Where Love Falls (1935)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Where love falls |
| Original title | I Live My Life |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1935 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | WS van Dyke |
| script | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| production | Bernard H. Hyman for MGM |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| camera | George J. Folsey |
| cut | Tom hero |
| occupation | |
| |
Where Love Falls (OT: I Live My Life ) is a 1935 American film with Joan Crawford and Brian Aherne directed by WS van Dyke .
action
Kay Bentley is a bored heiress who fills her time with endless trips around the world. One day her yacht anchors off the Greek island of Naxos, where she meets the poor but respectable archaeologist Terry O'Neill and immediately falls in love with him. Nevertheless, the two young people quarrel endlessly, especially since Terry has a marked aversion to living in luxury and without material worries. He wants to work for his money instead of playing golf on Long Island. The argument climaxes shortly before the wedding when Terry decides to let Kay sit in front of the altar because he thinks it is better for both of them. Kay learns of the plan and after even more arguments the wedding still works out and both live poor but happily from Terry's modest income.
background
Joan Crawford was still in the silent film days as an actress of exuberant girls, so-called flapper in a series of light romances achieved fame. After 1933, the actress specialized in portraying wealthy women who experience romantic entanglements and in the end find true happiness. In 1934 alone, the actress appeared on the screen three times in more or less identical situations: Never marry the first time , Sadie McKee and In Golden Chains hardly differ in the basic premise, but they all made a lot of money at the box office.
It was therefore only logical for MGM to apply the tried and tested formula again. Where love falls is produced with a lot of effort. Crawford relives the emotional vicissitudes of life in a never-ending sequence of spectacular costumes by MGM chief designer Gilbert Adrian with constantly changing hairstyles and in front of opulent studio sets, all of which were designed by Cedric Gibbons . The camera work immersed the scenes in a luxurious, softly drawn aura of prosperity and solidity using the soft skylight preferred by MGM. At the same time, some of Hollywood's best supporting actors are signed on, including Frank Morgan and Aline MacMahon. However, by repeating the same situations over and over again, Crawford's career began to stagnate, albeit at a high level at first.
Joan Crawford was not particularly happy with the finished result. To Roy Newquist she said:
“[T] he only thing I want to remember is Adrian's costumes. The usual standard story, but I think people wanted to see me do the same things over and over again. Or at least Metro thought it was like that. "
Theatrical release
With a production cost of $ 586,000, Where Love Falls was a slightly above-average production by MGM standards and matched the prestige of Joan Crawford in the studio hierarchy and her pulling power at the box office. There, too, this film proved to be extremely popular and grossed 921,000 US dollars in the USA alone. In addition, there were 557,000 US dollars abroad and thus a cumulative total result of 1,478,000 US dollars. In the end, MGM turned in a profit of $ 384,000.
Reviews
Gradually, the repetition of the same situations in the Crawford films caught the critics' attention.
Andre Sennwald was still relatively benevolent in the New York Times .
“Where love falls” […] proves to be entertaining proof that love is a fairly democratic matter, even though Adrian's costumes do their part to fuel that feeling. […] Miss Crawford is just as appropriate for the role, while Brian Ahern is excellent as a daring scientist. "
Richard Watts Jr. put things in a nutshell in the New York Herald Tribune :
“[The film] has some of the vitality that director WS Van Dyke usually gives to his work, but overall it is quite a routine affair. However, if you are a fan of the usual Crawford films, you will love the result. ”
literature
- Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
- Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
- Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
- Bob Thomas: Joan Crawford. A biography . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1978, ISBN 0-297-77617-7 .
- Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .
Web links
- Rumor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Rumor at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Movie posters, set photos
Individual evidence
- ^ [T] the only thing I want to remember is the costumes by Adrian. Formula stuff, but I guess by then I had an audience that wanted me to do the same things over and over again. Or at least Metro thought so.
- ^ "I Live My Life" [...] proves to be an entertaining effort to show that love is really a pretty democratic emotion, although gowns by Adrian have their definite value in stimulating it. [...] Miss Crawford is rather self-consciously adequate to the needs of her part and Mr. Aherne is excellent as the dashing scientist.
- ↑ [The picture] has something of the vitality that WS Van Dyke, its director, invariably gets into his works, but it is a pretty routine bit of story telling. If, however, you're an enthusiast for the regulation type of Crawford vehicle, you may find the work soul-satisfying.