The Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom has Leslie Howard, Ann Harding & Myrna Loy which is enough reason to watch this film. Ann Harding was a big star at that time and got top billing. I have enjoyed watching several of her films. This is pre"Thin Man" Myrna Loy so her character is a departure from the likable fun loving spouse of William Powell. I have grown to like Leslie Howard after initially only knowing him from his "Gone with the Wind" role. This is a pre-code film and the subject manner reflects that. None of the later restrictions of moral codes. Others describe the plot so won't go into that. It is listed as a comedy and drama but don't expect any comedy from the lead actors. The only source of comedy is the butler of Leslie Howard. The story is really a drama about relationships with just a small amount of comedy relief. After viewing the film my impression is that it was a curiosity of the time period but had enough interest to recommend it to others.

Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, and Myrna Loy are all members of "The Animal Kingdom" in this 1932 film based on the play by Phillip Barry. Barry in his way was a transitional playwright - he wrote about the upper class, usually negatively, but always gave a nod to the lower class - they were the ones that had more fun. Just a little bit later, plays about the upper class would go by the wayside for plays about the working class - Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing - as America moved through the depression.

Leslie Howard plays a member of said upper class who has engaged in a Bohemian lifestyle, living with an intelligent artist (Harding). They have a no attachment, open relationship, and he takes her at her word and gets himself engaged to a gorgeous, wealthy young woman (Myrna Loy) just as Harding decides she wants to settle down and have a family. She accepts his decision, but not his offer of continuing friendship.

There is a line about the "animal kingdom" in the film, but I prefer to think the title has to do with baser instincts. If Howard passionately desired Ann Harding, he wouldn't have wanted to be friends - and it's her desire of him that makes her reject his "just friends" suggestion. Let's face facts - Loy turns him on and knows it. In fact, she uses sex as a manipulative weapon, and he's putty in her hands. It's more blatant in this film than, say, "Harriet Craig" which was done under the code - but the power of sex is there.

Of course, a relationship based on sexual desire and nothing else eventually grows tired, and Howard finds himself going back to talk with Harding and spend time with her. She smartly keeps running. Clearly, Howard is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

Harding was an interesting leading woman - she was attractive but not beautiful and had a very low, distinctive speaking voice. She came from the Broadway stage, and her heyday in films was through the mid-thirties, though she worked consistently in films and television until the mid-60s. As was the case back then, at 31 years of age, her time as a leading lady was drawing to a close, and soon would be turned over to people like the younger Loy. Her performance in "The Animal Kingdom" is a very honest one. Loy is absolutely ravishing and wears beautiful clothes. She essays the part of the glamorous wife beautifully, reminiscent of Gene Tierney later on with the ultra-feminine facade hiding the steel underneath. Howard is handsome and thoughtful in the lead, and one can see it slowly occurring to him that he made a mistake.

Very good.

Previous reviewers have summarized the plot well. Likewise its pre-code frankness. But what makes this movie most interesting is the unusual context the various stars find themselves in. Think playwright Phillip Barry. What comes to mind: "The Philadelphia Story." Think Leslie Howard: "Pygmalion" and "Gone with the Wind." Think Myrna Loy: the "Thin Man" series. Think William Gargan: many later movies. Notice that Myrna Loy, later such an important star, has to take third billing after Ann Harding. That certainly wouldn't have been the case just a few years later. Good to see Ilka Chase in a screen role. I thought Howard and Loy superb in their acting, probably among the best work they ever did. Under the banal everyday polite surface of the dialogue and events little by little the characters expose themselves: Loy as the manipulative femme fatal and Howard as the man for whom the light begins slowly to turn on. For those whom the title puzzled, I caught Howard saying at one point, "We're just members of the animal kingdom."

Compare this film to Platinum Blonde of 1931 starring Jean Harlow. My IMDb review summarizes the parallels between these two films.

I caught this by accident the other night trolling on amazon prime. WOW. I had never seen Ann Harding before - now I'm searching for all her films. Her scenes with Leslie Howard are timeless. She reminds me a bit of Helen Hunt - the intelligence, integrity and genuine affection she displays jump right across the screen. Her character is a total opposite to the completely controlled and controlling wife played by Myrna Loy. I never liked Philadelphia Story all that much so I was not anticipating that I would sit through the entirety of another Phillip Barry story, but I was wrong. Philadelphia Story asked us to smile at the elderly father's affairs with younger women and dismissed his daughter's opposition solely because her mother declared "it doesn't bother me", when clearly the reverse situation would have been unthinkable and abhorrent. Animal Kingdom instead shows us a woman typically viewed by society as "dishonorable", living a life of integrity. Not what you would expect from this era. I only wish we'd had a final scene with Harding and Howard, but I'm a romantic.

very good movie that the censors couldn't destroy. amazing for it's blatantly adult themes in 1932. the story hasn't aged one bit. lesile howard is brilliant in his role. i saw this on tv one night and searched for half a year to figure out what it was called. fantastic.