Why did Hollywood so often have such a handsome fellow as Robert Taylor attract such sickly, suicidal women? There's Garbo in "Camille" (terminally ill). There's Vivian Leigh in "Waterloo Bridge" (suicidal). Here there's Margaret Sullavan (terminally ill and simultaneously suicidal). I suppose that's what you get when you act in tearjerkers. I have nothing against tearjerkers. I love "Camille." I love "Wuthering Heights." But this one is over the top. And it doesn't make sense. Three young men are mustered out of WWI. They seem to be educated. All were officers, one with the rank of captain. Yet the best they plan in civilian life is plebeian, to be mechanics and taxi-drivers? Don't blame economic depression. They don't even aspire to anything else. Three dull musketeers. Along comes a fourth, Margaret Sullavan's Patricia. But she's no d'Artagnan. She's more like Pard, the jinxed little dog in "High Sierra." She marries one but hangs around all three, doing absolutely nothing. She fits right in. None of them do anything. Robert Young's Gottfried has some bewildering political convictions - Henry Hull's harangue is a masterpiece of gobbledygook: "There is a cure for all your ills! Find it within yourselves!" - to occupy himself. None of the rest have a life. Even their diet is boring. They eat the same porkchops at the same restaurant every night. Franchot Tone's Otto seems to be a pleasant guy. That's all I can say about him. Robert Taylor's Erich? Go ahead. Name one feature, one dimension that makes his character interesting. Pat spends her time coughing pathetically and bemoaning her uselessness (which is true). She possesses a grand piano, but she can't play it. I don't know why Margaret Sullavan got an Oscar nomination for this. She is much better in "The Mortal Storm" and much, much better (and also far more convincing as a dying woman) in 1943's "Cry, Havoc."
Then, the nonsensicalities: Gottfried is trapped, an armed mob clamoring for his death. Otto rushes to rescue him. Wait. First, he must take time out to buy flowers and kiss Pat goodbye at the train station. That's the way to prioritize, Otto. Of course, he returns to the siege too late. Exit Gottfried. Pat won't tell Erich that she has health issues. Otherwise he might be alert and careful not to overtax her. Is he ever surprised when she fails to do a chin-up and falls almost fatally ill! She won't go to the sanitarium. She goes. Apparently, an expensive operation can cure her. She does it. She's cured, if she rests a few weeks in bed. Great. She can live a normal life, find a job, contribute to the prosperity of the menage a trois (Gottfried is dead). No. Now, AFTER the operation, AFTER she has forced them to sell their livelihood, now she decides to make it all pointless by committing suicide, getting out of bed. I give up. The two survivors go off to Brazil or somewhere. Good. We won't have to hear about their further adventures. Give me "Wuthering Heights" any day. I won't even bother about the film's political cowardice, not daring to label Nazi mobs as what they are. I understand the studio's fear. HUAC came into being that very year, 1938. Its target? Anyone connected to the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.
Then, the nonsensicalities: Gottfried is trapped, an armed mob clamoring for his death. Otto rushes to rescue him. Wait. First, he must take time out to buy flowers and kiss Pat goodbye at the train station. That's the way to prioritize, Otto. Of course, he returns to the siege too late. Exit Gottfried. Pat won't tell Erich that she has health issues. Otherwise he might be alert and careful not to overtax her. Is he ever surprised when she fails to do a chin-up and falls almost fatally ill! She won't go to the sanitarium. She goes. Apparently, an expensive operation can cure her. She does it. She's cured, if she rests a few weeks in bed. Great. She can live a normal life, find a job, contribute to the prosperity of the menage a trois (Gottfried is dead). No. Now, AFTER the operation, AFTER she has forced them to sell their livelihood, now she decides to make it all pointless by committing suicide, getting out of bed. I give up. The two survivors go off to Brazil or somewhere. Good. We won't have to hear about their further adventures. Give me "Wuthering Heights" any day. I won't even bother about the film's political cowardice, not daring to label Nazi mobs as what they are. I understand the studio's fear. HUAC came into being that very year, 1938. Its target? Anyone connected to the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.