I don't like anybody getting pushed around.” 

            I do not know if I did not like The Strange Love of Martha Ivers because I kind of forced myself to watch it or if it was just boring from the beginning. I am saying it was boring from the beginning because even if I forced myself to watch it if it had been good I would have liked it. I think I was expecting better of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, too, because it is a Barbara Stanwyck film she barely made anything that was subpar.

            In 1928, rich girl Martha Ivers was about to run away from home with a boy named Sam Masterson. She was trying to get away from her controlling aunt (Judith Anderson). Eventually Martha is brought home. The police were lead to where Martha and Sam were by her tutor’s son Walter. Walter’s father is a greedy man who wants nothing more than for his son to have a good reputation and money. Martha tells her aunt that she does not care about being an Ivers she is not an Ivers she is a Smith like her father. Her aunt throws it back in her face that her father was nothing but a mill worker while her mother had all the money. The aunt even had Martha’s last name legally changed to Ivers. Sam comes to the house to try to take Martha away but her cat gets lose so she has Sam get the cat before her aunt can do anything with it. Unfortunately Sam cannot get to the cat because the aunt is around so he runs out of the house. Martha comes down the stairs with Walter. She sees her aunt beating the cat to death and that is when Martha has it she takes her aunt’s cane and pushes the woman down the stairs killing her.

            Seventeen years later, Sam (Van Heflin) is driving along a road with a sailor when his car crashes into a sign for Iverstown. Sam reluctantly goes into town to get his car fixed. He hears over the radio that Martha (Stanwyck) is married to Walter (Kirk Douglas) and he is now the District Attorney. As Sam is walking through town he comes upon a young woman named Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott) who is about to leave town. Toni decides to hang back and stay with Sam. She tries to tell him she as in jail for something but he does not care. That night they get separate hotel rooms next to each other. Sam agrees to drive Toni out West

            Martha is upset with Walter because instead of him giving his speech about winning the DA spot she had to give the speech for him. When she gets home he is drunk. He seems like a week, timid man when he says that he is afraid to speak in front of crowds.

            The following day two detectives come to the hotel looking for Toni. She has skipped out on her probation. Sam tries to help her by going to Walter since they used to be friends. Even early in the morning Walter is almost drunk. The two men get along for some time until Martha comes in and Sam tells her who he is. When Sam and Martha leave (separately), Walter has some private detectives look into Sam.

            Martha has Sam come to her house. Sam asks Martha why she is with Walter but she does not want to talk about it. Martha takes him to her old room where they last saw each other. Before Sam leaves, he and Martha kiss.

            The garage where Sam is having his car fixed gets a call from Martha saying to take all their time on fixing the car so Sam can be stalled so he stays in town longer. Walter’s private detective finds out this information. Walter does not take the news too well. He has Toni come and blackmails her into accepting to have something happen to Sam. Sam gets beaten and taken outside the city limits. When Sam comes to he is twenty-none miles away from Iverstown and beaten up pretty good. He managed to rip off a detective’s badge. He goes to Martha’s house to see Walter and he finds out the DA’s plans against him. Walter thinks Sam is trying to blackmail them now.

            Martha begins to play the fallen woman who has not had an easy life. She tells Sam she has really missed him and wishes she was just plain old Martha Smith. She just walks right into the hotel room Sam is in saying she can do whatever she wants she owns the hotel. Martha makes Sam go out with her for the night. They go out to dinner and then to a park where she tells Sam about the night her aunt. She had always thought he had been there but he was not. Martha confesses to having convicted an innocent man so she would not get caught for the murder and that out of that guilt Walter’s father made them marry each other. When they pull into the hotel Toni sees them kissing and she gets upset.

            Walter calls Sam to come over the house for a talk. When Sam gets to the house Walter tells him that Martha has had several other men in her life who she has tried to manipulate so they will fall for her plan to kill him.

            If you do not know that old films always have to have the guilty killed they cannot evade justice I am sure you can figure out the ending somehow. And I must say that the ending for Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas was fantastic they both played that scene perfectly.

            Barbara Stanwyck was honestly in the film for maybe like twenty minutes out of the hour and fifty-five minute film. She was excellent the woman was such a great actress but I was not too thrilled with her being this melodramatic woman. This was Kirk Douglas’s first film and he was the best part of the film. He was so unbelievably good. He did not need any help from Stanwyck or Van Heflin he definitely held his own and he was fabulous. Van Heflin was good but I am never impressed with him. He was not terrible but he is not memorable. Judith Anderson is only in the film in the first few minutes. Think of her as a strict Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca only she gets killed early on. Lizabeth Scott was terrible for me it was painful to sit through her parts. Her voice annoyed me and so did her face.

