Smilin’ Through
Directed by Sidney Franklin
Written by James B. Fagan and Donald Ogden Stewart from a play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin
1932/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Kathleen: I don’t care what happens the day after tomorrow! Any more than I care what happened 50 years ago![/box]
This A-budget romantic melodrama didn’t quite do it for me.
Elderly Sir John Carteret (Leslie Howard) spends much of his time alone communing with the spirit of his lost love Moonyeen (Norma Shearer). She was killed by frustrated suitor Jeremy Wayne (Fredric March) on their wedding day. Shortly thereafter, Carteret becomes the guardian of his orphan niece Kathleen whose parents were lost at sea.
Kathleen grows up to be Norma Shearer. She happens to meet American Kenneth Wayne (March again), the son of the man who killed her aunt. He is in England having joined up early for World War I. They quickly fall in love but John adamantly forbids the romance. Kathleen is willing to defy her uncle but Kenneth is not. Four long years pass before she sees Kenneth again.
This has the strong cast and production values one expects from an MGM picture of this era. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to warm up to Shearer, whom I never quite believe ,and it is she that carries the film. The pathos is milked for every last tear. Your mileage may vary.
Smilin’ Through was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
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