The Other Love

This pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and David Niven is a strange one – never to be repeated. Stanwyck was a big name, having been in films since 1927 and several famous pre-war films, more recently she had received wide acclaim for playing the femme fatale in "Double Indemnity"(1945); Niven's reputation had been established in the 1930s but "A Matter of Life and Death"(1946) had brought him further fame. Perhaps Hollywood saw a future for him as a heartthrob but Niven was too light an actor for such roles. "The Other Love" revolves around a young concert pianist, Karen Duncan(Barbara Stanwyck) who is being treated for TB in a Swiss sanatorium by Dr. Anthony Stanton(David Niven). Apart from one other patient, Celestine (Joan Lorrine), Karen seems to have no one to talk to and is easily emotionally drawn towards her doctor. One day while out riding she meets Paul Clermont, a racing car driver(Richard Conte). He tries unsuccessfully to date her but Karen is unable to get him off her mind. Realising that she perhaps may not have long to live and tired of life lying in a sanatorium bed she becomes the fickle female and decides on one last fling, so ditches the doctor and seeks Paul out at the proposed meeting place in nearby Monte Carlo, actually a good 200 miles away from Switzerland, how she accomplishes this feat remains unexplained. The eternal triangle has been constructed – QED, as my maths master used to say. But the geometry is non-Euclidean and refuses to obey the normal rules. Anything might happen and does!

Classical pianists and exclusive doctors were common themes in 1940s Hollywood but somehow in this film they don't jell. Academy Award winner (A Double Life), Miklos Rozsa's music score comes across well as a piece of heavy classical piano. Barbara Stanwyck displays a seldom seen ability as a pianist making it look very authentic. Niven by comparison is shown at the keyboard only once in an out of focus long shot and is obviously bluffing his way through. As for his doctor part, it is evident that he never seems happy in it. It is a rôle which Claude Rains had excelled at previously in "Now Voyager", here he could have played it to perfection so lifting the film out of its mediocrity. It's left to Stanwyck to carry the film.

Not one to rush to watch but interesting as a period piece and a chance to see two great stars of their time.

In The Other Love Barbara Stanwyck steps into territory that was reserved for Margaret Sullavan, Hollywood's all time champion of essaying roles in bittersweet romances. Two films of her's, Three Comrades and The Mortal Storm bare no small resemblance to The Other Love. Especially the former since it also was taken from a Erich Maria Remarque story.

But Three Comrades had Frank Borzage directing it and that was the man for these films. His touch on bittersweet romances is as apparent and obvious as Alfred Hitchcock with suspense. This film would have raised a few notches in ratings had he directed it. And of course Sullavan would have aced the part of the tubercular heroine.

As it is Stanwyck is not bad in the role of a patient of Dr. David Niven at a Swiss sanitarium for tuberculosis. Niven is having a lot of trouble keeping his professional decorum with Stanwyck, but the doctor does win over the potential lover. Stanwyck doesn't realize how sick she is just as Sullavan didn't realize it in Three Comrades. She's a classical concert pianist and the enforced rest is rusting her technique.

The first chance she gets she runs off with racing driver Richard Conte who she doesn't tell how sick she is. But in the end Conte proves to be a stand-up guy.

There is also a very touching performance from Joan Lorring as a singer who is also a patient in the sanitarium. Her death just about pushes Stanwyck over the edge.

Barbara and the cast acquit themselves well, but Frank Borzage could have made The Other Love a classic.

Famed concert pianist Karen Duncan (Barbara Stanwyck) is recuperating in a Swiss sanatorium from a respiratory illness under the supervision of loving Dr. Tony Stanton (David Niven). She befriends fellow patient Celestine Miller (Joan Lorring). Playboy Paul Clermont (Richard Conte) crashes his race car barely avoiding Karen on the road. Her illness is more serious than she suspects. She is shocked by Celestine's unexpected death. Stanton tells her that she must rest but she ignores his advise and runs off to live her life with Clermont. It's a bit slow. With Stanwyck, it holds out a possibility of something more. I was hoping for a good twist or something different. In the end, it doesn't really give more than a straight downward slide into a romantic melodrama.

If you ever wished Barbara Stanwyck had starred in Dark Victory, rent The Other Love for your chance at recasting the Hollywood classic. In this romantic drama, Barbara has a serious lung condition and has to abandon her career as a famous concert pianist to heal in a Swiss sanitorium. It's not long before she falls in love with her doctor, David Niven, but is he hiding the seriousness of her illness from her?

Barbara Stanwyck gives an excellent performance in this overlooked film. She usually portrays very strong, independent characters, so whenever she breaks down and cries or begs for help, it's truly heartbreaking. Get ready to be heartbroken more than once during this film. I like Barbara anyway, but I was particularly impressed by her range of emotions: fear, anger, resentment, love, relief, hope, and determination. Ladislas Fodor and Harry Brown's script wasn't the strongest element in the film, and I could imagine another actress would have either been too flat or too melodramatic. Barbara is very real.

In addition to the medical portion of the film, Barbara is also caught in a love triangle, torn between David Niven and Richard Conte. While I love The Niv, Richard Conte is very magnetic. One man knows her past, and the other could be her future; one keeps up a professional front, and the other is overtly passionate. Which will she choose? Find out by renting this romance on a cold, rainy afternoon.

A truly irresistible piece of high-fashion schmaltz, The Other Love stars Barbara Stanwyck in the sort of 'genteel weepy' role more commonly associated with Norma Shearer or Joan Fontaine. A lady pianist dying of some unspecified lung disease. Whatever her illness may be, it only makes her grow more glamorous the closer she edges towards death.

Of course, dying in so decorous a fashion would take a bite out of anybody's schedule. So our Babs cuts short her international concert tour, and checks into a plush clinic with a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps. There she meets David Niven, a handsome doctor who takes a more-than-professional interest in her case. Frankly, I found his fascination with Babs and her illness to be downright ghoulish - and couldn't help wondering if he was a closet necrophiliac.

Realising, perhaps, that Niven is far too lightweight to make a convincing leading man (at one point, I felt they should switch roles!) La Stanwyck runs away to Monte Carlo. There she starts living the high life with a tough, sexy racing driver (Richard Conte). Given the fact that she has only a few weeks left to live, I thought this was eminently sensible behaviour on her part. Ah, but her heart is calling her back to Niven and his Alpine clinic...

The Other Love is spectacularly well-made by unsung director Andre de Toth, and boasts a luscious Tchaikovsky-esquire score by Miklos Rozsa. But it's success is down to Barbara Stanwyck, who lends a much-needed note of toughness and reality to what would otherwise be a pure camp melodrama. Played by anyone else, our heroine would most likely drown in syrup long before succumbing to a weakness of the lungs.