            The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is not a particularly good film. I was bored from beginning to end and I think it just had to do with the slow pace and also the fact that I had to kind of force myself to watch it when I was really not in the mood to watch a film (I needed to watch it since I posted it on here). As I said Barbara Stanwyck is fantastic and so is Kirk Douglas so I would say if you really like either actor watch The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. I wrote out the description I hope this does well so you will not have to sit through the whole thing. 

Employees Entrance (1933)

“There's no room for sympathy or softness - my code is smash or be smashed!” 

            If you are ever looking for a great example of what a Pre-Code film is Employees’ Entrance is one of the best. The film is also just great in general it is ruthless and gripping.

            Franklin & Monroe Department Store is one of the largest department stores in the country with over 12,000 employees. The head of the department store is a ruthless man named Kurt Anderson (Warren William). He has the store and it’s board in his iron vice grip. Anderson goes to board meeting and without faltering tells the gentlemen that he wants to be the only one in charge of running the store and demands a salary increase. The board thinks he is out of his mind but they keep him because the store’s sales have been through the roof.

            Anderson proves his power when a coat maker cannot meet the deadline for the store’s order for a special sale because of a labor dispute. Anderson takes whatever coats the man has made and then cancels the order. The man’s business is ruined because of the cancellation but Anderson does not care. That night after the store closes he hears someone playing the piano in the model house. He finds a young woman named Madeline (Loretta Young). She was planning to stay in the home until the morning so she could be first on the employment line. Anderson likes her, takes her out, then back to his place. Madeline becomes a model in the women’s clothing department.

            Madeline starts to see Martin West a man who works in the advertising department. He is a nice sweet guy. Anderson sees Martin be really tough with an artist over a drawn illustration for the store’s advertisement. He does not like the man’s illustration and does not accept his work. Anderson likes what he sees and moves Martin up to his assistant. Madeline gets a marriage license. At first Martin does not want to get married so soon because no one knows that they were even seeing each other and does not want Anderson to know if was married. Madeline is heartbroken and he sees it. They see a wedding party leaving a church and Martin drags Madeline into the church and they are married.

            Martin begins to become bogged down by being Anderson’s assistant especially after the old head of advertising, Higgins, kills himself when Anderson fired him and refused to see him. Anderson did not even bat an eye when he heard the news about Higgins he just said good riddance. On top of everything Madeline begins to get on his back for constantly being at Anderson’s beck and call. They are at a company party when she gets upset with him for not coming home for dinner. They walk away from each other and she winds up drinking with Anderson. He tells her to go up to his room and she does. Martin meanwhile passes out during the party and wakes up in the hotel. He finds Madeline just as she is writing him a letter saying she has been a terrible wife and is leaving him when he walks in and says he is terrible for not having gone home the night before.

            Madeline is called down to Anderson’s office. He wants to see her at his place that night. She refuses and lets slip that she and Martin are married. Anderson is furious over this and calls in another girl in the store named Polly to try to come between their marriage and luckily for Martin and Madeline she refuses. Anderson later tells Madeline that he is willing to pay her off to leave her husband. He sneakily and awfully has Martin find out that he and Madeline had spent two nights together. She gets so upset she poisons herself but thankfully she lives. Martin refuses to work in the store anymore.

            Anderson finds out that he is about to be fired from his job. He has only one ally on the board who also happens to have the forty vote proxy of one of the owners. The ally gets the proxy vote and the bad guy Anderson still has his job.

            Warren William was stereotyped into a bad guy but he was so good that audiences never got tired of him playing the same character over and over. He was a great charming bad guy because he was oddly handsome. Loretta Young was fantastic. She was twenty years old at the time she made this and looked beautiful (and her acting was much better than it was in TheSquall). She was so cute when her character was introduced in the model home, she pretended she owned the house and was showing Anderson around her home. Young was hysterical when she had to play drunk because I have never seen her do a scene like that! Young played her character with a great depth that was probably not meant to be but she made the character brilliant and really stand out.

            There are so many aspects of this film that make it a perfect example of a Pre-Code film. Anderson has one of his girls Polly who he apparently has been with before seduce and distract one of the board members. When she comes into his office he says he is not used to seeing her with her clothes on. Anderson sleeps with Madeline twice the second time when she is married. Madeline is not shamed but forgiven by her husband. In the end Anderson who is the ruthless bad guy does not get punished at the end but rewarded.

