Susan and the good Lord

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Movie
German title Susan and the good Lord
Original title Susan and God
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 117 minutes
Rod
Director George Cukor
script Anita Loos
production Hunt Stromberg
for MGM
music Herbert Stothart
camera Robert H. Planck
cut William H. Terhune
occupation

Susan und der liebe Gott (Original: Susan and God ) is a comedy film with Joan Crawford and Fredric March directed by George Cukor from 1940. The film is based on the play of the same name by Rachel Crothers .

action

Barrie and Susan Trexel's marriage is not going well. Barrie has become an unstoppable drinker, his eccentric and frivolous wife Susan seeks solace in all kinds of spiritual experiences and their daughter Blossom is a neurotic teenager. Susan has just returned after a month long stay in Europe with exciting new ideas about self-discovery, charity and religion. She has developed into an advocate of truth under the influence of the lay preacher Lady Millicent Wigstaff. Instead of being caught in life's lies and self-deception, Susan only wants to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. The best opportunity is a weekend with a good friend in the country, where the noble world makes a pilgrimage to learn about Susan's search for meaning. The results of the newly discovered love of truth are initially disastrous. Barrie is the first victim when Susan tells him in the face that she wants an immediate divorce. Then it is the turn of the somewhat older playboy Hutchins Stubbs. In front of the assembled guests, Susan announces to the astonished Hutchins that his young wife Leonora, a former actress, still loves her former colleague Clyde and is staying with her husband only out of a sense of duty.

Lady Wigstaff then summons Susan to Newport for the day of Blossom's big birthday party. Although she has realized that her daughter needs her, she still decides to go to the train station. Barrie's selfishness plunges further into crisis until he finally asks her old friend Charlotte to marry him. Barrie has loved her for a long time, but Susan eventually realizes that she was selfish and that the love of her family is most important to her. When she returns, Charlotte also realizes that her friend is still in love with Barrie, which is why she rejects his proposal. Susan makes up with Barrie, and they both help Blossom overcome her neuroses.

background

The author Rachel Crothers had a respectable success in the theater season 1937/38 with her play Susan and God . With Gertrude Lawrence in the title role of the superficial society matron Susan Trexel, the satire about the careless handling of religious convictions brought it to 288 performances. MGM bought the rights to the play for US $ 75,000 and initially offered the lead role to Norma Shearer , who declined because she believed that at 40 she was too young to say goodbye to the subject of the naive. The material was then offered to Greer Garson , who also declined. Eventually, Joan Crawford showed an interest in the role and in the end won over both producers and director George Cukor .

Crawford's career had been in a serious crisis since the late 1930s and only a change of role in the direction of energetic, sometimes unsympathetic characters brought the actress back the recognition of critics and fans. Her appearances in The Women , directed by Cukor, in late 1939 as a hard-hearted adulteress and alongside Clark Gable in Frank Borzage's The Miraculous Salvation , had cemented Crawford's status as a major star. The role of Susan Trexel seemed like the ideal choice for Joan Crawford to broaden her role in the direction of serious comedy. With Fredric March as her male partner, she had a big name at her side and the studio brought together a selection of the best supporting actors in the industry in this prestigious production.

The problem, however, lay in the script, which for the most part removed the author's originally violent swipes against bigotry, hypocrisy and false piety. In her adaptation, Anita Loos put Susan Trexel's love affair in the foreground and turned the self-proclaimed prophet of a new faith into a frivolous lady of better society, for whom religion has the same status as the latest fashion from Paris or the menu sequence of a dinner party. In order not to offend any of the sometimes very influential religious communities in the USA with too harsh criticism, the statements on the content of Lady Millicent's reform movement remained vague and indefinite. Frank Capra already had comparable problems in 1931 with his film version of The Miracle Woman , in which Barbara Stanwyck plays a young preacher who is exploited by unscrupulous businessmen. This film did not make any real criticism of the sometimes controversial methods.

