Men Are Not Gods

Ridiculous, tone-wavering melodrama of women and the awful men they love, this British vehicle for American Miriam Hopkins showcases her at her most feverish, as the impulsive secretary to an unctuous drama critic. The West End-circa-1935 milieu is one of the film's most entertaining aspects, and it diverts us from the many plot improbabilities. Miriam, altering her boss's review to look more favorably upon a young actor playing Othello, becomes besotted with him, to the point of endangering his marriage. Gertrude Lawrence, as the wife and his Desdemona, displays none of the quirkiness or spontaneity that made her a stage legend in this dull part (one wonders why she took it), and Rex Harrison, as the obit writer wooing Hopkins, isn't given much to do and in fact exits the picture early. The writer-director does construct some forward- thinking visual elements, and the picture's refreshingly non-Production Code in its Brit sophistication about possible adultery. But the characters are so poorly drawn that we're not sure whom to root for, and Hopkins' dithering becomes tiresome.

Ann is the secretary for a theatre critic...a critic who is about to savage the performance of Edmond Davey as Othello. But something weird (and completely unbelievable) happens...the Mrs. Davey (who plays Desdemona) begs the secretary not to send the article to the printer. While I have no idea why, Ann does something else...she changes the article to make it appear as if the reviewer LOVED Davey's performance! Not surprisingly, Ann loses her job. But then she does something else very strange...she goes to see "Othello" and soon finds herself falling in love with Edmond! Eventually, he begins to feel the same and soon you wonder if the finale of the next production might REALLY result in the death of Desdemona!

There are two main problems with the film. A few performances are a bit shrill--particularly Miriam Hopkins as Ann. Additionally, again and again, the actions of folks (most often but not exclusively Ann) make little sense. For a better take on "Othello", try "A Double Life".

Men Are Not Gods is a film along the same lines as Ronald Colman's classic Oscar winner A Double Life, an actor who starts really getting into the part of Othello. This production from Alexander Korda is not anywhere near as good as A Double Life.

Miriam Hopkins who works with Rex Harrison at a London newspaper is persuaded by Gertrude Lawrence wife of Sebastian Shaw who are a British version of the Lunts to change the critic's review of her husband's Othello to a rave. Of course that gets her fired and rightly so, but she becomes a fan, the incarnation of the theater going public as Shaw puts it. He starts falling for her, but Lawrence is still very much in the picture.

Starting out as a comedy, Men Are Not Gods should have stayed that way. But the switch to drama is jarring and not really well prepared by the writers. When Colman did A Double Life the whole idea was to show how seriously he prepared for his roles, so much so that they took over his life. Shaw's ready to kill Lawrence for what, a quick roll in the hay with Hopkins?

Rex Harrison has very little to do here, but stand around and alternate between calf eyes at Hopkins and witticisms to the world. The film really made little use of his talents.

See Men Are Not Gods and you'll long for Ronald Colman.

Theatre critic Mr Skeates's (A.E Matthews) secretary, Ann (Miriam Hopkins) re-writes a theatre review about Edmund (Sebastian Shaw) at the request of his wife, Barbara (Gertrude Lawrence) in order to paint Edmund in a good light. Following the review, Edmund has a successful career alongside his wife but Ann is given the sack. Edmund and Ann fall in love with each other but Barbara is still in the picture and they can only be together if Barbara is completely out of the way. Barbara and Edmund are both starring in Shaespeare's "Othello" and 'Desdemona''s death scene on stage seems the perfect opportunity for Edmund's 'Othello' to do what he deems necessary.

The women make this picture. Both Hopkins and Lawrence are good in their roles while a special mention must go to Laura Smithson as the maid "Katherine". She provides the best moment of the film when a painter (Sybil Grove) comes to try and blackmail her with a painting of Edmund and Ann together in the park - a painting that will cause scandal and obviously upset Barbara. The way that Katherine haggles down the price with the use of a knitting needle and a knife is most commendable and very amusing.

Unfortunately, the men most certainly are not Gods. They are very irritating with Sebastian Shaw coming off as the best, but only because he doesn't shout his way through the film or assault us with dialogue that is machine-gunned at us at 100mph. This is the technique used by both Matthews and Harrison and it is very irritating. It's as if they both thought - "hmm my character works for a newspaper. Let me think. I know, I'll talk really fast and shout a lot. Yeah, that's a good idea". Well it isn't and it ruins the film from the outset when we see the very pretentiously named A. E. Matthews dictate a review to Hopkins in this style. You think "Thank God!" when the scene is over, but then Harrison takes over with exactly the same style.

The story moves quite quickly but it has peculiar moments to it that don't make sense, eg, Barbara encouraging Ann and Edmund to spend time with each other, Edmund's love for Ann, and the ending where poor Ann is just discarded. We end the film feeling sorry for her. It's a film that is OK to watch with some irritating men and a couple of funny moments. Nothing more.

Fine stage presence from Gertrude Lawrence, who was at the top of her stage career around this time; unfortunately this is a film and screen presence is something entirely different. She makes numerous blunders, looking for her mark and even staring, obviously out of character, at the camera and the microphone... very amatuerish for 1926 let alone 1936. She had a fine voice as we can hear from her song during the performance of Othello, and legend has it she was a competent dancer although of course this part doesn't call for it. She can stand on screen with a major star like Hopkins, who was also at her peak, but Lawrence is clearly overpowered by Miriam's star wattage. Sebastian Shaw (who many decades later was still active with roles like Anakin Skywalker in "Return of the Jedi") has the role of her husband in this movie, and he completely outperforms her.

It is absurd to think of Gertrude Lawrence as a big screen star at any point. Critics who thought Lawrence should have had the lead in 1944's 'Lady in the Dark' - basically the only major push she ever received for a movie - would have been well served to watch her screen performances first. She simply doesn't show any indications of being able to carry a film herself like a Rogers or Hopkins or a Colbert, or like her compatriot Olivia DeHavilland, who in 1936 was taking Hollywood by storm.

Initially and quite ironically called "Triangle," this film was Hopkins' first English production although she had acted on the London stage before this. Making this film was a turning point in Hopkins' life; on her return trip on the 'Normandie' she met her future husband, director Anatole Litvak, with whom she was allegedly to find herself in a love triangle with Bette Davis.