            Employees’ Entrance is such a good film I really do not have any complaints about it. Everything about the film is fantastic. Employees’ Entrance is not available on DVD or Youtube I caught the film on TCM so if the channel plays it again absolutely watch it especially if you are a fan of Pre-Code films.

 

Silent Sundays: The Lodger (1927)

“Tall he was - and his face all wrapped up”

            The Lodger was the first silent film I ever watched. I can remember like it was yesterday (This was about maybe four years ago now) when I bought a pack of Hitchcock’s early films. When I got home I went to my basement and watched The Lodger. I remember liking the story but I cannot remember how I felt about watching a silent film such as if I found it difficult to follow or the quality or the acting. I just remember I liked the story, the tension, and the ambiguity. Now watching The Lodger after having seen so many of Hitchcock’s films as well as a handful of other silent films I appreciate the film so much more. Maybe appreciate is not the right word, understand I feel is more fitting. I understand the film better along with Hitchcock’s style now.

            The story takes place in modern 1926 London. The opening shot is of a young girl being screaming as she is being attacked and murdered. Her body is hauled out of the Thames with several onlookers. The poor girl is the seventh victim of a killer known simply as The Avenger. He kills young girls with blonde hair and always on Tuesday nights. News spreads from the Thames Embankment where the girl was found to the wire services and finally to the newspapers. People all over are at once nervous, upset and intensely interested. Chorus girls in the show Golden Curls that can be seen flickering in a reflection on the Thames are scared to leave alone. Several of the blonde haired girls tuck their hair into hats or put on brunette wigs.

            The news hits a Mr. and Mrs. Bunting close to home. Their daughter Daisy is a young blonde girl who is a model at a store. Daisy arrives safely home to her mother, father, and her police officer boyfriend Joe. The Buntings run a boarding house and one night a mysterious man (Ivor Novello) comes to the door looking for a room. Right away he looks suspicious- his mouth is covered by a cloth, he wears a hat, and a heavy coat. The Lodger is skittish and nervous. When Mrs. Bunting, Daisy, and Joe go downstairs they can hear The Lodger pacing back and forth in his room.

            After some time The Lodger “has made himself agreeable.” He and Daisy sit by the fire playing a game of chess. He looks at her with a slightly sinister face as he picks up a poker. It looks as if he is going to kill her but he actually does move the logs around with the poker. Joe comes over to tell the family he has been put on The Avenger case. He says that once he puts a rope around The Avenger’s neck he will put a ring around Daisy’s finger.

            Mrs. Bunting is awoken in the middle of the night when she hears The Lodger walking down the stairs and out of the house. His mouth is covered just as it had been when he first arrived. That night another girl is murdered.

            Daisy becomes friendly with The Lodger. Her mother tells her father what she saw that when The Lodger left the house and the father is very much on his guard. Joe has become suspicious of the boarder. Mixed in with suspicion is jealousy over Daisy spending so much time with The Lodger. Joe sees that The Avenger has been moving in a certain pattern, the scene cuts to The Lodger with a map of the same patterns Joe has picked up on.

            Daisy and The Lodger go out on a date. Her mother panics because it is Tuesday and she is out with the strange man. Joe finds them and interrupts their date. Daisy completely ignores Joe and has The Lodger take her home. Upset over this brush off, Joe comes to the house with a warrant to search The Lodger’s room. The map is found along with a black bag the kind The Avenger is known to carry, a picture of a young blonde girl, and clippings of the murders. Joe takes the man but he eventually escapes.

            The Lodger finds Daisy after he has escaped. He explains that his sister was murder at her coming out party and he promised his mother on her deathbed that he would find her killer. Daisy brings The Lodger to a bar to get some liquor in him to warm up but his handcuffs are immediately spotted. Not too long after The Lodger is chased by angry throngs of townspeople.

            Is The Lodger really innocent or is he guilty of the multiple crimes?

            Hitchcock had to tie up the ending but I am not about to give it away. If you are truly dying to know the end then give the film a watch… or just go to IMDB and read their Trivia section. I say watch the film over cheating.

            Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that this was his first true film. This is the film style and leading male character that he would carry through all his alter films. The story is the first true Hitchcock story where people are murdered and the leading male character is blamed. I believe because this is a silent film the drama, suspense, and tension is perfection. You rely just on the actor’s actions and expressions you cannot rely just on words.

