The Age Of Innocence

Irene as Ellen Olenska

Release date 09.14.1934

“I'm not like these dear, kind people who want to help me. I want my freedom, Newland. I can't pretend…"
“Pretend?”
“Yes, that I'm like the other women over here. They never seem to feel any…need.
 …I'm one of those women who must have love…who must be loved.”
(Ellen - in the best scene of the whole film)

In a flashback Newland Archer (John Boles) tells his grandson about his love for Ellen Olenska (Irene) for whom he considered changing everything a long, long time ago…

Newland is engaged to May Welland (Julie Haydon) like him a member of New York's fin de siècle high society. This tradition centered community is entered by May's cousin Ellen who after living for a long time in Europe fled from her husband, and returned to her family seeks for a divorce now.

Ellen surrounded by her family

In the position of her legal adviser Newland gets the chance to talk her out of this, reminding her of the upcoming scandal and what this would mean for the rest of the family -there are more things to think about than Ellen's freedom and happiness. Nonetheless, Newland is touched by Ellen's honest directness and being different from all the other women in his surroundings, and slowly falls for her. Mixed up by these feelings he urges May to change her and her parents' plans and to marry as quickly as possible, which May interprets as a sign that he isn't sure about his love for her and offers to set him free. Something Newland declines thus dissipating May's hunch that he is interested in another woman.

For once alone...

For once alone, Ellen and Newland admit each other their love but only to be disturbed by a family uproar announcing the news that May persuaded her parents to hasten up the marriage.

Newland and May get married and embark for a long honeymoon in Europe. As soon as they are back they visit Granny Mingott (Helen Westley) who is kept company by Ellen. From the very first moment when they meet again it's obvious that nothing has changed between the two lovers. At one of their secret meetings at the Metropolitan Museum they decide to go to Washington together, but they make their plans without May and the relatives who started to get suspicious…

at the Metropolitan Museum...

Maybe if I wouldn't love Edith Wharton's novel of the same title on which this film is based, and wouldn't have watched the Scorsese filming of the “Age Of Innocence” a long time ago, I'd like this film better. But as things are, it's simply a bad filmization of that novel. The script deprives the story of all its delicately spun irony, its elegance and even its tragic moments, because the New York society Wharton portrays is one of unspoken dialogues, of undiscussed values and rules and certainly not as outspoken and direct as this film implies. This brings the story at the brink of not working at all because it's hardly understandable why these lovers can't be together. In the book this is all a lot more complicated and embroiled, which makes it understandable and not only an outlived, old-fashioned behavior. The utilization of a frame story in which the grandson in a similar situation decides just the opposite isn't helpful either. Bereft from all its subtlety the “Age Of Innocence” is simply an unhappy, weepy love story.

the last glimpse at Miss Dunne in this film...

Maybe even this could work - I can't say that I don't like a weepie now and then - if we would have a more competent leading man at hand. I complained about the handsome Mr. Boles in “Back Street”, but this time he really gets on my nerves in his one-dimensionality . Every time the miserable lovers meet, Mr. Boles looks at Irene like a wounded puppy, which obviously was meant to be tragic; added to this are corny violins in the background, which certainly is not Mr. Boles' fault, but that's just what I don't need having to face Mr. Boles in one of his emotional moments. Quite helpful once again are the supporting players who are around, especially Helen Westley as Granny Mingott - a real scene stealer - and Laura Hope Crews as May Welland's mother. Watching Irene's films the last couple of months I developed quite a liking for these two ladies.

Irene and the great Helen Westley - sharing an onscreen chuckle

This brings me to the lady for whom I'm around - Miss Dunne. Irene mainly gets me in this film - I have to admit this - with her looks. She radiates a warm, melancholy-trimmed, touching beauty, which is a real asset of this film and at last offers some depth and second layers to the goings-on. Her entrance - we have to wait ten minutes before she enters the screen - dressed up for a ball is glamorous and worthwhile waiting for. And there is Irene's lively, expressive face which once again made selecting the screenshots a real pleasure - certainly not my favorite film but good for wonderful photos. However, of course, Irene like the rest of the cast including Mr. Boles has to handle a weak, superficial script and they are not helped by the stiff and uninspired direction of Philip Moeller.

