Susan and God

Watching this film, the lead role of Susan seemed to call out "Norma Shearer" to me, and sure enough, reading up on it, the rights to the play were purchased by MGM with Shearer in mind. Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford were both fabulous movie stars but with different gifts. You could not call either one of them great, visceral actresses so it was always best to lead with their strengths. Crawford's was drama. Shearer had a slightly wider range. This is just my opinion.

"Susan and God" is the story of a ditsy woman, unhappily married to drunken Frederic March, who takes a trip and comes back with religious fervor gained from a new group that emphasizes God, his guidance, and telling the truth. She then proceeds to wreak havoc on her entire social set and manages to break up one marriage and one near-marriage. March agrees to stay sober if she'll give their relationship a chance, and with their somewhat neglected daughter, Blossom, they spend the summer together. Ruth Hussey is a friend who is in love with March.

Crawford is an absolute disaster in this role, speaking very fast in a high-pitched voice that is supposed to represent her dizziness. She mugs, she poses, she wears absurd outfits (with the exception of the gorgeous one she wears to go to the train). It's a completely mannered, external performance. Shearer would have been much more natural in the role. Crawford is annoying. When it comes down to doing the more dramatic scenes in the film, she does much better.

The rest of the cast is very good, including March, Hussey, Rita Quigley, and a young, lovely Rita Hayworth. Due to Crawford, this comes off as rather strange, and it took me a while to realize it was supposed to be a comedy.

... he would have given the part of Susan to his wife Norma Shearer. Instead it went to Joan Crawford, and, oh my, what a revelation. As socialite Susan, Joan goes from being sly to oblivious to caring (in her own way) at the snap of a finger. Joan had played socialites before, but usually with that world weary and wise way about her that Joan brought to so many of her parts. This is a completely different type of role for her.

In a nutshell, Susan is a wealthy rather air-headed woman who goes on a trip and learns about God "in a completely new way" from a fellow traveler, one Lady Wigstaff. She comes home loaded down with brochures in every language and immediately just bursts in on the most personal parts of her friends' lives in a very open and coarse way - You two should never have gotten married, you two should never get married, etc. Except now what she would previously have called nosy she calls religion! Plus you can tell that this rude kind of criticism is just Susan's nature but now she can claim she is on a mission from God.

However, this new found faith has not changed her attitude towards her husband, Barry (Fredric March), who drinks heavily due to Susan's neglect, nor her attitude toward her teenage daughter, Blossom, who at first glance looks like she is doing anything but blossoming - physically that is. Susan will do anything to avoid the two of them, but Barry arrives at the estate where Susan is staying with her friends and has a showdown. In the end Susan agrees to Barry's challenge. She will spend the summer in their country estate with Barry and Blossom and if Barry slips up and gets drunk just once, Susan can have the divorce she has wanted for some time. Complications ensue.

Did I mention that a close friend of both of them (Ruth Hussey as Charlotte) has always been and is still in love with Barry, hates to see Susan walk all over him, but is too good a person to trespass? Even though she has a small part I thought Hussey was really a stand-out here.

I think this film has been unfairly forgotten with an IMDb rating that might have you thinking it is a bore. I disagree. With an unusual topic explored in an unconventional way right before the second world war, with great ensemble acting and crisp dialogue that keeps the first half of the movie moving when it could easily have bogged down, I would recommend this one.

Odd film especially for a Crawford vehicle about a shallow socialite who takes up religion on a whim with an overly simplistic ending.

It's easy to see why Joan accepted this after Norma Shearer's vanity got in the way of her taking the part, she wouldn't play a part of a woman with an almost adult child. Norma would have been much more right for the role since her facile, sometime brittle superior air was more in line with the part than Crawford's earthiness although she tries to submerge it. Susan was definitely different for Joan who at this point was looking for challenges cracking that she'd play Wally Beery's grandmother if it was a good part!

The film suffers from not having anyone to really root for outside the minor character of the main couple's daughter Blossom. Both Joan and March's characters are selfish, and for the most part, thoughtless fools.

This was the screen debut, in a wordless bit, of Susan Peters and Dan Dailey in a slightly larger part. Also keep a sharp eye out for Joan Leslie and Gloria De Haven in tiny parts just starting out.