            Before making this film Hitchcock had been to Germany where the Expressionist art movement was taking place. As soon as the film starts you can see the movement’s influence on his direction and style especially with the blinking “Tonight- Golden Curls” sign blinking and some of the title cards.

            My favorite part of the film is the beginning as the news of the girl’s murder is being spread through London and the scenes of the people are interspersed with scenes of the blinking sign. It is tension and anxiety perfectly wrapped together. The news of the murder is spreading like a disease with nobody really knowing what happened and becoming afraid that the girl was found so close by.

            The Lodger is, without a doubt, one of Hitchcock’s best films and one of the best silent films I have ever seen. I have seen some silent films that were supposed to be suspenseful but nothing can hold a flame to The Lodger and this was only the beginning of Hitchcock’s career as The Master of Suspense. 

Looper (2012)

“I work as a specialized assassin, in an outfit called the Loopers. When my organization from the future wants someone to die, they zap them back to me and I eliminate the target from the future. The only rule is: never let your target escape... even if your target is you”

            As soon as I saw a trailer for Looper I had to see it. Looper is one of the most original and creative stories in the past few years. It is right in league with Inception and The Adjustment Bureau for being so original.

            The plot of Looper is fairly easy to explain and is summed up by the quote I used under the poster. Loopers are assassins who are sent people to kill from the future. From the trailers I am sure you have seen that Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is sent his future self to kill. The head of the mod from the future is “closing the loops” by sending the loopers to be killed by their past selves. The story focuses on the present Joe until his future self is sent through. We find that future Joe has fought off the mob who was sent to kill him and went back in time to stop someone called The Rainmaker who has been making the future world difficult to live in.

            Alright so I am going to stop there because I am sure I have said too much already.

            Joseph Gordon- Levitt was amazing. He is definitely going to be an actor we will be seeing in many great films to come. He was perfect to play a young Bruce Willis because both of them are calm but when they need to be can become badass. Whoever did Gordon-Levitt’s make up deserves an Academy Award. I could believe that Gordon-Levitt was an actual younger Bruce Willis. He could have been a completely different person a new actor in Hollywood.

            Emily Blunt deserves so much praise. I cannot tell you who she is because it would take a lot of explaining and too many spoilers. From the moment she comes on screen she just kicks ass and is brilliant. Blunt is an actress who like Gordon-Levitt will be around for a long time making great films because she is versatile.

            Looper is a great movie. I will give warning though that you do have to pay attention because everything is connected and comes back again and it is philosophical which I know not many people care for when they watch movies. Also it was a little too long for me, I do not know if it was because I was completely exhausted and wanted to be in my pajamas or if it was just long in general so beware of that as well. If you liked Inception and films along that line that you will definitely like Looper. It was an all around very well made and well acted film.

 

Cabin in the Woods (2011)

“They have to make the choice of their own free will. Otherwise, system doesn't work. Like the harbinger: creepy old fuck practically wears a sign saying "YOU WILL DIE". Why would we put him there? The system. They have to choose to ignore him. They have to choose what happens in the cellar. yeah, we write the game as much as we have to but in the end, if they don't transgress they can't be punished.” 

            My brother Anthony saw Cabin in the Woods when it was in theaters. He raved about it saying it was one of the best movies he has ever seen and how the story was so great. This whole time I was thinking it was a really good horror movie with a very good story because Anthony loves a good story and he is not particularly into horror other than that. Today he bought it along with our youngest brother Christian and I sat down to watch it with them. I have not laughed so hard and been more impressed with a new movie in a long time.

            It starts off with two men in a lab and they are talking about experiments and how they will eventually be successful. You have no idea what this has to do with a movie called Cabin in the Woods by trust me it has everything to do with the story.

            After the main title comes up and the credits roll it becomes your typical crappy horror movie where a bunch of friends are planning to go out to a cabin for a nice weekend away from the city. There is the jock, the whore, the shy virginal girl, a nice guy who gets with the virginal girl, and a wacked out pot smoker. They even pass a creepy old gas station with a creepy old guy who pretty much warns them their time is at an end.

            Meanwhile the guys in the lab are watching the friends on their trip and control the environment around them. They have a cellar door blow open to make them curious about going downstairs and having a look. They each take something in their hand when the virginal girl finds a diary and reads the creepy Latin. All he sudden outside scary zombies comes popping out of the ground. As you can guess each one of them dies off one by one.

