Do you want to know what it would look like to see Gary Cooper trying really hard to act in a serious drama? Now I know why he stopped trying and just relied on his normal Gary Cooper style. I know that sounds incredibly mean, but if you've seen Peter Ibbetson, you'll understand.
The beginning is intriguing, as both the leads are shown as children. Young Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler are neighbors and they bond over the death of Dickie's mother. He's sad, and Virginia weeps when she feels his pain. Dickie is soon adopted by a distant relative, Douglass Dumbrille, and given a new name. The next time they see each other, they've grown into Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. Gary is working as an architect under a blind, Irish Donald Meek, and when he gets the assignment of restoring Ann's barn, he's reunited with his long-lost friend, now married to John Halliday.
I have a feeling that George du Maurier's book is much better than the film adaptation, and much more emotional. One of the main themes of the story is a connection between two people who visit each other in their dreams, and in a movie, it's sometimes hard to convey that without coming across as comical. This 1935 epic seems ridiculous at times, even though both Gary and Ann try very hard not to. Perhaps it was just the style of filmmaking in 1935, and not even the fantastic director Henry Hathaway could save it, or perhaps it was the casting. Robert Donat and Fredric March were both considered, but I don't think either would have been able to save it. Errol Flynn makes everything better, so if he were the title character, he might have made it seem more realistic. Whatever the reason, unless you're a die-hard fan of Victorian-set movies, you're not going to like it.
The beginning is intriguing, as both the leads are shown as children. Young Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler are neighbors and they bond over the death of Dickie's mother. He's sad, and Virginia weeps when she feels his pain. Dickie is soon adopted by a distant relative, Douglass Dumbrille, and given a new name. The next time they see each other, they've grown into Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. Gary is working as an architect under a blind, Irish Donald Meek, and when he gets the assignment of restoring Ann's barn, he's reunited with his long-lost friend, now married to John Halliday.
I have a feeling that George du Maurier's book is much better than the film adaptation, and much more emotional. One of the main themes of the story is a connection between two people who visit each other in their dreams, and in a movie, it's sometimes hard to convey that without coming across as comical. This 1935 epic seems ridiculous at times, even though both Gary and Ann try very hard not to. Perhaps it was just the style of filmmaking in 1935, and not even the fantastic director Henry Hathaway could save it, or perhaps it was the casting. Robert Donat and Fredric March were both considered, but I don't think either would have been able to save it. Errol Flynn makes everything better, so if he were the title character, he might have made it seem more realistic. Whatever the reason, unless you're a die-hard fan of Victorian-set movies, you're not going to like it.