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Wealthy and beautiful Loretta Young is all set to marry Broderick Crawford and settle down to a normal life, but for a lark she takes her gang of socialite friends to see the Great Arturo, the magician in town. Next thing you know, she's ditched her family and friends, married Arturo, and joined his traveling magic act.

David Niven is that charming showman Arturo and his bride quickly realizes that he's not only a showman but a thrill seeker--and a party animal, as well. One morning Young and Niven are both surprised to read in the paper that he has drunkenly promised to jump out of an airplane in handcuffs.

Niven thinks, I can't disappoint my audience! I have to do it even if it kills me! Young thinks, Wouldn't it be sweet to have a nice quiet home in the country? Therein lies the conflict that, unfortunately, drags on for the rest of the picture.

Young is fine as the earnest young woman in love with a disaster waiting to happen. And Niven is quite convincing as the out-of-control daredevil who just can't stop himself. However, the question is - What exactly do they see in each other? The characters just don't seem to have any reason to be together.

The strong supporting cast includes Billie Burke, Ray Walburn, Zasu Pitts, and C. Aubrey Smith. Hugh Herbert is very good as Niven's assistant.

It's a handsome production but while the stars do look good it's too bad that neither of their characters seems very bright.

If there was ever one thing every one could agree about David Niven is he had no small amount of debonair charm. It got him through many a film when the role required little else. I would say that is the case in Eternally Yours.

Loretta Young, granddaughter of Episcopalian minister C. Aubrey Smith, meets and falls in love with a magician. That would be David Niven. But he's more than a magician, he's the current Houdini wannabe who has skill as a hypnotist and an escape artist.

Niven likes the life of a traveling entertainer, but Loretta wants to settle down with a home. After a death defying leap from a plane when he's handcuffed behind him, Young can't deal with the tension any more and she leaves him. He finds he can't go on without her, but she ups and divorces him and marries Broderick Crawford.

Of course the rest of the film is about Niven winning Young back in the best tradition of Cary Grant who may very well have been offered this part before Niven. Loretta is certainly worth winning back. I'm betting that Ralph Bellamy turned down the Ralph Bellamy part so Broderick Crawford was cast. Niven enjoys tweaking him in this film, but I'm not sure why unlike Bellamy who was usually a well meaning goof, Crawford didn't just punch him out.

The climax takes place at the 1939 World's Fair and you might want to see Eternally Yours for some nostalgia footage of that event. But it is a film that really does get by on the charm of its leads.

This movie survived by a very effective layer of gloss, the class and distinctiveness of both Niven and Young's portrayals and the production values. But, oh, the surrounding stuff. Broderick Crawford as a love interest for Ms. Young? Magic acts? What an embarrassing entry this must have been for the star performers in the year of some of the most classic films ever made. This film is one good example of the leads overcoming the liabilities of the vehicle, thus saving the show. Well, sort of. Ms. Young later recounts the scene on the bed with Niven being her favorite subtle type of love scene. Reviewers cite this particular scene as what could have been a censor objection had not the actors handled it with so much sophistication and grace.

Plot: Anita (Young) divorces Tony (Niven) because he appears both unfaithful and more interested in his magic show than her. But despite their separation and new partners, the mutual attraction remains. So what will happen now.

Despite the two scintillating A-list leads, Niven and Young, the flick fails to gel. Maybe that's because I saw a badly edited version whose unfortunate number IMDB points out. Then again, maybe it's the cluttered result of 8 writers working on the same screenplay, which seldom works. Also, it's apparent the producers were clearly worried about the watchdog censors of The Motion Picture Code, since much of the narrative plays around with non-marital sex and how their characters might avoid it. Unfortunately, the solutions are highly contrived (e.g. Crawford getting the clumsy run-around from Young since they're not really married). Still and all, production did manage to sneak in a double bed for N &Y's early wedded bliss, a bed that also symbolizes their enduring love despite the many difficulties.

On the upside are magician Niven's stage tricks and a look at how they're done, though I found his should-be-suspenseful parachuting poorly done (needs more close-ups of his struggling while falling). On the other hand, there's the many close-ups of the lovely Loretta, a wholesome darling. And on a more minor note, how about a youngish Broderick Crawford as a romantic interest - that sure took me some getting used to.