Irene as Ellen Olenska making an entrance and leaving an impression...

Well, it seems I don't like that film very much and what could I say about it?

Read the novel? That certainly would be an idea. And if you want merely to watch a good filming of it, turn to the Scorsese film from 1993 that by the way was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.But if you are intrigued by Irene by now - and I kind of hope for that - switch “The Age Of Innocence” on - just to look at her.

If I Were Free

Irene as Sarah Cazenove

Release date 12.01.1933

“Who would care to be found dead in a ditch with you!?”
Tono (Nils Asther) to Sarah (Irene)

Sarah Cazanove (Irene) has the nerve to deny her husband Tono (Nils Asther) to play the chaperon for him and his mistress. Tono Cazanove - what a meaningful second name - then threatens to shoot her, but before he comes around to that, some guests arrive for cocktails. Instead of murdering her Tono simply leaves his wife letting her to her guests and this utterly embarrassing situation. Sarah tries to commit suicide but is stopped by one of the guests - a lawyer named Gordon Evers (Clive Brook) who has his own share of unhappy marriage. He encourages Sarah to come to London with him and to start a new life.

Sarah and Tono (Nils Asther)

We are heading in the direction of the first happy interlude, which shows us Sarah at the opening day of her interior decorating shop and business. Being a happy divorcee Sarah answers to Gordon’s “If I were free …” question with a very romantic “I considered marriage for quite some time now…” End of first happy interlude.

first happy interlude - "If I were free..."

Often film wives are not really interested in their husbands, but they don’t want to divorce them either. Katherine Evers (Lorraine McLean) is not an exception to the rule, and refuses Gordon a divorce, especially because under Sarah’s loving influence Gordon started earnestly working on his career again. Though marriage is out of reach at the moment the couple decides to go on with their relationship anyway - we are still in the pre-code era, so that’s allowed.

second happy interlude

The second happy interlude is a trip to a romantic country spot, which gives Irene the chance to sing, but more problems are already arising at the horizon. One pops up in the person of Gordon’s friend Hector (Henry Stephenson) claiming that Gordon’s liaison with Sarah interferes with Gordon’s career. As we know, true love is sacrificial and thus Sarah decides to leave Gordon writing him a farewell letter. As if this wouldn’t be enough Gordon has to face a severe surgery because of an old injury he got in WW1 -  with a chance of surviving from a hundred to one…and where is Sarah?!

Henry Stephenson as problem and capable sidekick

After “The Silver Cord” and “Ann Vickers” this film is quite a decline, and looking at my plot summary it seems I just don’t manage to be serious about it. “If I Were Free” just doesn’t work - it’s not a real romance, it’s not a real weepie, it offers no real challenge of any kind for Miss Dunne - maybe with the exception to have to act a romantic entanglement with such a wooden actor as Clive Brooks who creates his role with facial expressions from A to B. Consequently, his most convincing scene is the one showing him still half anesthetized after the surgery. At least at that moment Irene starts to sing again - she sings two times the lullaby "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen"  in German, which is after all a nice tidbit.

Sarah singing for Gordon  - because of therapeutical reasons

The fact that director Elliot Nugent offers no interesting angles and that the “if I were free…” love scene is badly out of continuity edited, isn’t helpful either. It’s a mediocre filler of a film and a waste of Irene’s talent. If there is something worthwhile watching it’s the beginning. The few scenes Irene has with Nils Asther, because she makes the humiliation of a woman - whose husband adds insult to injury - touchingly perceptible. Leaves the problem that Tono’s thesis that Sarah isn’t attractive at all - even dead you wouldn’t want to be found with her - looking at Miss Dunne isn’t really convincing. What a pity that we don’t get to see his mistress!

Sarah and Gordon´s mother (Laura Hope Crews)

To end this on a positive note - there are some old, capable acquaintances around like Laura Hope Crews as Gordon’s mother and Henry Stephenson contributing as Gordon’s sidekick.

Well, if I ever would have to pack my “Irene bag for the island” with a limited amount of luggage I’d leave “If I Were Free” behind on the mainland…

However, have a look for yourselves:

Here is part one!

The Silver Cord

publicity for "The Silver Cord"

Release date 05.05.1933

“Then I can't hope for much, can I? …Hester escaped, but I'm caught! I'm going to have a baby by a man who belongs to another woman!!”

