Enchanted April

While Ann Harding and Katharine Alexander are charming as Lotty and Rose, too much time is spent on their husbands, played by Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen. This may be closer to the structure of the play and novel, but it deflates the women's roles when the whole point is their blossoming at the Italian villa.

Also shortchanged in this 66-minute version are Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline (Jessie Ralph and Jane Baxter) who hardly get to establish their characters. While the basic plot exists, the lush detail that makes the 1991 version so delightful is completely missing. We only get a hint as to how the women change during their enchanted April.

While Morgan does an OK job as Wilkins, Owen is overbearing and oafish as Arbuthnot and he dominates far too many scenes with his over-acting. Ralph Forbes, as Briggs the landlord, also gets little to do, and his ultimate attraction to Caroline is pretty much bypassed in favor of reconciliation between Harding and Morgan.

The power of the 1991 version lies in its focus on the four women, their growing friendship, and how their enchanted April breaks down the differences in their ages and social strata (very important in 1920s English society). This version smartly downplays the men's roles as secondary to the women's. The 1991 version is a story about how women can grow when freed from their marital and social roles. The 1935 version never gets to this as the women are subservient to the men.

Worth seeing for Ann Harding, but don't expect the magic of the 1991 version.

The basic story idea of ENCHANTED APRIL is excellent--two very unhappy wives meet and decide to pool their funds to rent an Italian villa for a month. To further defray costs, they get two other strangers to come along. What makes it interesting are the relationships both before and during this vacation--in particular, showing how this beautiful setting actually changes their outlooks on life. Unfortunately, this good idea is totally spoiled by two key performances in the ensemble cast that are so bad that they ruin the film. Ann Harding plays the most important role in the film in a manner that makes her seem ridiculous. Her "doe-eyed" expression and vacant stares really make you wonder if this isn't a zombie movie or she's just meant to be an idiot! And to make it worse, Reginald Owen plays a character so obnoxious and bombastic that I was very close to turning off the film--he was that awful and unbelievable. I noticed that at least one reviewer gave this movie a 10--which is very, very difficult to understand. Sure, the film has great ambiance and a good plot, but these two glaringly silly performances cannot be overlooked as they undermine the rest of the picture. Sorry, but this film was aching for a re-make!

"Elizabeth" was the author's pen name (the original novel was published as "by the author of Elizabeth and her German Garden"), so it wasn't the film company who suppressed her German surname.

I caught the last part of this on early morning TV today, and thought it would be interesting to compare it with the delightful 1991 version.

I was puzzled that the two couples seemed to have inexplicably swapped names; it should be Mr. Wilkins who has the accident with the water heater and Mr. Arbuthnot who fancies Lady Caroline. The bathroom incident was funny but after that the film seemed to end rather quickly. I thought it very disappointing in comparison with the remake.

I had been delighted to find that TCM was showing this, as I love the 1992 version with Josie Lawrence, Jim Broadbent, Joan Plowright...This film had a luminous Ann Harding, a wonderful performance by Frank Morgan, but others' acting made the film more of a farce then the wonderful unfolding that the later film. Reginald Owen's Arbuthnot is painful to watch and you can't understand why his wife adores him. I found out after watching the film that it was based on the stage play where the 1992 film is based on the book. The original film also felt like it was a snippet of a larger piece and felt incomplete. Too bad it was such a let-down.

I found this to be a tremendously disappointing version of a charming story. I thought the acting was on the whole quite good. Reginald Owen did chew the scenery, as mentioned by others, but I found him moderately amusing in his brief scenes. TCM has made an Ann Harding fan of me, and I thought she was fine as usual here. Jessie Ralph had a field day as the old battleaxe, ordering everybody around, and Frank Morgan, as always, played Frank Morgan with a twinkle.

For me, the problem was the script and/or the editing--transitions were awkward, motivations were murky. The movie was just too darned short to convey the story properly! I felt completely let down, particularly since I had such fond memories of the later version.