Anyway, too bad the different parts of the romantic comedy fail to gel and that it took 8 writers to apparently keep the censors at bay. Nonetheless, the two photogenic leads show why their careers were long and popular despite the let-down here.

David Niven and Loretta Young pledge to be "Eternally Yours" in this 1939 film also featuring Hugh Herbert, C. Aubrey Smith, Broderick Crawford, Eve Arden, Zasu Pitts, and Billie Burke.

Young plays Anita, who is engaged to Don (Crawford); however, she attends a performance by The Great Arturo (Niven), a Houdini-type who also reads minds and palms, and it's love at first sight for both of them. They marry, and she becomes part of his act, traveling full time all over the world.

Anita is hoping to settle down with Arturo and have a home and family. With the help of her grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) she secretly builds her dream home. When she shows it to Arturo, he dismisses it. She leaves him, divorces him, and marries Don.

Light comedy with a charming cast. Young is beautiful, 26 at the time, and she and Niven work well together, as they did in one of my favorite movies, The Bishop's Wife.

People commented that this is a horrible plot, bad script, etc. It seemed pretty typical to me of the type of comedy done back then, no better, no worse.

David Niven was a remarkable man who died an awful death from ALS. An accomplished writer as well as actor, he was a gentleman through and through.

When he died, the porters at Heathrow sent a wreath that said, 'To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king'.

Beautifully dressed Loretta Young (as Anita) goes to a magic show and is stricken with love for "The Great Arturo" magician David Niven (as Tony Halstead), and he returns her love at first sight. They are quickly married with Ms. Young becoming Mr. Niven's on-stage female assistant. However, Young doesn't like Niven's popularity with the ladies and frets when he starts performing daredevil stunts like jumping out of airplanes in handcuffs. Consequently, Young decides to perform a "disappearing act" of her own. Will "Eternally Yours" live up to its title?

**** Eternally Yours (10/7/39) Tay Garnett ~ David Niven, Loretta Young, Broderick Crawford, Hugh Herbert

This is a nice classic comedy about the romance between a bishop´s granddaughter and a successful magician. Although it isn´t a typical screwball comedy it has the usual charm of the 30´s. One of the things I most like in the film is the naturality of the characters and the relationships between them, without any superfual mildness. It´s also a film about marriage and divorce in a way that I find outstanding for that time and it´s full of funny and emotive situations in the way of films like Ernst Lubitsch Bluebeard´s Eighth Wife. In a funny way, i just want to comment one detail that makes me laugh but I don't know if that was the original intention. It is near to the end, when the magician is going to make one his most dangerous tricks and his assistant wants to stop him because is going to kill himself. The magician calls the police to take the assistant away from him and says: "arrest him, he is a communist!". And it wasn´t witch-hunt time yet!!

The title song played over the credits is very pretty, and Werner Janssen's score was nominated for Best Music in 1940. However, after the opening credits are done, the movie goes downhill. Eternally Yours belongs to the group of films that tells wives in the audience to support their husbands no matter how mean, selfish, and inattentive they are. If you don't like that message, you won't like this movie.

Loretta Young starts the movie engaged to Broderick Crawford, but when she goes with her girlfriends to see David Niven, a famous magician, it's love at first sight. So far so good. But is there a secret twist to their love-was he hypnotizing her or using a magic trick to win her love? No, there's neither imagination nor secret twists in Gene Towne's and C. Graham Baker's script. Countless times I thought the story would turn in a different, clever direction but it never did. Loose ends aren't tied, and inventive plot lines aren't explored. As much as I love David Niven, this isn't one of his good movies.

"Eternally Yours" is a 1939 romance and drama with a touch of comedy. This is the type of film that naturally would be much more appealing to the audiences of the day just for the stars. David Niven and Loretta Young were at the pinnacle of their film careers - which would still endure for at least another decade. The plot revolves around a magician, The Great Arturo, played by Niven. He aspires to greatness, so mere magic isn't good enough for him - he soon begins doing daring escape ventures of the Houdini type.