A few decades later, the actress quite frankly confessed to Roy Newquist her initial problems interpreting the role:

“[Big] problems at the beginning. I just didn't understand why a woman gives up her husband and child and her entire social position in order to live as a religious nutcase. I knew it was a huge hit on Broadway, so the play must have had something in its favor, but until we started shooting, I didn't know what exactly. On the first day of filming, I was pretty hysterical and went to see George Cukor. In 15 minutes George straightened me up and from that moment on I was in the role of Susan until the last take. It was a very difficult role and I owe a lot to Fredric March - he played my victim very believably. "

Theatrical release

At a cost of $ 1,103,000, Susan and the Good Lord was a prestige production. The box office results were catastrophic at US $ 817,000. Foreign revenues were only $ 279,000 and with total earnings of just $ 1,396,000, the studio ended up making a loss of $ 433,000.

Reviews

Most of the critics were impressed with the verve with which Joan Crawford approached the difficult role.

The renowned industry journal Variety said:

“Joan Crawford provides a strong portrayal of Susan, who characterizes her as a mature matron. The portrayal marks a change for the actress. Although there is still a glimmer of the former glamor girl, Miss Crawford's role indicates a clue for the studio as to which roles could make the star a magnet at the till again. "

Craig Butler concluded for the All Movie Guide:

“The result is one of Crawford's best. [...] The way her Susan is preoccupied with herself is both amusing and delightful [...]. But despite their best efforts, the role becomes a little tiresome; and although screenwriter Anita Loos has provided a lot of witty and polished dialogue, neither she nor director George Cukor is able to save the film from flattening out as a result. [...] Fredric March delivers a finely nuanced performance, Rita Hayworth is delightful and the sullen Marjorie Main steals the show in some scenes. [...] the actors make [the film] worth seeing. "

As usual, Bosley Crowther found little words of praise in The New York Times :

“The beginning of the film is promising, as it seems like it is developing into a funny satire about high-class conversion work and the quirks of so-called higher society. But the plot becomes very dramatic and the entire film hovers in a cloud full of sentimentality and melancholy. Miss Crawford is still able to breathe life into it all. [...] Mr. March is surprisingly listless in a clumsy role. Ruth Hussey and Marjorie Main stand out among the competent cast. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ " [B] ig trouble at first. I simply didn't understand how a woman could give up her husband and her total lifestyle and everything she'd lived for to become a religious nut. I knew it had been a big success on Broadway, so obviously it had something going for it, but not until the day we started shooting, and I went to George Cukor a little hysterical, did I understand who the hell I was playing, and why. In 15 minutes George straightened me out , and from that time on I was Susan straight through the last days of shooting. It was a very difficult part, and I owe a lot to Fredric March - he played foil to me very generously. ", Roy Newquist: Conversations With Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ, 1980
  2. ↑ " Joan Crawford provides a strong portrayal of Susan, a mature, matron characterization which is a marked departure for the player. There's still a tinge of the glamor girl in Miss Crawford but role provides the studio with key to future assignments for its star, which might bring her back considerably as a box-office personality. ", review by Variety
  3. ↑ " The result is one of Crawford's finest performances. [...] Her Susan's self-involvement is both amusing and irritating [...]. Still, despite her efforts the character does become a bit tiresome, and while screenwriter Anita Loos has provided plenty of sharp lines and witty dialogue, neither she nor director George Cukor is able to keep the film from sagging as it goes along. [...] Fredric March in particular turns in a finely shaded performance, while a young Rita Hayworth is a delight and crusty Marjorie Main walks away with a number of scenes. [...] the players make it quite watchable ", All Movie Guide
  4. ↑ " In the early part of the picture there are bright and promising glimmers when it looks as though it might all build up to a funny satire on high-class evangelism and on the foibles of the so-called upper class [...] . But the story turns heavily dramatic the whole picture drifts away in a cloud of sentiment and melancholy. Nor does Miss Crawford do much to give it the essence of life. [...] Mr. March is strangely listless in an aggravating role. Ruth Hussey and Marjorie Main stood out in a competent cast. ", New York Times review