Tonight's Movie: Live, Love and Learn (1937)

LIVE, LOVE AND LEARN is the story of Bob (Robert Montgomery), a starving artist who falls in love with wealthy Julie (Rosalind Russell). Bob and Julie marry and live happily in his rundown studio apartment, but when Bob achieves artistic and financial success, he and Julie find their relationship floundering.

LIVE, LOVE AND LEARN starts out wonderfully, beginning with an artist sketching Leo the Lion at the start of a fun credits sequence. The wedding scene, with Bob gasping "Thank you" after kissing Julie, is absolutely delightful -- and the best scene in the movie, which is unfortunate since it comes at the beginning of the film.

Montgomery and Russell are charming in the early scenes, and have excellent chemistry, but the movie begins to flounder around the same time as Bob and Julie's marriage, moving from lighthearted to fairly grim.

The overall film is moderately entertaining, worth seeing if you like Montgomery and Russell as much as I do, but I wouldn't class it as one of their better efforts.

The supporting cast includes Robert Benchley as Bob and Julie's best friend, Monty Woolley as an art gallery owner, and Helen Vinson as Julie's old school chum. Mickey Rooney makes a brief appearance as a neighbor boy, and his ANDY HARDY girlfriend Ann Rutherford has a brief unbilled role.

LIVE, LOVE AND LEARN was directed by George Fitzmaurice. It runs 78 minutes and was filmed in black and white. The trailer is here.

This movie has not been released on video or DVD, but it can be seen on Turner Classic Movies, where it next airs July 22, 2008.

July is Rosalind Russell month on TCM. Three more Russell-Montgomery films are being shown on July 22nd: FAST AND LOOSE (1939) (which was reviewed here), NIGHT MUST FALL (1937), and TROUBLE FOR TWO (1936).

2012 Update: This film is now available on DVD-R in the Warner Archive Robert Montgomery Collection.