Only Yesterday (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
Back in 1933, 'Only Yesterday' (directed by John M. Stahl) was a successful draw in theaters for Depression audiences & established newcomer Margaret Sullavan as a star in her very 1st film. The plot: It's 1929 & the stock market is completely crashing. Jim Emerson (handsome John Boles) is a stock broker who has just lost it all & is about to commit suicide, a fate that many shared at the time. He raises his gun, but then notices a letter he had missed reading. He lays down the revolver & opens said letter to find that it's from Mary Lane (Margaret Sullavan), recounting their many experiences together over the years. Flashback to 1917 where Jim, a handsome officer, is training down in Virginia for WWI & meets southern belle Mary at a fancy ball.
They are immediately attracted to one another, share one night of passion, & he is sent to fight in France right afterward. Jim seems like a decent guy; someone who would understand what happened to Mary ... if he had only known. She becomes pregnant, travels to NY to stay with her Aunt Julia (Billie Burke, depicting one of cinema's 1st liberated women), & has a baby boy. The war comes to a halt on 11/11/1918 & our soldiers come home to their parade down Fifth Ave.. Mary excitedly heads to the parade to look for Jim and, miracle of miracles, she finds him! However, her hopes are dashed when he doesn't even recognize her {yes, you read that correctly}. Mary quickly backs off without telling him he's a daddy. When she discovers that he has married a woman named Phyllis (Benita Hume), she moves on to concentrate on her own life as a mom & businesswoman. She makes some hard-earned $$ & sends her son Jim Jr. (Jimmy Butler) to military school.
10 long yrs. go by & Jim & Mary meet once again at a New Year's Eve function. Her love life has been nil and, when they get together that night, it's riiiiiight back to the throes of passion for them, although he STILL doesn't realize/know that she's the same Mary he met back in '17. As far as Jim is concerned, this latest tryst was nothing more than a nice way to spend a night. Mary leaves in the morning - again - without having revealed what we all know as we watch this movie. The story flashes forward yet again. Now we see that she has a weak heart, is on the brink of dying, & now wants Jim to know he has a child. Gone are his thoughts of suicide as he quickly goes to her side. The very last scene is quite touching as Jim finally meets Jim Jr. for the 1st time & tells him that he "now has a father".
This movie is "fine". It's not "bad". The story is interesting. It opens with a sobering montage sequence showing the devastating effects od the Depression. The performances are well-executed. This film represents an amazing debut for Margaret Sullavan; an undervalued actress from the 30s/40s, if you ask me. I was also impressed with Jimmy Butler, a stellar child actor who unfortunately died at a very young age. I enjoyed Billie Burke (The Wizard of Oz's Glinda), as well. But this film was remade in 1948 with Joan Fontaine in the lead (titled Letter to an Unknown Woman) and, it was much better than this. And most damning of all ... I simply CAN NOT get past the huge credibility gap in the story that involves Jim. How could such a sympathetically portrayed man (Jim) to have recalled someone as sweet, memorable, & attractive as Mary unless he was stricken with memory loss in the war. It's a too-convenient gimmick/plot device that irked me to distraction.
They are immediately attracted to one another, share one night of passion, & he is sent to fight in France right afterward. Jim seems like a decent guy; someone who would understand what happened to Mary ... if he had only known. She becomes pregnant, travels to NY to stay with her Aunt Julia (Billie Burke, depicting one of cinema's 1st liberated women), & has a baby boy. The war comes to a halt on 11/11/1918 & our soldiers come home to their parade down Fifth Ave.. Mary excitedly heads to the parade to look for Jim and, miracle of miracles, she finds him! However, her hopes are dashed when he doesn't even recognize her {yes, you read that correctly}. Mary quickly backs off without telling him he's a daddy. When she discovers that he has married a woman named Phyllis (Benita Hume), she moves on to concentrate on her own life as a mom & businesswoman. She makes some hard-earned $$ & sends her son Jim Jr. (Jimmy Butler) to military school.
10 long yrs. go by & Jim & Mary meet once again at a New Year's Eve function. Her love life has been nil and, when they get together that night, it's riiiiiight back to the throes of passion for them, although he STILL doesn't realize/know that she's the same Mary he met back in '17. As far as Jim is concerned, this latest tryst was nothing more than a nice way to spend a night. Mary leaves in the morning - again - without having revealed what we all know as we watch this movie. The story flashes forward yet again. Now we see that she has a weak heart, is on the brink of dying, & now wants Jim to know he has a child. Gone are his thoughts of suicide as he quickly goes to her side. The very last scene is quite touching as Jim finally meets Jim Jr. for the 1st time & tells him that he "now has a father".
This movie is "fine". It's not "bad". The story is interesting. It opens with a sobering montage sequence showing the devastating effects od the Depression. The performances are well-executed. This film represents an amazing debut for Margaret Sullavan; an undervalued actress from the 30s/40s, if you ask me. I was also impressed with Jimmy Butler, a stellar child actor who unfortunately died at a very young age. I enjoyed Billie Burke (The Wizard of Oz's Glinda), as well. But this film was remade in 1948 with Joan Fontaine in the lead (titled Letter to an Unknown Woman) and, it was much better than this. And most damning of all ... I simply CAN NOT get past the huge credibility gap in the story that involves Jim. How could such a sympathetically portrayed man (Jim) to have recalled someone as sweet, memorable, & attractive as Mary unless he was stricken with memory loss in the war. It's a too-convenient gimmick/plot device that irked me to distraction.