Tonight's Movie: The Shining Hour (1938) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review
The MGM melodrama THE SHINING HOUR (1938), directed by Frank Borzage, was just released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.
This film, scripted by Jane Murfin and Ogden Nash from a 1934 play by Keith Winter, is frankly overcooked and silly...and yet, it's 76 highly watchable minutes.
I first saw the movie in 2010 and was curious what I'd think returning to it after 14 years. I landed in pretty much the same place: Joan Crawford is engaging, and Margaret Sullavan and Melvyn Douglas are sympathetic, while Robert Young and Fay Bainter play absolute rats.
That said, the movie is over and done very quickly, and it's such a marvelous exemplar of MGM glamour, from the Adrian costumes to the Franz Waxman score to the shimmering black and white cinematography of George Folsey, that it really begs to be seen by fans of the cast and the era.
While Henry's sister-in-law Judy (Sullavan) welcomes Olivia to the family home, his sister Hannah (Bainter) and brother David (Young) are anything but pleasant. David's feelings eventually change from hate to attraction, to Judy's dismay, but Hannah's behavior grows worse and worse.
It's strongly implied that Hannah's attachment to her brothers is what might be termed "unnatural," and she causes no end of trouble. She's tolerated David's marriage to Judy, the local girl he grew up with, but she's determined to devastate Henry's relationship with Olivia for no logical reason whatsoever.
Crawford, on the other hand, is at her most "movie star appealing" in this; indeed, it's one of the films which changed my feelings about her from dislike to admiration. Despite my dissatisfaction with much of the plot, the film is worth seeing for her and the previously mentioned MGM glamour.
The supporting cast includes Allyn Joslyn, Hattie McDaniel, Charles Coleman, Frank Puglia, Frank Albertson, Granville Bates, George Chandler, and Bess Flowers, spotted as a nurse near the end of the movie.
Extras consist of the trailer; a radio program, GOOD NEWS OF 1939; and the cartoons PORKY'S FIVE AND TEN (1937), LOVE AND CURSES (1938) and THE SNEEZING WEASEL (1938).
Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.
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posted by Laura @ 7:30 PM
2 Comments:
Great cast for a very enjoyable film. It was concentrating on Crawford's earlier films pre-WW2 that also changed my view of her, Laura. She had considerable range and was most appealing throughout that period. Plus of course she was under contract to MGM at its most outstanding era.
As I am not a fan of MGM during this era it all sounds pretty dire to me and I think I'll skip the sale on the Blu at Amazon today. I'm not dismissing your praise, Laura, just applying it to my own preconceptions of such films and trying to balance it against the middle. Melodramas aren't really my thing unless they come from Minnelli or Sirk, so a pass, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it in spite of itself. I have those kind of movies in my favorites list too and they are not always easy to explain or defend, but as long as they do the trick when I'm watching them, that's what matters.
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