The Animal Kingdom

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Movie
Original title The Animal Kingdom
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1932
length 71 minutes
Rod
Director Edward H. Griffith
script Horace Jackson
production David O. Selznick for RKO
music Max Steiner
camera George J. Folsey
occupation

The Animal Kingdom is an American comedy film starring Ann Harding and Leslie Howard and directed by Edward H. Griffith . The film is based on the play of the same name by Philip Barry and is a typical example of the lax handling of the applicable censorship regulations before the production code was tightened .

action

Successful publicist Tom Collier is celebrating his bachelorette party when he receives a telegram from his former lover, Daisy Sage, announcing her arrival in New York. Tom wants to personally inform Daisy, who is meanwhile successful in advertising, about his upcoming marriage to Cecilia. Just as Tom is about to get the news out, Daisy asks him to accompany her to Mexico, where she would like to work as a freelance painter for a while. On that occasion, they could both get married and have children. Tom is perplexed, but in the end he confesses that he will actually step in front of the altar soon, albeit with a different woman.

Some time later, Tom was living more or less happily with Cecila in Connecticut, when one day he received notification of Daisy's first exhibition of her paintings. Just as he is about to leave, Cecila uses a trick to keep Tom in the house. She also persuades him to finally kick out his butler, former boxer Red Regan. The marriage of the two turns into routine and boredom. To cheer up her husband, Cecila not only invites Daisy, but also some of Tom's other good old friends for a weekend, including the well-known cellist Franc Schmidt. However, society does not take the course Cecila hoped for. Daisy blatantly criticizes Tom for throwing all of his ideals overboard just to satisfy the material needs of his spoiled wife. At the same time, she draws Tom's attention to Cecilia's violent flirtation with his lawyer. In the end, Tom chooses his true love, Daisy, and leaves his wife.

background

David O. Selznick moved from Paramount Pictures to RKO in 1932. One of his first problems was finding a suitable subject for Ann Harding . The actress came to RKO as part of the merger of other companies. She got a weekly pay of $ 6,000 and was considered very difficult. She had a say in scripts and directors, and as a seasoned stage star, Harding was never satisfied with the rather shallow subjects the studio presented her. Selznick therefore acquired the rights to the Broadway hit The Animal Kingdom from Philip Barry for Harding, who had already appeared in two successful comedies by the author: Paris Bound from 1929 and Holiday from the following year. In order to persuade Harding, who was nevertheless not entirely convinced, to accept, Selznick threatened to give her the role of Daisy Sage to Katharine Hepburn , the newest star of RKO or Irene Dunne .

In the end, Harding agreed for a fee of $ 93,500, but asked to direct Edward H. Griffith , with whom she had worked in the past. Leslie Howard, William Gargan and Ilka Chase repeated their roles from the stage production. Howard had become a household name the previous year through appearances alongside Marion Davies in Five and Ten and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul . He and Ann Harding had also been in front of the camera together in 1931 for Devotion , a thinly covered version of Madame X , but with a happy ending. The film marked a turning point in the career of Myrna Loy , who had appeared on screen almost exclusively as a vamp, exotic, seductress, or all together since 1925. Selznick, who initially wanted Karen Morley for the part, was ultimately convinced of Loy and her talent for comedy.

The production was carried out with considerable effort, since The Animal Kingdom was to experience its premiere as part of the opening of the Roxy Theater in New York, a luxurious cinema palace with 3,700 seats at the time. The glamorous premiere in August 1932 did not prevent the film from showing a loss in the end. The daring material for the time, which turned the wife into a schemer and the lover into a well-behaved woman with excellent manners, which the husband opted for in the end almost logically, prevented The Animal Kingdom from being brought to the cinemas again after 1934 could be. A comparable topic about a man who temporarily gives up his ideals for a rich marriage was already brought to the screen by Frank Capra with Warnings against blondes . In the film it is an upright and honest reporter who falls for the sex appeal of a spoiled heiress, played by Jean Harlow , and only ends up back at his old love Loretta Young and his job at the end . Ann Harding and Myrna Loy took on exactly the opposite roles in When Ladies Meet in 1933 : Loy was the well-behaved lover and Harding the somewhat boring wife.

Theatrical release

With a production cost of $ 458,000, The Animal Kingdom was an expensive film by RKO standards. It turned out to be unpopular at the box office, grossing just $ 528,000. The studio ended up making a loss of $ 110,000.

criticism

The New York Times read enthusiastic words of approval:

"Mr. Howard was never better [...] Miss Harding in the role of Daisy, plays pleasantly, but not always with the desired spontaneity. However, their beauty makes up for their ultimately somewhat mundane presentation. […] The director Edward H. Griffith successfully keeps the plot flowing […]. Another actress who is really convincing is Miss Loy as Cecelia. She presents her dialogues with charm and shows a suitable representation. She has some of her best scenes with Mr. Howard. [...] The film adheres closely to the author's basic idea. He has the sensitivity and restraint of the stage play and the situations are always characterized by good taste. "

Web links

Sources and further literature on pre-code films

Footnotes

  1. see here Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p. 39
  2. Never has Mr. Howard been seen to better advantage […] Miss Harding has the role of Daisy, which she plays agreeably enough, but not always with the spontaneity one would wish. Her beauty, however, atones for her somewhat too placid performance. […] Edward H. Griffith, the director, keeps the story flowing interestingly […]. Another player who does capital work is Miss Loy as Cecelia. She speaks her lines nicely and suits the action to the words and some of her best scenes are with Mr. Howard. [...] It is a picture in which the playwright's ideas have been adhered to faithfully. It has the subtlety and restraint of the stage work and the settings are always in good taste.