It's a smooth melodramatic handling of a story about a lady psychiatrist who develops romantic feelings for her patient (Louis Hayward). The scenes are laid out strategically by writer-director Edmund Goulding, to generate the most dramatic effect possible. It works mostly thanks to Ann Harding's delicate but strong performance.
Hayward tends to overdo some of his scenes. Of course, he's young and this was one of his first Hollywood films, so he was evidently still learning on-camera techniques.
Maureen O'Sullivan probably has the showiest role as Hayward's wife who tries more than once to kill herself because her husband doesn't feel for her what she does for him. Her performance in this picture proves she should be remembered for more than just for playing Jane in those Tarzan flicks, or for being Mia Farrow's mom.
I think what I like most about this film and the way it tells its particular story is how Harding's character is at the center of an emotional vortex. Her happiness causes the unhappiness of others, but ironically if she resolves herself to unhappiness, then it puts everything right for everyone else. All her movements and words have dual meanings in them. Herbert Marshall plays the man she will settle down with at the end of the story, and Marshall's underplaying nicely complements the subtle acting by Harding.
Hayward tends to overdo some of his scenes. Of course, he's young and this was one of his first Hollywood films, so he was evidently still learning on-camera techniques.
Maureen O'Sullivan probably has the showiest role as Hayward's wife who tries more than once to kill herself because her husband doesn't feel for her what she does for him. Her performance in this picture proves she should be remembered for more than just for playing Jane in those Tarzan flicks, or for being Mia Farrow's mom.
I think what I like most about this film and the way it tells its particular story is how Harding's character is at the center of an emotional vortex. Her happiness causes the unhappiness of others, but ironically if she resolves herself to unhappiness, then it puts everything right for everyone else. All her movements and words have dual meanings in them. Herbert Marshall plays the man she will settle down with at the end of the story, and Marshall's underplaying nicely complements the subtle acting by Harding.