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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Would Loved to Have Been Norma!, July 21, 2002
This review is from: Smilin Through [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I got this movie because I like Fredric March and I also like Norma Shearer. I first saw them together in "The Barrett's of Wimpole Street", where they were just delightful. Neither one disappoint in "Smilin' Through"; if you have never seen March and Shearer work together, you do not know what you are missing. They seemed to be made to play opposite each other; their screen chemistry is obvious and sweet. You can really tell they enjoyed working together; from their very first meeting in the dark, deserted Wayne house, where their eyes meet, you can see the playfulness and "love at first sight" between the characters. Where they are drinking the port and she is telling him the correct way to pronounce "ghastly", the playful sparks are bouncing all over the place. I can't put it into better words except to say they are so sweet in their little love affair and Norma does a great job of expressing her love without being silly or unbelievable. When March has to go to war, you can feel Norma's despair and near hysteria. They kiss goodbye and kiss goodbye and kiss goodbye...four years pass and it's time for him to return home. Norma is at the station waiting for her beloved, dressed in a simple but stunning little outfit. But March never comes out of the train, only Willy, her old beau. March comes later on a later train, and comes out with a bunch of war invalids; as he himself is wounded. He goes to his house,and it so happens Norma sees the lights on and finds him there. She kisses him and kisses him, hugs him and hugs him...it is all so believable; you can feel her joy at being with her beloved again. But he pretends to not want her anymore, saying unkind things and hiding his injury. She leaves crying...but like all 1930's movies (well,most),it has a happy ending. This film is just well done, with a nice romance if you like that sort of thing (and I do), and some good camera work, and of course great acting. Fredric March is one of my favorite actors and he's really swell here, handsome, manly, funloving...Norma is her innocently lovely best, giving many of her famous gazes.Leslie Howard is fine here; I don't care for him much, but here he did a good job. I especially liked him in the little scene with Kathleen (Norma's character) as a little girl. I highly recommend this movie, you won't be disappointed.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pure Romance, April 5, 2005
This review is from: Smilin Through [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This lushly photographed and beautifully acted film is a pure romance, and remains one of the finest films MGM made during the 1930's. Old-fashioned and unabashedly sentimental, this story of love and tragedy repeating itself a generation later would become the model MGM would use successfully for over a decade, until the innocence of the 30's gave way to WWII, and America's romantic view of love began to fade into the sunset.
Lovely Norma Shearer, a fine actress who rivaled Garbo, and was married to great producer Irving Thalberg, graced many of MGM's best productions during this period. She is marvelous in a dual role as Moonyean, and her niece, Kathleen. Fredric March, who was to his generation of actors what Montgomery Clift would become to his, two decades later, is also outstanding in a dual role. The always solid Leslie Howard completes this triangle of love and happiness snatched away tragically, in an instant, but lasting a lifetime.
The graceful and elegant Moonyean (Shearer) was to be married to John Carteret (Howard), who loved her dearly. It is an older and somewhat lost John we see as this film opens, however, his beloved Moonyean trying to reach his spirit and sooth his soul from across that river leading to the netherworld. Murdered at the alter by a jealous suitor, the only thing that has prevented John from letting the bitterness of his ill-fated romance with Moonyean completely destroy him is the arrival of Moonyean's niece, Kathleen, at the age of five. John raises her as his own after the death of Moonyean's sister.
Shearer is subtle and wonderful in contrasting the elegance of Moonyean with the vibrance of the sexy Kathleen, while at the same time her appearance and her fate begin to mirror a tragic past. When Kathleen meets and falls in love with a young soldier named Kenneth (Fredric March), bound for the front in WWI, only his last name can stand in the way of their happiness.
The story is involving and the soft-focus black and white photography adds a richness to the echos of fate being played out. Moonyean must somehow reach John and touch his heart before Kathleen loses her happiness with Kenneth, and John's spirit is so cold he will not be able to join his lover, Moonyean, even in death.
This old-fashioned and sensitive romance fills a void left by modern films, and is a reminder that a love story should be about love. You probably don't own a film of this nature and will certainly want to pick this one up. It is proof there is still a place for both romance, and romantic love in the movies.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life would be ghastly without movies like these to run after, July 23, 2002
This review is from: Smilin Through [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Why can't there be movies like this made now? There's a sweetness and decency about old movies that is unsurpassed and this is one of the best. Norma and Freddie work superbly together here just like they did in The Barretts of Wimpole Street... It's too bad that they didn't do more films together. Norma is the Queen of Gaze and it lends a certain grace and drama to every moment. The filming was done well also, with several clever cuts and the sparkling dialogue. The running dilemma about proper pronunciation (American vs. British) was quite amusing as well. I was also glad that Leslie Howard's part was not one which required a lavaflow of poetry and watery intellectualism. My favourite scene is probably the one in the old Wayne place (say that Southern!) when Ken. and Kath. meet in the presence of wetblanket Wil. - who, by the way, did a superb job in his few onscreen moments... as the guy who just isn't right for Kath. It seems like there should be a lot I could say about this movie but my mother's probably already said it... so I'll just say see this movie and see it again and again and again. And maybe several more times after that. *looks out the window* Ghastly weather we're having. I hope the three cows in our front garden will be safe.
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