Young is the granddaughter of an Episcopal bishop, played by C. Aubrey Smith. She falls for Arturo and they marry. While he loves his wife, he has a huge ego and is driven to achieve fame and remain in the limelight. When she finally can't stand the worry any longer, and he won't settle down, she divorces him and later marries another man. Broderick Crawford plays Don Burns.

The story has a common thread from there on with Arturo (i.e., Tony) trying to win back Anita (Young) but continuing to clash with his drive for recognition.

The cast has prominent players of the period - Billie Burke as Anita's Aunt Abby, Zasu Pits as Mrs. Bingham, Hugh Herbert as Niven's man, Benton, Eve Arden as Gloria and others. Except for the daring scenes with Niven's Arturo, there's little to be excited about in this film. As a couple of other reviewers have noted, part of the movie was filmed at the New York World's Fair.

Most audiences today would probably find this film rather dull and uninteresting. Indeed, the only reason to see it is for the fine cast - especially Young, Billie Burke and C. Aubrey Smith.

ETERNALLY YOURS (United Artists, 1939), a Walter Wanger Presentation directed by Tay Garnett, is a light romantic comedy with familiar overtones assisted by magical ideas thrown in for good measure. Starring Loretta Young and David Niven, their third collaboration and first in which they are the main attractions to an original screenplay written by Graham Baker and Gene Towne, about a magician's love for a lovely lady engaged to another.

As the opening credits get underway with an offscreen male vocalist singing the title tune, the story begins with a view of New York City followed by a bridal shower taking place at the Angel's Rectory, founded by Bishop Hubert Peabody, grandfather of its guest of honor, Anita Halstead (Loretta Young), engaged to Don Burns (Broderick Crawford). Along with her assortment of female guests, including her best friend, Gloria (Eve Arden) and Aunt Abbey (Billie Burke), Anita acquires an advertisement introducing debonair magician and mind reader, Tony Halstead, better known as The Great Auturo (David Niven), to which she and her friends decide to attend his special afternoon engagement for ladies to see what their future foretells. Of the many ladies surrounding Arturo, he immediately spots and becomes attracted to Anita. Following his private reading with her, Arturo and Anita get married. With Anita acting as his assistant, they go on a world tour performing magic acts. Eighteen months later while in England, Anita feels its about time she and Tony settle down for a normal married life in Connecticut. Tony, however, has other plans. After doing his death defying stunt jumping 100,000 feet from an airplane with his hands handcuffed behind his back with only moments to free himself and open his parachute in time for a safe landing, Arturo intends on resuming this dangerous act. Unable to live in worry any further, Anita leaves and divorces Tony. She later resuming her relationship with Don and marries him, while Lola DeVere (Virginia Field) becomes Arturo's new assistant. While his divorce from Anita finds him incapable of performing successfully, his next trick is to get Anita back.

ETERNALLY YOURS is helped considerably by its worthy cast of Hugh Herbert as Arturo's servant, Benton, breaking away from his typical buffoonery by playing it straight; Raymond Walburn and Zasu Pitts as the Binghams, Harley and Cary; Ralph Graves (Mr. Morrissey); Fred Keating (Master of Ceremonies) and its director, Tay Garnett, as the airplane pilot. In spite of its impressive cast, the end result is a fairly amusing comedy. Loretta Young (with some extreme close-ups) and David Niven (in his star making performance) do well in their initial lead pairing. Though it contains no slapstick nor climatic chases, the death defying airplane jumping sequence is both exciting and fearful. Young and Niven would team again a couple more times in the 1940s, with the Christmas fantasy of THE BISHOP'S WIFE (RKO Radio, 1947) opposite Cary Grant, to be their most famous and possibly best collaboration of all time.

