I Loved a Woman (1933)
* (out of 4)
John Hayden (Edward G. Robinson), an art lover staying in Greece, receives word that his father has died so he returns to Chicago to take over the family meat packing business. Hayden sticks fast to his morals of running a good, clean business until the day he meets an opera singer (Kay Francis) and decides to do whatever it takes to make money to keep her happy. If you own a Leonard Maltin movie guide then you know it's quite rare for an older film from this era to receive a BOMB rating. If you go through every single page you'll notice that very few receive such a bad rating but this is a film that does get that. Even though I didn't find it that bad there's still no question that this is one of the worst from Hollywood's golden age. I guess the first place to start is the fact that this thing moves as slow as molasses. At 91-miutes the film seems three times as long and I couldn't help but feel as if I was watching two or three moves rolled into one. I say that because by the time you're at the thirty-minute mark you've already forgotten everything that happened previously. You hit the hour mark, bored out of your mind, and you're shocked to realize how much has happened in the film and how much you don't care. The film takes place in the late 1890s and you go through various things from a marriage to a childhood sweetheart (Genevieve Tobin) to the affair with the singer. The big turning point in the film has Robinson being too good of a nice guy and then out of no where he's an evil, money hungry idiot who kills some American soldiers without feeling bad. This turn in Robinson's character is never explained and how it comes off is unintentionally hilarious. The performances really aren't all that memorable, although they do contain some camp value. Francis is OK in her part but you can't help but laugh when it comes time for the singing. Tobin is unintentionally funny playing the wife who has her own ideas of revenge. Robinson isn't too bad here but you really have a hard time believing that he's a lover of art. I also didn't buy his transformation into the bad guy but then again the screenplay can be blamed for this. As bad as I LOVED A WOMAN is, it's almost hard not to recommend it to film buffs just so they can see how bad it actually is.
* (out of 4)
John Hayden (Edward G. Robinson), an art lover staying in Greece, receives word that his father has died so he returns to Chicago to take over the family meat packing business. Hayden sticks fast to his morals of running a good, clean business until the day he meets an opera singer (Kay Francis) and decides to do whatever it takes to make money to keep her happy. If you own a Leonard Maltin movie guide then you know it's quite rare for an older film from this era to receive a BOMB rating. If you go through every single page you'll notice that very few receive such a bad rating but this is a film that does get that. Even though I didn't find it that bad there's still no question that this is one of the worst from Hollywood's golden age. I guess the first place to start is the fact that this thing moves as slow as molasses. At 91-miutes the film seems three times as long and I couldn't help but feel as if I was watching two or three moves rolled into one. I say that because by the time you're at the thirty-minute mark you've already forgotten everything that happened previously. You hit the hour mark, bored out of your mind, and you're shocked to realize how much has happened in the film and how much you don't care. The film takes place in the late 1890s and you go through various things from a marriage to a childhood sweetheart (Genevieve Tobin) to the affair with the singer. The big turning point in the film has Robinson being too good of a nice guy and then out of no where he's an evil, money hungry idiot who kills some American soldiers without feeling bad. This turn in Robinson's character is never explained and how it comes off is unintentionally hilarious. The performances really aren't all that memorable, although they do contain some camp value. Francis is OK in her part but you can't help but laugh when it comes time for the singing. Tobin is unintentionally funny playing the wife who has her own ideas of revenge. Robinson isn't too bad here but you really have a hard time believing that he's a lover of art. I also didn't buy his transformation into the bad guy but then again the screenplay can be blamed for this. As bad as I LOVED A WOMAN is, it's almost hard not to recommend it to film buffs just so they can see how bad it actually is.