Someone who has a larger part and actually attracted quite a bit of notice for this picture moving her forward to larger parts than she had been cast previously is Rita Hayworth. She's ravishing although not quite fully arrived at her star persona just yet. Still a brunette she handles her small supporting role well injecting a touch of pathos into a sketchily drawn part.

Points to Crawford for trying to stretch her established persona but while it's an admirable attempt the results are mixed.

SUSAN AND GOD goes on too long and looks as padded as Joan Crawford's shoulders. Based on the 1937 Broadway play, which starred Gertrude Lawrence, story has the annoying socialite Susan Trexel (Crawford) coming home to her Long Island estate (and equally annoying friends) after having been uplifted (spiritually) during a trip to England. The play took a swipe at the Oxford Group, followers of Frank Buchman, an American missionary who believed that the root of all problems were the personal problems of fear and selfishness and that one of the "cures" was in the sharing of our sins and temptations. Rachel Crothers' play then has Susan espousing her slim understanding of this by pontificating to her friends about their lives while she ignores her own husband and young teen daughter. It's meant to be a comedy set among the horsey set, and sometimes Susan's absurdity comes through as stinging comedy; other times she just seems cruel (or even worse, stupid). Anyway, the film version is 2 hours long and is padded with extra scenes and characters. It didn't need it.

Crawford is fine with what she's given to do, if you can get past distaste for the character. Fredric March plays the boozy husband. Fine supporting cast of friends includes Rose Hobart, Ruth Hussey, Bruce Cabot, Nigel Bruce, John Carroll, and Rita Hayworth (on loan-out from Columbia). Rita Quigley plays the hapless daughter. Added for the film version are Marjorie Main as a sarcastic housekeeper and Constance Collier as Susan's spiritual advisor. Among the horde of "young people" added for no real reason are Gloria DeHaven, Dan Dailey, Susan Peters, Lon McCallister, and Joan Leslie. There's also a singer played by the tall and repulsive Coco Broadhurst (no idea who he is), who also served as a "technical advisor."

Lawrence apparently filmed a TV movie of the play in 1938 (according to IMDb), but was never considered for the MGM film version. L.B. Mayer bought the film for Norma Shearer, hot again after THE WOMEN, but she refused to play a mother again (she was 38 years old). Greer Garson was also considered, and Mayereven reached out to Marion Davies, but apparently Crawford campaigned for a won the role.

The film cost about $1M and made about $1M and was considered a box-office bomb.

One of Joan Crawford's oddest movies. Joan plays a self-centered rich lady and busybody named Susan Trexel who undergoes a sudden religious conversion. Then, like a lot of people who find religion, she can't wait to tell everybody about it over and over again. She drives her friends nuts giving them unwanted advice and butting into their lives. She also neglects her family and doesn't apply her newfound beliefs to her own life. Her estranged husband Barrie (Fredric March) has a drinking problem he's trying to conquer to help bring their family back together but Susan isn't helping matters any. Also her poor daughter desperately wants her family back together but she's overlooked as well.

Nice supporting cast includes Ruth Hussey, Bruce Cabot, Nigel Bruce, Marjorie Main, and Rita Hayworth. Special mention to young Rita Quigley as Susan's ugly duckling daughter. Joan was really trying to broaden her acting range during this period and this role is definitely unlike any other she had played up to this point. I've seen a number of criticisms towards her performance that say she compares badly with Gertrude Lawrence, who evidently originated the role on the stage. I'm not familiar with Mrs. Lawrence nor am I in possession of a time machine to go back over 70 years to compare the two performances. Thankfully I don't have the baggage of comparison to deal with when watching this movie. I think Joan is very good as the insufferable Susan. March is good in his part, as well.

My only major complaint is that you can tell the movie was adapted from a play. It's stagey by 1940 standards. There's barely any score, particularly in the first hour, and the scenes are all very setbound. Given the length this wears on you after awhile. I'm a little surprised George Cukor didn't do much about this. His direction is very pedestrian here. Overall, it's an OK drama with some comedy and one of Joan Crawford's most interesting performances.