Customer Reviews

Great Man's Lady [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Barbara Stanwyck. This film, made in 1942, was one of her personal favorites. Teamed with Joel McCrea (the Great Man, Ethan Hoyt), theirs is a collaboration that would last throughout 7 pictures together.

Told in flashback, we see a reporter (K.T. Stevens), interview Hannah (Stanwyck) who is 109 years old just as they are about to dedicate a statue of Ethan Hoyt (her husband). We then go into the flashback mode to the year 1848 where we see Hannah as a spirited young girl. The film depicts Hannah's life with Ethan, their pioneering stock (nobody plays a pioneer woman better than Stanwyck), the tragedies they encounter, their separation and ultimate reunion.

Stanwyck, of course as always is excellent and it has been said she should have received an Academy Award nomination for this picture. I agree.

This film was one of her own personal favorites but at the time it was released, it was never very successful and it broke her heart.

This film is excellent in every way and will disappoint none of Stanwyck's admirers.

William A. Wellman, during a career that began in the early 20's and ended in the late 50's, directed such masterpieces as Track of the Cat (Special Collector's Editon), Yellow Sky or Battleground. He produced and directed THE GREAT MAN'S LADY during the winter of 1941-1942 with two stars of that period : Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck. The idea that the film should have conveyed is that there is always a great Lady behind every great Man.

Well, maybe yes, maybe no but one thing is clear in my mind : THE GREAT MAN'S LADY is not a good exemplification of that statement of belief. First of all, the movie should have lasted at least one hour longer in order to convince us that Joel McCrea was actually a great Man because in the four or five scenes in which he's got the chance to defend his convictions, he rather appears as a selfish and greedy man than as an example. Now, I admit that Barbara Stanwyck impersonates a woman with a strong character, that she followed her husband to the West in spite of the consent of her family, that she preferred not to tell her husband she was pregnant so that he won't stay home because of her (a little melodramatic, isn't it ?) and that, when he finally made it socially, she chose to stay silent and hide the fact that Joel McCrea was already married to her. Interesting behavior for sure but, in my opinion, a little too passive to deserve the applause demanded by THE GREAT MAN'S LADY. The film really deserves only two stars but Barbara Stanwyck deserves an extra star for her performance. She was 35 years old when she played the character of Hannah Sempler and she managed to impersonate a 17 years old girl as well as a 107 years old woman.

A DVD zone Wellman minor efforts.

This film features Joel McCrea as the great man, and although the story revolves around the effects he had on Stanwyck's character's life, his part is surprisingly small. Brian Donlevy plays a gambler named Steely, a part that resembles Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind. But the real star of the film is Barbara Stanwyck, whose own strength shines through her character.

This story is told in flashback. It revolves around Hanna Sampler's (Stanwyck) involvement with the man who started Hoyt City (McCrea). It is melodramatic with constant twists and turns, but it is done quite well. Stanwyck's old woman makeup is very well done except for the mouth which was too restricting and made her mouth look like Yoda's from Star Wars.

The film does not end the way one might expect it to, with the death of the old woman. Instead, there is a satisfying but different end which makes for a better film since it is not predictable.

I remembered this film from my childhood and had never seen it shown on movie channels on TV. The video from Amazon was of good quality and I enjoyed watching the film. However, it seemed a rather long wait (about two weeks) to receive it.

This average movie is a mellow-drama concerning the dedication of a statue to that great man, Ethan Hoyt. His first wife, Hannah, played by Stankwyck is over 100 & starts talking to a young biographer. The movie flashes back to 1848. She is very young, falls in love with Ethan (Joel McCrea) & they run off together & get married. Pretty quickly we find out he's not really so great. She is however, a cut above most woman. Another man enters their life, Steely (Brian Donlevy) & he falls in love with Hannah. The movie is a bit ambiguous about their relationship. He's a no good con man but she seems to bring out the best in him. The years fly by & in the course of them Ethan & Hannah become separated & estranged. He thinks she is dead in a flood. She has twins he knows nothing about. Lots of soap opera type stuff. The point being of course that behind every great man is an equally great woman. She ends her life story & then does a strange things. She doesn't die. Well done by director William Wellman. Good make up job as Barbara Stanwyck ages almost 100 years.

This is a very good movie -- I wish I could buy this in a DVD.