This is a seldom seen film. We caught it on TCM, the best source for some of the best classic films of all times. The main attraction in watching this 1938 movie was a curiosity for watching Luise Ranier at the height of her Hollywood days.
As directed by Richard Thorpe, the film has its merits. This movie, based on a play, seems artificial, but that was the taste of those days and it will not disappoint, although it is a typical melodrama. The art direction of Cedric Gibbons is evident in the lush interiors of the elegant New Orleans mansions and the antebellum plantation owned by the Vallaire family.
This is a story about two sisters who loved each other dearly, but their relationship suffers a blow as George Sartoris will ask the flighty Gilberte "Frou Frou" Brigard to marry him instead of the woman who really loved him, her sister Louise. Frou Frou, a frivolous girl, only wanted the glamor of the social life in New Orleans. She liked George, but she never felt anything for her husband. Dashing Andre Vallaire awakens a fatal passion in her. In fact, that is her downfall and she lives to pay for her indiscretion.
Luise Ranier plays the young girl well. Her acting reminded us of another star of the day, Greta Garbo, although Ms. Ranier was not a product of the silent era. Both believed in the large gestures as a way to emphasize the lines they were reciting and both played to the camera in similar fashion. In fact, she sticks out from the rest of the cast, which obviously had another approach to acting.
The dashing Melvyn Douglas was good as George. Barbara O'Neil is perfect as the Louise, the noble sister that gives up her own happiness to make George happy. Robert Young cuts quite a figure as the handsome Andre. Alma Kruger, H.B. Warner, are seen in minor roles.
The film is a curiosity, and it should be seen as such because it probably will resonate with admirers of the classic films of that era.