            Honestly this is not your typical horror movie. It is not your typical movie in general. I do not want to give everything away because for how ridiculous this is it is absolutely genius. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard wrote the film mocking all the modern horror films that have been released within the past 10-15 years. Whedon and Goddard took all the clichés and stuck them together. They just suck there is no such thing as a good horror movie anymore… well, except Insidious that was awesome. Horror movie buffs and plain film buffs will get a kick out of seeing all the monsters that come up.

            Cabin in the Woods is brilliant. I had such a good time watching it because I laughed and it was different from any movie I have seen in a long time. I can see why Anthony liked this movie so much because the story was very good, very original, and so much fun.

 

Please Believe Me (1950)

There is a reason Please Believe Me is not a very well known classic film. It is not terrible it is just dull. There is nothing too funny or entertaining about it, the story falls apart almost from the moment the men start flocking around Deborah Kerr.

            For a number of years Alison Kirbe (Kerr) has been corresponding with an older American man named Hank she met during World War II when he was stationed there. He has passed away and she learns that Hank has left all his land to her down in Texas. Alison’s name is splashed all over the papers as an heiress to a Texas ranch.

            As soon as Alison steps onto the pier where she is to take a ship to America she is approached by a man named Terrence Keath (Robert Walker). His “helper” Victor takes Alison’s luggage away as if by accident. On board the ship Alison is brought from her second class cabin to a first class cabin in a room of her own. Terrence has given her his room. He claims that Hank was an old family friend and wants to help her out. At first Alison does not want the room but eventually changes her mind and says she will pay him back once she gets her money.

            Turns out, Terence is pulling a scam on Alison. His “helper” Victor was hired by Reilly the guy who Terence owes money to keep an eye on him. Terence’s idea was to marry a rich woman and he set his sights on Alison. He has been doing things to win Alison over such as giving her the room and his place at the captain’s table.

            Terence’s plan starts to fall apart when Alison meets Jeremy Taylor (Peter Lawford) and his lawyer Matt Kinston at dinner. Jeremy is a millionaire looking for someone to marry and Matt is his advisor keeping an eye on his client in case anyone tries to pull anything on him.

            For the next few days all three men try to get Alison to fall for them. Matt finds out that Terence is connected to Reilly and he think Alison is working with him and Victor to get Jeremy’s money. Matt tells Jeremy this but Jeremy does not care at all… for a while.

            Alison’s situation and the plot begin to fall apart once she lands in New York.

            Debroah Kerr was the only redeeming quality of this film. She was adorable and perfect. Kerr did a great job with what she was given to work with. I laughed so hard with her in two scenes. One scene is jokingly telling Terence how she cannot ride in a train in America because she watches the telephone poles go by on the right- then she moves her head as if watching the poles go by on a train- when in England she is used to the poles being on the left and she makes the same head motion with her head to the left. Kerr was so adorable in this scene I could not take it! Her second funny scene was when she goes to see Reilly to help out Terence and she just blazes into the room without a care or concern all tough and brave and tells the gangster how things are going to be and even scares his guard dog on the way out. You would have to see the scenes but trust me they were really funny.

            Robert Walker was his usual paranoid nervous self. Peter Lawford was alright I am not too crazy about him.

            Please Believe Me is worth seeing at least once and that is all especially if you are a fan of Deborah Kerr. Please Believe Me is not available on DVD or Youtube if TCM airs the film again give it a chance if you want.  

The Constant Nymph (1943)

The Constant Nymph has the reputation for having been unseen for many years because of copyright issues. It was one of those classic films that eluded fans for such a long time it most likely became a myth. Now fortunately the rights for the film have been cleared allowing TCM to air the film and Warner Bros. Archive has been able to release it on DVD. So many classic films that are hard to find are usually so hyped up leaving so many fans dying to see it and most of the time the excitement and expectations for it are just left on the floor due to utter disappointment because the film is no good (example for many has been Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino’s once lost film Beyond the Rocks). This disappointment is not so for Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer’s once locked up film The Constant Nymph.

            Lewis Dodd (Boyer) is an unsuccessful composer. His latest work did not fare well under the critics. To get away from it all he goes to the home of an old composer friend of his named Albert Sanger (Montagu Love) in the Alps. The family is very happy Lewis will be come but none more so than one of Sanger’s teenage daughters named Tessa (Fontaine). She runs all over the house in wild excitement waiting for Lewis to arrive.

            Sanger tells Tessa that Lewis is a good composer but he would do so much better because his heart is not in his music he needs to love and to suffer in order to put heart into his works. Tessa confesses in so many ways to her sister Paula that she is in love with Lewis and would do anything for him. Of course Lewis never notices that Tessa is madly in love with him.

