The Animal Kingdom (Edward H. Griffith & George Cukor, 1932)

[myrnaloyisdope]

A film that combines two of my great vices in Myrna Loy and Phillip Barry. Leslie Howard plays Tom a publisher of literature who has a kind of 'friends with benefits' relationship with Daisy (Ann Harding), an aspiring artist. Howard is presented as a man of the people who lives in the wilderness and refuses to follow his father into the business world. Daisy truly understands Tom, and vice versa. Loy plays Cecelia, Tom's fiance, an upward climbing socialite who seems to bond with Tom's father more than Tom does.

Tom and Cecelia get married, with Tom leaving Daisy and his old life behind. Tom's publishing company flourishes under Cecilia's influence, but Tom is unhappy because his success is coming at the expense of his ideals(he publishes trash). Cecelia is more concerned with the bottom line than Tom's happiness. Daisy on the other hand continues on with her struggling art career, but still pines for Tom. Tom similarly pines for Daisy.

Eventually it comes down to Tom making the choice of selling out and staying with Cecelia, or leaving it all to be with Daisy. Success and unhappiness vs uncertainty and happiness. All I can say is that if I could have Myrna Loy and all it would take is a complete loss of integrity, I would be all over that.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film, after reading some lukewarm reviews. Admittedly the plot has some holes namely why is Tom with Cecelia(well other than Myrna Loy being awesome)? The pacing is a bit uneven too, but I think that is more to do with it being an adaptation of a stage play. But the performances are strong (I dug Loy as the manipulative spouse), and being pre-code it didn't mince any of the more salacious details, such as the implication that Daisy and Tom were sleeping together outside of marriage. It's a strong adaptation of a Phillip Barry play, not in the class of The Philadelphia Story or Holiday(what is?), but certainly worth checking out.

On imdb George Cukor is listed as an uncredited co-director, does anyone know the story?

The DVD itself is from Alpha Video and is barebones. The print is decent and very watchable, and the audio is solid. It's greatest asset is that it's very cheap(I got mine for 5 dollars from amazon).

[domino harvey]

I have myself a good chuckle every time I spy your username