On their way from Europe, where they met and married, to New York the newlywed couple Christina (Irene) and David Phelps (Joel McCrea) visit David's mother (Laura Hope Crews). Christina and David have definite plans for their marriage hoping to combine family and careers: Christina is a research biologist, David works as an architect. Interesting jobs are already waiting for them in New York but there is still some time for Christina's first visit with her mother-in-law. Also present and thus making the family reunion complete is David's younger brother Robert (Eric Linden) and his fiancée Hester (Frances Dee).

family reunion part 1

Soon it's obvious that Mrs. Phelps is an over-protective and possessive mother whose plans for David - which are mainly based on her wish to keep him nearby and under her influence - clash with Christina's ideas for her future with her husband. Maybe Mrs. Phelps has lost some influence on her eldest son, but there is still Robert whom she - afraid of getting lonely when he leaves too - manipulatively talks out of his engagement with Hester.

mother and son part 1

Not even the fact that David and Christina are expecting their first child changes Mrs. Phelps' attitude towards her daughter-in-law - all evening long Christina is the aim of verbal attacks.

After dinner, Robert breaks the news of the end of their engagement to Hester who reacts with a fit of hysteria only calmed down and comforted by Christina. David's neutral reaction to the situation, his by- standing and compliant behavior with his mother, makes Christina fear the worst for her own marriage. At last she issues an ultimatum to David…

family reunion part 2

This is a wonderful ensemble piece of a film with Laura Hope Crews, who recreates her stage role, heading the troupe. This was the main problem Irene had with this film being aware that the stellar part was the one of the mother. This is partly true, but nevertheless Irene's role offers - and she certainly utilized them - scenes of enormous intensity. Surrounded by a cast which holds his own against her - and this time all of them - this is so impressive to watch that I ended up glued to the TV screen - re-watching it at least the fourth time!

mother and son part 2

From Laura Hope Crews' performance as "loving" mother manipulatively creeping in her sons like a slow-acting poison, to Joel McCrea who turns from a man very much in love to a lame imitation of a husband with an almost blank face, from Frances Dee's natural handling of young Hester to Eric Linden's weak young brother feeling overshadowed by his older brother, this is more than well done by the whole cast.

Hester and Robert - the end of a relationship

This is the first of a total of four films Irene made with director John Cromwell. Three of them are in this early stage of Irene's career and they are all on my list of “Dunne favorites”. In general, Cromwell's rather sober directing style mixes perfectly with Irene's touching, minimalist acting. Letting loose in comedies came natural to her but she never was an actress of grand, dramatic gestures but of impressive, well-thought-out details. Cromwell directs “The Silver Cord” as that what it is - a film that at no point denies its origins from the stage.

mother and sons part 3

To see the story line only as another tale about a mother-son relationship, which is such a rewarding, artistic topic in the range from drama to comedy, would be a little bit too narrowly considered. There are creepy, almost incestuous moments but it's also a story about the difficulty to transform family ties, not to drop back to patterns we developed as kids, it's about loneliness and that clinging is probably the sure way to get lonely, about substituting one feeling by another…and in the last analysis didn't Mrs. Phelps bring up a son who is worthwhile Christina's love - something which this young woman knows very well she just can't afford to throw away on a nobody?

David, whom do you love?

The fact that Irene's character is a scientist is perfectly selected and makes Christina very interesting under different aspects. She not only stands for the “modern” career woman, earning approval in a field normally occupied by men, but as a scientist she is analytic enough to see through the whole situation and to act accordingly: there is no time for wishy-washy reactions, this is indeed a test for her marriage.

the opponents

The switch from Sally in “The Secret Of Madame Blanche” - singing, glamorous Sally - to Christina - sober, though with a warm personality, good-looking, though glamour isn't her first name - proves why the name “Irene Dunne” and the word “versatility“ are so often combined. Another thing that makes watching Irene's films in chronological order so interesting.

The only thing to add now is a some nice trivia: Joel McCrea and Frances Dee met on the set of The Silver Cord, which resulted in the rarity of a till-death-do-us-part Hollywood marriage. Obviously, no nasty mother-in-law came between them…