As much as ETERNALLY YOURS has played regularly on commercial television since the 1950s, its renewed interest and rediscovery turned up further in the 1980s when shown on public television, availability on video cassette and decades later, on DVD. Cable television showings over the years included the Nik-at-Night Movie, Arts and Entertainment and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: July 25, 2012). Being a public domain title, ETERNALLY YOURS at least is a look back at future Academy Award winners of Loretta Young, David Niven and Broderick Crawford in material quite common then and something worth having a look today. (**1/2)

David Niven and Loretta Young definitely had an on-screen chemistry between them, but it's not so obvious in this rather procedural comedy romance. He is "Tony", a famous and successful magician who easily captivates the heart of "Anita". Now she has already promised to marry the reliable "Burns" (an adequate Broderick Crawford) but is now determined to join her new beau on his grand tour. Now "Tony" - or the modestly monikered "Great Arturo" is not only a bit of a Lothario - which annoys her; but he is also putting life and limb on the line on stage - and that terrifies her. All that sustains her is his promise that one day, they will return to a quiet life in a rose-covered cottage. Might that ever happen or might she just decide that he will never change? It has something of a love-triangle nature to it, and the love is not just aimed at people ("Tony" is just as addicted to his performing as he is to anything else). The dialogue is a bit strained, that chemistry isn't really on display and after a while the film started to struggle under the weight of it's own limitations. It does, occasionally, pull off the gag - but even they are predictable and as we drift towards a conclusion that I didn't much care for at all. I sort of wondered what the whole point of this was? It is watchable for the stars, and the always reliable Sir C. Aubrey Smith and Zasu Pitts - but this is nobody's most memorable work, I'm afraid.

I enjoyed this picture a lot. It has the warmth of the classics, yet the characterization and the whole plot fits to today's world. The incredible chemistry between the two leads is (I found) very rare among movies from that age.

Watching a beat up copy on Tubi in 2022.... Wonder if anyone else noticed at the start of the opening credits the title reading '"Movies for Television"? Television was in it's earliest stage then and with World's Fair promising so many future advancements, this seemed to be a nice tie-in at the time.

Of course, the impeccable David Niven and lovely Loretta Young carry this film along...but Eve Arden adds fun to the production. Of course, to me, this is the same person nearly unchanged in her real TV program "Our Miss Brooks" which I grew up watching as a child!

And, it's interesting to see a very young Broderick Crawford playing a nice guy early in his career.

Eternally Yours is a lacklustre romantic comedy. Despite the charms of David Niven, his character is not a nice person

Niven plays Tony, a magician and hypnotist known as the The Great Arturo. He falls immediately in love with Anita (Loretta Young.)

Tony finds fame and fortune with a death-defying act where he jumps out of a plane in handcuffs. He needs to free himself in time to activate the parachute.

With a well paid international tour beckoning. Anita wants something more domesticated, a dream home rather than travel from place to place. She leaves him and divorces him.

Only Tony can never get over Anita despite his own infidelities. While Anita marries Don (Broderick Crawford) her old fiance.

However fate brings Tony and Anita together again. This time Tony wants to win her back for good.

The film suffers from shallow selfish characters.

Some BIG BIG names in this one. Loretta Young, David Niven, Hugh Herbert. Billie Burke, Sir Aubrey Smith. and of course, my hero, the cynical, sarcastic Eve Arden! and of course Zasu PItts. In the story, Niven is Arturo, see-er of the future, and he is taken with Anita (Young). They travel around the world for Arturo's act, but Anita is getting sick of the road. Then Arturo takes on a dare, which risks his life. and Anita doesn't like it at all. Then he refuses to come off the road, and Anita is off to divorce court. Then they spend the rest of the film running into each other, antagonizing each other, if un-intentionally. The last twenty minutes are a bit annoying... Anita's new husband won't stand up for her, and he also lets his boss run all over him, even when Anita gets ill and wants to leave. A little disappointing.... with that great cast, I was hoping for more. It's all perfectly well done, but they all seem to be fighting for the spotlight. and the story kind of loses its way in the second half. we were supporting Anita when she was in love with, and married to the new husband, but then she doesn't seem to know who she wants, and if SHE doesn't know, why should WE care what happens? I hope it all gets worked out by the end. I can see why its not rated very high, even with all those big names. the ending is a little too abrupt and random. i wonder if the ending was changed along the way to suit audience preferences...