The Eugene O'Neill play on which this movie is based evidently ran between 4 and 5 hours, so at least twice the length of this movie. It was popular on Broadway, running a year and a half.
But even cut down to just under 2 hours, it does not transfer well to the screen.
Yes, in part the voice-over thought monologues are problematic. But it's really the often stilted and sometimes even downright corny dialogue that makes them seem so strange. At times the language seems to reach for the poetic, but too often it just seems pretentious.
And then there are the very selfish and self-centered characters, chief among them the female lead, who are basically impossible to like or feel for.
In the end, I was left feeling that I was watching a failed attempt to give some nobility to the messed-up lives of a group of fairly superficial rich people who made most of their own problems.
There are a few things here that I occasionally enjoyed. Norma Shearer acted using certain poses and expressions - when you've watched several of her movies, you see them reappear over and over again. Some of them make her look very beautiful. She over-dramatizes her lines something terrible, but it's interesting to hear her do so.
On the other hand, the makeup used to make the characters, especially Gable, look old at the end of the movie is remarkably bad. Gable is really wasted in this movie, for that matter.
I truly can't recommend this movie to anyone. See it if you want to see a strange attempt at psychological drama. But not, in my opinion, a successful one.
But even cut down to just under 2 hours, it does not transfer well to the screen.
Yes, in part the voice-over thought monologues are problematic. But it's really the often stilted and sometimes even downright corny dialogue that makes them seem so strange. At times the language seems to reach for the poetic, but too often it just seems pretentious.
And then there are the very selfish and self-centered characters, chief among them the female lead, who are basically impossible to like or feel for.
In the end, I was left feeling that I was watching a failed attempt to give some nobility to the messed-up lives of a group of fairly superficial rich people who made most of their own problems.
There are a few things here that I occasionally enjoyed. Norma Shearer acted using certain poses and expressions - when you've watched several of her movies, you see them reappear over and over again. Some of them make her look very beautiful. She over-dramatizes her lines something terrible, but it's interesting to hear her do so.
On the other hand, the makeup used to make the characters, especially Gable, look old at the end of the movie is remarkably bad. Gable is really wasted in this movie, for that matter.
I truly can't recommend this movie to anyone. See it if you want to see a strange attempt at psychological drama. But not, in my opinion, a successful one.