            Sanger tells Lewis that is afraid of what will happen to the girls if he were to die. He has four daughters but not with the same woman. His older daughters can manage on their own with finding someone to marry but his two youngest daughters who have the same mother will be left with nothing. He says that their mother’s family disowned her after she ran away with him and he is not sure her family would want Tessa and Paula around. Sanger unfortunately dies while Lewis is there. Tessa and Paula’s relatives an uncle named Charles (Charles Coburn) and his daughter Florence (Alexis Smith) come to the home. Not very long later Lewis and Florence have fallen in love and are to marry. When Tessa hears the news she collapses.

            A year and a half later Tessa and Paula are at a boarding school in London. They hate it and run away. Lewis is upset and does whatever he can to have them found. Florence does not care one bit for the girls she finds them annoying since they get all of Lewis’s attention. Florence has thrown a party on the night the girls came to the house. Tessa and Paula listen to Lewis play a piece from his new composition. The next day Tessa tells him that he has butchered the song it just sounds like a mess there is no warmth in his music. She helps Lewis remember what he had originally set out to create. Florence becomes extremely jealous that Lewis listen to whatever Tessa has to say but he will not listen to her his own wife.

            One night Florence just loses it. She tells her father she thinks the girls are like a drug to Lewis when they are around. Florence does not hide the fact that she is jealous of Tessa snapping at the girl whenever she wants to do something for Lewis.

            On the night of the concert Lewis realizes he loves Tessa and always had. He also sees that Tessa has always loved him as well. Lewis tells this to Florence and she freaks out. Florence goes to Tessa to confront her. Tessa tells her cousin that she does love Lewis but not in a way she thinks. Tessa does not want to be with Lewis. She says she will go live with her older sister and her husband in Paris as soon as the performance is over. Tessa decides not to go to the concert for Florence’s sake. She knows she must leave the house and go to Paris.

            After everyone has left she tries to leave but she hears Lewis’s piece being performed over the radio. When Tessa hears the lyrics of the song they are painful to hear. In her mind she is back in her little bohemian home in Alps and Lewis has come to her. They confess their love but it is obvious it is nothing but a school girl crush for Tessa. Pulled out of her dream Tessa tries to leave but she falls over her suitcase and to the floor.

            When Lewis comes home all he cares about is finding Tessa. The butler tells Lewis that she is sleeping but when Lewis gets to Tessa he can see she is no longer living. He has now known love and heartbreak.

            Melodrama in every sense of the word. The only scenes that were bearable were the ones Joan Fontaine was in and to be honest they were not much (well to me anyway). Fontaine was fantastic. She wrote in her autobiography that it was “the happiest motion-picture assignment of my career” and considers this to be one of her favorite film she made. You can clearly see Fontaine enjoyed making this film. Her acting is perfect you really do believe she is a young teenage girl (she was twenty-six at the time) in love with a man for the way he makes her feel so happy. According to IMDB Fontaine got the part when director Edmund Goulding was having trouble casting the film. Warner Bros. want a star in the part but no one fit. He ran into Fontaine and then husband Brian Aherne at a restaurant when they had just gotten off their private plane. Fontaine was dressed in a leather flight jacket and pigtails. Goulding said "Jack Warner wants a star in the lead, but she has to be consumptive, flat-chested, anemic, and fourteen!" Fontaine said how about herself for the part but Goulding did not recognize her with her hair in pigtails. As soon as he found out who she was he said she was perfect for the part and signed the contract to star in the film the next day. Fontaine had the energy and the look to play the part. Of the films I have seen her in this is one of my favorites (probably my favorite after Rebecca). I have to say I cracked up with Alexis Smith playing the older cousin to Joan Fontaine because Fontaine was quite a few years older than Smith. 

            Charles Boyer never does anything for me. I was just amused that he starred with Joan Fontaine and then three years later made the film Hold Back the Dawn with her sister Olivia de Havilland (I am seriously considering making a list of all the same people the sisters worked with or how their films are connected in certain ways). I do not believe I have ever seen Alexis Smith in a film before but she was excellent. She did a great job playing the jealous wife. Smith was also ridiculously pretty. Peter Lorre was a minor character who really should not have been in the film he just took up film.

            The Constant Nymph was very good. There is absolutely no disappointment due to let down expectations. The story has been done to death but the acting is great from all the actors. If TCM ever runs The Constant Nymph again definitely sit down and watch it. If you are a fan of Joan Fontaine just buy the film on DVD she was that good.