Wo die Liebe hinfällt

Bored socialite Kay Bentley (Joan Crawford) is on vacation in Greece. On one of the island stops, she falls for archaeologist Terry O'Neill (Brian Aherne). At the last minute, she has second thoughts and gives him the name of her father's secretary. He goes to visit her in New York City and finds that he's been fooled.

The second meeting is the meet-cute or maybe it's counted as the third meeting. It's a funny move to keep pushing her down into the chair. It may be too pushy for today but for its time, it's terribly cute. It's not the most compelling rom-com but it has all the parts. It also has Joan Crawford. I don't mind the chemistry but I do need more comedy. The basic premise is that he has trouble living in her world. It's not that funny and I don't see why she couldn't live in his. The worst thing that could happen is that he goes back to Greece and she could live on the yacht.

I Live My Life starts out as a simple story: boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl runs away, boy pursues girl. But the boy is an Irish archaeologist who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and who spurns "people with too much money". The girl comes from a wealthy New York/Connecticut family that cowers in the presence of the grandmother who controls the family fortune and, therefore, their lives.

During the film, the characters tell a series of lies. In the beginning, these are frivolous lies told with no concern for the feelings of others. By the end of the film, they lie for love.

I am not a huge fan of Joan Crawford, who plays the wealthy and frivolous girl, Kay Bentley. But in some of her early films she displays a great energy. I Live My Life is one of those films. On occasion, she even displays emotional subtlety.

Brian Aherne plays the boy. He is, in turns, ebullient and downcast as his character (Terry O'Neill) is buffeted by the fickle winds of Kate's affections.

The cast includes memorable performances all around, especially by Eric Blore as the Bentley butler.

The gowns and other wardrobe that were fashioned by Adrian deserve mention. Others have been critical of his efforts in this film, but I found them immensely enjoyable. Even when they are impractical, they accentuate the frivolous nature of the rich who inhabit this film. They are bold statements that sometimes transcend practicality and embrace art.

The film itself is not a masterpiece, but it satisfies

Brian Aherne and Joan Crawford declare "I Live My Life" in this 1935 comedy. No one can butcher a comedy like Joan Crawford. After I saw "Susan and God," I found out that it was supposed to be a comedy. The problem with Crawford is that she was such a hard worker, and when you work hard at comedy, it doesn't come off. She was much more successful in drama. Brian Aherne, an excellent actor who was better than most of his roles, just didn't have a grasp of comedic style.

Crawford plays Kay, an heiress in Greece who meets a handsome archaeologist (Aherne). He falls for her, but she hasn't given him her real name and has told him she's a secretary. When he gets to New York, he can't find her. When he does, he finds out she's engaged to someone else.

This could have been much better with Gable and Lombard, or Gable and Myrna Loy. It is a spirited comedy with a terrific supporting cast that includes Aline MacMahon, Arthur Treacher, Eric Blore, and Jessie Ralph. Jessie Ralph, as Kay's grandmother, is a scream.

This is somewhat fun, but it could have been so much more.

After having watched this movie for the third time on TCM, I find a nostalgic and enjoyable quality to this film because of its co-stars. Brian Aherne and Joan Crawford were just wrong for the lead roles. Aherne simply lacked comedic skills and Crawford, who was in her 30's, did not fit the role of a spoiled rich teenager. However, the co-stars were a joy and the reason to watch this movie. Granted this might and probably would be a classic with Gable and Lombard as the leads, but the joy with this film is spending time with Arthur Treacher, Frank Morgan, Eric Blore, and the wonderful Jessie Ralph. It would have been nice to see more of Ms. Ralph as she was terrific in her few scenes as the overbearing and inimitable grandmother. I simply enjoyed my time spent with Treacher and Blore bringing me a whiskey, Morgan trembling around the females, and Ms. Ralph ordering me about. Perhaps, like me, you too will enjoy time well spent with some of filmdom's greatest character actors.

Joan Crawford gets a change from being a taxi dancer or a shop girl and is a full fledged heiress in I Live My Life. She's living it pretty good too, far better than most in her Depression era audience were. She's on a nice holiday in Europe and comes upon an archaeological dig in Greece. A rare statue is unearthed, but the debonair Irish archaeologist doing the digging played by Brian Aherne interests Ms. Crawford far more.

Our heiress is quite the flirt, movie heiresses back then always were, but she sure hooks Aherne. The problem is she's already engaged to the wealthy and snooty Fred Keating back in New York. And she may have to marry him. Her dad is Frank Morgan and he's got a few bucks, but the real money is with her tyrannical grandma Jessie Ralph. There's reason personal and financial to marry Keating. And as the popular song of the day went, all Aherne has to give is love. And Keating is such a drip.

Although Crawford is one sly little minx in this film, Aherne's charm and sincerity really get to her. In fact they got to me as he gives the film's best performance. Frank Morgan is always good and he's his usual befuddled self. He actually married into the money, Joan's mother is deceased and he lives to a lesser degree on the largess of his mother-in-law.

I wish Aline McMahon and Sterling Holloway as Aherne's assistants had more to do in I Live My Life. They always add to any film they're in.

I Live My Life is not one of Joan's better films, but entertaining enough. The question is will Aherne live Joan's life or will Joan start living Aherne's? Back then there was only one way to go.