IMDb RATING
7.5/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
A plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.A plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.A plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
Wally Albright
- Soldier at dance
- (uncredited)
Virginia Belmont
- Bit Role
- (uncredited)
Barbara Blair
- Mildred
- (uncredited)
Patti Brill
- Bit Role
- (uncredited)
Martha Holliday
- Bit Role
- (uncredited)
Nancy Marlow
- Bit Role
- (uncredited)
Sherman Sanders
- Dance Caller
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 1973, it was announced that a remake would be made. According to Robert Young, the setting would be updated and Dorothy McGuire and he would be playing the parts of the housekeeper and blind pianist originally played by Mildred Natwick and Herbert Marshall. The idea fell through after McGuire watched a screening of the original at Young's invitation at the actor's home. She said that the film belonged to another period and that she did not want to go backward.
- GoofsAs Mr. Bradford is leading Major Hillgrove to the beach, there is a dog swimming in the ocean as Laura chats with Danny. The dog brings the stick to be thrown back into the water, and he is completely dry.
- Quotes
Laura Pennington: Oliver, we've never written our names - somehow I think they'd want us to.
- Crazy creditsIn the opening credits, the principle actors are seen with their names superimposed over the shots. Dorothy McGuire is seen in her character's beautiful and then unattractive state; Robert Young is seen only in his normal, attractive state. This is interesting in that the story deals with both characters, not one, falling in love and seeing only one another's beauty, despite both of their unfortunate appearances.
- Alternate versionsAlso shown in computer colorized version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in TCM Guest Programmer: Whoopi Goldberg (2007)
Featured review
This is a forgotten gem of a movie that I have only seen two or three times over the years but it's a well made romance/drama/fantasy film that deserves a look. A WWII casualty played by Robert Young was to be married and honeymoon in a New England historic quaint honeymoon cottage before the war and fate stepped in. Instead he returns from the war with disfiguring and disabling injuries bitter and resentful and as he takes refuge in the cottage he was to have honeymooned in he meets a housekeeper who is plain in appearance and self doubting in confidence and appears resigned to an unmarried life. They marry at first out of convenience and then the magic of the centuries cottage ignites in them the beauty of the soul. Noted British playwright Sir Arthur Wing Pinero wrote the play The Enchanted Cottage: A Fable in Three Acts as a moral booster to WWI veterans resuming life after the Great War with many disabled and disfigured. It was first staged in London in 1921 and then in America on Broadway in the spring of 1923. The stage play was quite different from the two filmed versions in it showed the stories of three couples who honeymooned in the cottage set in England over the years. It also had witches and cherubs and imps. Four roles from the play made the transition to the film Laura Pennington, Oliver Bashforth (with a slight change to Bradford), Major John Hillgrove and Mrs. Minnett. Hollywood filmed a silent film version in 1924 with a script adapted by Gertrude Chase and Josephine Lovett that eliminated the overt supernatural characters and other wedding couples so it centered more on the four main characters. For the 1945 film Screenwriters Dewitt Bodeen and Herman J. Maniewicz do a rewrite of the 1924 adaptation with John Cromwell directing. Cromwell had made such films as The Prisoner of Zenda, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Of Human bondage, Abe Lincoln in Illinois and So Ends Our Night among many in his fine directorial career. Proliffic cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff who photographed such films as Talk of the Town, I Married a Witch and Notorious is the the film's cinematographer. Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire star along with fine performances by Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick and Spring Byington. This is a fine film and is indeed enchanting. I would give this a 9.0 out of 10.
Details
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content