10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining Adventure Film, July 25, 2004
This review is from: Anthony Adverse [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Engrossing tale of an orphaned boy who grows into manhood, played by Fredric March (Anthony Adverse), without knowing his real origins, and all the adventures he has to go through, before finding "himself", what truly matters in life and what is worth fighting for...one's morals, which cannot be "traded" for power or money...all this he learns thanks to two priests: Father Xavier (Henry O'Neill) who raises him from a baby until he turns 10 years old; Father Francois (Pedro de Córdoba), a clergyman who saves March from "himself" and his sweetheart, Angela (a lovely, beautiful, young, luminous Olivia de Havilland).
Great score by masterful Erich Wolfgang Korngold, great scenarios, clothes, settings (the film spans from 1773, when Louis XV of France was King until the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte). The film is set in France, Spain, the Alps, Northern Italy, Cuba, Africa...and the period detail and the sets are awesome, thanks to master Anton Grot.
An uniformly great cast headed by one of my all time fave actors: Fredric March. Also in it , talented Olivia de Havilland, at the beginning of her career, the great Claude Rains as an evil Marquis, the equally evil Gale Sondergaard (who won the first Supporting Actress Academy Award for her nasty characterization of Gwenn's ambitious housekeeper, kind of roles she would repeat later in such films as Tyrone Power's "The Mark of Zorro"), lovely Anita Louise as our hero's mother "in distress", a young Louis Hayward as the hero's father, Edmund Gwenn as the hero's grandfather, Donald Woods as the hero's pal, Akim Tamiroff as a florid Cuban, Steffi Duna as a sultry native, and O'Neill and de Córdoba as the two "guiding" priests in March's life etc.
One can see that Warner Brothers spent a lot of money in this lavish costume epic, that lasts around 2 hours 15 minutes. Nevertheless, in spite of its length it's highly entertaining and enjoyable.
Although not perfect and certainly not as good as "The Sea Hawk", "Captain Blood" or "The Adventures of Robin Hood"...still on the greatest rousing adventure films of the 1930's, a blockbuster that deserves five stars. The quality of the print is excellent.
A must for adventure films fans!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adventure and Romance, June 7, 2003
This review is from: Anthony Adverse [VHS] (VHS Tape)
ANTHONY ADVERSE is a good movie with lots of adventure and romance. It has a strong cast boasting some of the best actors from the pre-World War II era such as Fredric March, Olivia de Haviland, Claude Rains, Louis Hayward and Akim Tamiroff. Much is said about the miscasting of Fredric March but he looks suitable enough to me in the role of Anthony Adverse.
Gale Sondergaard collected an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The film also won Oscars for Cinematography, Score and Editing as well as Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Art Direction and Assistant Director (William Cannon).
Mervyn Leroy directed some classic movies including LITTLE CAESAR and MISTER ROBERTS. Although not quite in that same lofty category, ANTHONY ADVERSE certainly merited all of the awards and recognition it managed to garner in 1936. The main competition for Oscars in that year came from THE GREAT ZIEGFIELD, THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishing Mentality in This "Classic", April 18, 2003
This review is from: Anthony Adverse [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I had looked forward to seeing this movie being a fan of nearly all of the cast but I was taken aback by some of the goings on here!! First the two leads are badly cast. Fredric March was almost forty and looked it yet he plays a teenager and very young man for much of the picture with a ridiculous blond wig (to "resemble" his mother) on top of everything. Olivia DeHavilland isn't believable at all as a poor Spanish girl. These are both wonderful actors and they try their best but still are wanting. The mentality of this picture is pretty amazing in 2003. One of March's "adventures" includes slave trading (!!) and despite concerned words from his priest friend this stint in his life is pretty much condoned.
The ending is jaw-dropping too (don't read this paragraph if you want to be surprised by the ending) with the villains unpunished and poor Olivia, forced into being a kept woman by her abandonment (kept by Napoleon no less!) turning down the chance to be permanently reunited with Fredric after a brief happy reunion so that Frederic won't have to have a "fallen woman" for a wife and plan that Freddy agrees with surprisingly fast considered how he has supposed to have been pining for her for years.
The supporting cast is excellent and there are two surprises. Warners starlet Anita Louise completely dominates the first 20 minutes of the movie and she is excellent. Anita was usually cast in throwaway second lead parts. And then there is the magnificent character actress Gale Sondergaard. She won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this picture and I really looked forward to seeing her in it. What a shock to see her part is a small bit of no real consequence and in no way a showcase for her talents. She certainly deserved the award for other films but this is hardly one of her best performances.
That ending to the March/DeHavilland match really floored me and I would have liked this picture a lot better had the movie had as much sympathy to Mrs. Adverse's plight as it did to Mr. Adverse.
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