Tonight's Movie: Come Live With Me (1941) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

It's hard to believe that it's been close to a dozen years since I reviewed the COME LIVE WITH ME (1941) DVD released by the Warner Archive Collection!

In addition to reviewing the DVD, I also previously posted a brief review of the film way back in 2006.

Clearly, it's a movie I like a great deal, revisiting it every few years, so I'm especially happy that it's now just been released on an absolutely lovely Blu-ray.

The exquisite Hedy Lamarr was never more beautiful than in this film. She plays "Johnny" Jones, an Austrian refugee on the verge of being deported from the U.S. back to her native country.

The prospect of deportation is upsetting to Johnny for two reasons; one is that she expects to be killed upon returning to Austria, as her father has previously been "eliminated" for expressing opinions which angered the wrong people.

The other reason she doesn't want to leave is that she's in love with publisher Barton Kendrick (Ian Hunter). Kendrick, alas, is a married man with a smart and understanding wife, Diana (Verree Teasdale); he expects in time he'll be able to divorce Diana and marry Johnny but things are not yet at that point.

When a sympathetic deportation agent (Barton MacLane) suggests to Johnny that she get married in order to remain in the U.S., she promptly proposes to Bill Smith (James Stewart), a penniless writer she chanced to meet. Johnny offers Bill an income, allowing him to work on his writing, in exchange for a temporary marriage "in name only."

Bill is soon smitten with his platonic wife and begins a wonderful manuscript which quickly sells...to publisher Barton Kendrick. Kendrick buys it at his wife Diana's urging, but as he begins to read it he realizes the circumstances sound familiar...and becomes apoplectic as he realizes another man is in love with his would-be fiancee.

As I wrote in my 2014 review, the plotting isn't quite perfect; the transition of Johnny's affections from Kendrick to Bill is fairly abrupt, and the film could have used more than its 86 minutes to more thoroughly delineate the evolution of her relationship with Bill. (One also tends to wonder how a character as intelligent as Johnny became involved with a married man in the first place! The script does what it can to soften things, but still.)

That said, these minor issues in Patterson McNutt's screenplay seem to melt away every time I see this film, which as outlined above is one I return to often. While I noted in a past review that Stewart's character is on the cranky side, I particularly noticed on this viewing how well he conveys his longing for Johnny.

The concluding bits about fireflies and flashlights play perfectly every single time and leave this viewer very happy.

I feel that the light touch of director Clarence Brown is a big reason the film works as well as it does. While the script directs the characters to do things that in other hands might render them unappealing, all four of the film's leads remain enjoyable thanks to movie's overall pleasant, upbeat tone.

In fact, when Kendrick realizes near movie's end that his wife has maneuvered the situation with Bill and Johnny to suit herself and her affection for her husband, Kendrick exclaims with admiration for Diana.

Brown, incidentally, has had several films released by the Warner Archive recently, including POSSESSED (1931), which I just reviewed, and LETTY LYNTON (1932), which I'll be reviewing in the very near future.

The film was beautifully shot in black and white by George Folsey, which is showed off to perfection in this Blu-ray print, taken from a 1080p HD master from 4K scans of the original nitrate camera negative.

Even if the movie was a poor one, just spending an hour and a half or so looking at Hedy Lamarr in exquisite Adrian dresses would be enjoyable. And happily, it's a very likeable film for many more reasons.

The supporting cast includes Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Edward Ashley, Donald Meek, Ann Codee, and Frank Faylen.

Disc extras consist of a pair of shorts, AMERICA PREFERRED (1941) and FROM THE FOUR CORNERS (1941); the cartoon OFFICER POOCH (1941); and the trailer.

Recommended.

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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