Peter Ibbetson (B+ or 3/4 stars)
Fantasy romance drama 'Peter Ibbetson' (based on a George duMaurier novel & directed by Henry Hathaway) took me by surprise. It is well-produced, elegantly photographed by Charles Lang, gently executed, & astutely performed by a stellar cast. The story, itself, is quite fanciful and a bit peculiar, but I was taken with it, nevertheless. Set in the wealthy suburbs of Paris in the mid-1800s, we 1st meet our protagonists at an early age, they are 8 yr. old Gogo (Dickie Moore) & 6 yr. old Mimsey (Virginia Weidler), childhood friends who reside in neighboring mansions, and love to play in the gardens together. When Gogo's mother suddenly dies {sad sequence}, his London residing uncle, Col. Forsythe, brings him back to London as his main guardian.
The Col. also renames the sensitive-but-strange boy: Peter Ibbetson. With time, a now adult Peter (now played with conviction by Gary Cooper) grows up to be a promising architect. His blind boss, Mr. Slade (Donald Meek), sends him to Yorkshire to rebuild the horse stable of the Duke of Towers (John Halliday). After working there for 2 months, Peter is accused by the incredibly jealous Duke of falling in love with his wife Mary (Ann Harding) and, he is asked to leave immediately. Up 'til then, Peter had failed to show interest in any woman other than his 1st true love: his childhood playmate. When it is discovered that Mary is actually Mimsey(!), Peter cannot leave her. When the Duke pulls a gun on Peter after catching him embracing Mary, he fires a shot at the Duke in self-defense and kills him.
Peter then receives a tragic life sentence, but soon discovers - wait for it - that he & Mary's love/connection for each other is SO deep that they can mystically share the same dreams, where they magically meet in their childhood garden {yes, you read that correctly}. While incarcerated, those dreams of his long lost childhood days with Mary causes him to yell in his sleep. The prison guards are angered by his outbursts and, believing Peter to be a troublemaker, beat him to the point of injuring his spine. Semi-comatose, he dreams {or does he??} that he sees Mary walk into his cell. She says that although they cannot be together in real life, they can be together in his dreams. Yrs. go by and Peter & Mary grow old, though they remain young in all of his dreams. Supernatural melodrama ensues.
I'm just surprised by how much I dug this. There's something otherworldly about the proceedings (in an era - the 1930s - when cinema didn't really dabble in anything supernatural -- in fact, the next movie that achieved that kind of heady feel for me was 1948's Portrait of Jennie, with Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten & Ethel Barrymore). I imagine there were few surrealists/para-psychological fans back in the day so, this film - with its dream sequences - must've blown SOME people away. As I mentioned above, this film is well-produced. It feels good, looks good, IS good. Gary Cooper impressed me in this difficult role; one where he couldn't rely on his aw shucks nature. Ann Harding is lovely & totally sells the dreamy Elysian stuff in the plot. I also liked Ida Lupino in a small humorous role. The story here aims to show that love can transcend time & space and, while this film isn't perfect, I admire how the filmmakers lyrically bridge the dream world with reality.
The Col. also renames the sensitive-but-strange boy: Peter Ibbetson. With time, a now adult Peter (now played with conviction by Gary Cooper) grows up to be a promising architect. His blind boss, Mr. Slade (Donald Meek), sends him to Yorkshire to rebuild the horse stable of the Duke of Towers (John Halliday). After working there for 2 months, Peter is accused by the incredibly jealous Duke of falling in love with his wife Mary (Ann Harding) and, he is asked to leave immediately. Up 'til then, Peter had failed to show interest in any woman other than his 1st true love: his childhood playmate. When it is discovered that Mary is actually Mimsey(!), Peter cannot leave her. When the Duke pulls a gun on Peter after catching him embracing Mary, he fires a shot at the Duke in self-defense and kills him.
Peter then receives a tragic life sentence, but soon discovers - wait for it - that he & Mary's love/connection for each other is SO deep that they can mystically share the same dreams, where they magically meet in their childhood garden {yes, you read that correctly}. While incarcerated, those dreams of his long lost childhood days with Mary causes him to yell in his sleep. The prison guards are angered by his outbursts and, believing Peter to be a troublemaker, beat him to the point of injuring his spine. Semi-comatose, he dreams {or does he??} that he sees Mary walk into his cell. She says that although they cannot be together in real life, they can be together in his dreams. Yrs. go by and Peter & Mary grow old, though they remain young in all of his dreams. Supernatural melodrama ensues.
I'm just surprised by how much I dug this. There's something otherworldly about the proceedings (in an era - the 1930s - when cinema didn't really dabble in anything supernatural -- in fact, the next movie that achieved that kind of heady feel for me was 1948's Portrait of Jennie, with Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten & Ethel Barrymore). I imagine there were few surrealists/para-psychological fans back in the day so, this film - with its dream sequences - must've blown SOME people away. As I mentioned above, this film is well-produced. It feels good, looks good, IS good. Gary Cooper impressed me in this difficult role; one where he couldn't rely on his aw shucks nature. Ann Harding is lovely & totally sells the dreamy Elysian stuff in the plot. I also liked Ida Lupino in a small humorous role. The story here aims to show that love can transcend time & space and, while this film isn't perfect, I admire how the filmmakers lyrically bridge the dream world with reality.