HM Pulham, Esq.

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Movie
Original title HM Pulham, Esq.
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 120 minutes
Rod
Director King Vidor
script Elizabeth Hill ,
King Vidor
production King Vidor for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Bronislau caper
camera Ray June
cut Harold F. Kress
occupation

HM Pulham Esq. is an American drama from 1941 directed by King Vidor , who also produced the film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and wrote the screenplay with his wife Elizabeth Hill . The novel of the same name by John Phillips Marquand , first published between September 1940 and January 1941 in McCall’s magazine, served as a template .

action

Boston around 1940: Harry Moulton Pulham is a somewhat stuffy middle-aged businessman who leads a quiet and materially carefree life. His marriage to his wife Kay, with whom he has two children, is harmonious, but has long been dispassionate. One day he was given the task of helping to organize the 25-year meeting of his Harvard graduate class. Harry remembers his past and thinks back on his study experiences and his work in the First World War . A little later he receives a call from his former work colleague and lover Marvin Myles Ransome, who is currently in Boston. They haven't seen each other in twenty years. He hesitantly agrees to meet him in a restaurant and does not reveal anything to his wife, but disappears immediately when he sees the still beautiful Marvin sitting in the restaurant.

Harry gets out of his daily routine, suddenly memories of his 20 years old relationship with Kay plague him: After the end of the world war Harry gets his first job in the New York advertising company of JT Bullard through the mediation of his Harvard friend Bill King . The hustle and bustle of the new, creative, rapidly changing advertising business is very different from Harry growing up in a rich, well-protected, somewhat old-fashioned environment. At work, Harry meets his colleague Marvin Miles, whose self-confident, independent and at the same time cheerful demeanor is different from all women he has met so far. The two discover their love for each other, but problems soon arise. Harry's family is traditional and conservative. Marvin is received warmly, but there are still many differences between her and the Pulhams. Harry also wishes that Marvin would fulfill his traditional ideas of a wife when he married, which she does not want. One day Harry's father, John, dies and bequeaths his company to him. Harry then gives up his job in the advertising agency. Changing for Harry and spending the rest of her life in the dusty Boston upper class is out of the question for Marvin. So both ways part, although they love each other. Harry eventually marries Kay Motford, who comes from the same social sphere as him and shares his ways of thinking and life routines.

Back in the present, Harry has become dissatisfied with the memories and feels trapped between work and marriage. Kay's topics of conversation seem boring and superficial to him. At breakfast, he asks Kay to go on a trip with him that same day so that their love can rekindle. Kay reacts with surprise and skepticism, life together is perfect for her and she feels her husband's ideas as a spontaneous inspiration. Harry calls Marvin and visits her in her hotel room. Marvin is professionally successful and leads an apparently rather mixed marriage with a man whom she has apparently married because he reminded her of Harry. There are happy moments and some of the old attraction is still there, but both eventually find that they cannot turn back time - even if they find themselves at a dead end in their current lives.

After the date with Marvin is over, Harry sees his wife sitting in a car demanding his attention. She tells him that she thinks his morning proposal is good and that she wants to travel with him. Now he brakes, but his wife has already canceled all of her appointments and packed her bags. He finally agrees and seems happy that he may be closer to his wife than he thought.

background

HM Pulham, Esq. has a relatively complex narrative structure for the time, as flashbacks to the past take place not just once, but several times in the film after associations in the present story . The two main characters often appear in the same shot without finding each other - a foresight into the unhappy end of the relationship and the dualism that characterizes the film.

Lamarr designated HM Pulham Esq. directed by King Vidor, who was very advanced in his films for the time and featured diverse female characters, in 1947 as the most important film of her career to date. After arriving in Hollywood in the late 1930s, Lemarr often played very one-dimensional leading ladies , and here she was given the chance to portray a woman who was modern and self-confident at the time, but at the same time sensitive. For Robert Young, HM Pulham Esq applies . also as one of his best cinema roles, previously the Briton Herbert Marshall was also in discussion for his character . The then still unknown Ava Gardner is said to be in one of her first film appearances as an extra at HM Pulham Esq. have contributed.

Although over 200,000 copies of the novel were sold in the first six months and the film adaptation received mostly good reviews, HM Pulham Esq was. not very successful in American cinemas overall. One reason for later film historians was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , which put viewers in the mood for a nostalgic-romantic drama, although the current plot of Vidor's film occasionally mentions World War II .

Reviews

The reviews for HM Pulham Esq. were very good, and Hedy Lamarr, who had previously been criticized by critics, was often praised.

All Movie Guide's Craig Butler names HM Pulham Esq. a “rich and worthwhile gift” and a “melancholy, adult drama” about the fear that one would not have lived one's life to the full. The film shows that many people prefer to choose “safety and comfort” rather than a risk that could end in a mistake on their life paths - but “safety and comfort” and “missing out on opportunities” can also become an emotional dead end. This simple message of the film is "relevant for many people", although the positive end of the film is not entirely consistent. The strong script and King Vidor's direction managed to get these messages across convincingly without "beating" them through with the audience. Robert Young is "excellent in a difficult role", in which he has to be both passive and active. The supporting actors Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn and Van Heflin are also praised by Butler, but he particularly highlights Hedy Lamarr: Lamarr, who is rarely considered an outstanding actress, delivers "impressive work" "in the right role and under the right direction" from. She exudes warmth and feeling, which was not always the case with other of her depictions.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carlo Chatrian : Through a Traveler's Eyes. In: Karin Herbst-Meßlinger, Rainer Rother (eds.): King Vidor . Bertz & Fischer, Berlin 2020, pp. 198–200
  2. ^ Françoise Zimmer: King Vidor's Melodramas. In: Karin Herbst-Meßlinger, Rainer Rother (eds.): King Vidor . Bertz & Fischer, Berlin 2020, pp. 130-131
  3. ↑ AFI | Catalog. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ AFI | Catalog. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Stephen Michael Shearer: Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr . Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4299-0820-7 ( google.de [accessed April 21, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Stephen Michael Shearer: Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr . Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4299-0820-7 ( google.de [accessed April 21, 2020]).
  7. ↑ HM Pulham, Esq. (1941) - King Vidor | Review | AllMovie. Retrieved April 21, 2020 (American English).