Tonight's Movie: Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

Beautiful young Elizabeth Taylor is an innocent in the big city in LOVE IS BETTER THAN EVER (1952), available on DVD from the Warner Archive.

Taylor was 19 when she played Anastacia Macaboy, who runs a chldren's dancing school in Connecticut.

Anastacia goes to a dance teachers' convention in New York City solo after her mother (Josephine Hutchinson) is forced to stay home by a sprained ankle.

Anastacia meets much older agent Jud Parker (Larry Parks) and enjoys several dates with him, including a baseball game and the fights, then is devastated when she learns that his romantic overtures were never serious.

Anastacia's assistant (Elinor Donahue) and her mother (Ann Doran), who are also at the convention, are unkind gossips and think the worst of Anastacia's dates with Jud.

Back at home, the brokenhearted Anastacia is consoled by her loving father (the always-great Tom Tully). She and dear old dad conjure up a fix for both the gossip and Anastacia's failed romance which involves announcing Anastacia and Jud's "engagement" in the newspaper. Naturally that prompts an indignant Jud to show up in town...

This is a fast-paced little 81-minute movie written by Ruth Brooks Flippen and directed by Stanley Donen, whose other 1952 releases included SINGIN' IN THE RAIN.

The film is all about the starry-eyed young Taylor, lovingly filmed in black and white by Harold Rosson and gowned by Helen Rose; when Taylor's onscreen, which is most of the movie, all is well. In addition to her beauty, Taylor has an appealing, giddy charm in this role.

Unfortunately the casting of Parks as Taylor's leading man is hard to understand. In real life Parks was the beloved husband of an actress I always enjoy, Betty Garrett, but onscreen here, as in the earlier THE SWORDSMAN (1948), he's pretty much charisma free as a man not interested in Elizabeth Taylor being head over heels for him.

Parks' character is meant to be older than Taylor's, but Parks comes across as a very old "born in 1914" paired with Taylor's "born in 1932." The part of the reluctant suitor would have been a better match for someone more appealing, like Van Johnson (born 1916), or any number of other actors under contract to MGM.

The rest of the cast is quite enjoyable, and there's even a cameo by director Donen and his SINGIN' IN THE RAIN codirector Gene Kelly. Child actresses Donna Corcoran and Sandy Descher are among the supporting cast.

Particular kudos to the set decoration, with the Macaboys' warm home cluttered by a veritable explosion of photos of Anastacia at various ages; many of the photos are recognizable as Taylor's personal family photos, and I think I also spotted a publicity photo from A DATE WITH JUDY (1948).

This DVD print dates from 2009, the year the Warner Archive Collection began, when the focus was on getting unrestored prints of films into the hands of collectors. The picture is a perfectly acceptable viewing experience, with no major skips or jumps, but it definitely has minor speckles and flaws scattered throughout. Viewers should simply be aware this is not a pristine black and white print such as the Warner Archive has recently been releasing on Blu-ray.

The DVD soundtrack is relatively poor and what I think of as "mushy," with the dialogue not always completely distinct. At times the track was extremely soft, causing me to turn the TV volume to a much higher setting than normal; then a dance class scene would be extremely loud, forcing me to adjust the volume back down.

The lone extra is a trailer.

Coming in the future: Reviews of Taylor in brand-new Warner Archive Blu-ray releases of a pair of Technicolor classics, NATIONAL VELVET (1944) and IVANHOE (1952).

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive DVDs may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection Amazon Store or from any online retailers where DVDs are sold.

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