The World Changes

I didn't think there was a vintage Warner Bros. or First National movie I hadn't heard of -- but then "The World Changes" turned up on Turner. Had to be a clunker, right? Wrong. It's a saga that surges through some fifty years of American history, following a farm boy to the stockyards of Chicago and prosperity thanks to the invention of refrigerated cattle cars. His challenges? A wife who is going mad, a pair of wastrel sons and ultimately the 1929 Wall Street crash. Paul Muni in the starring role is superb, subtly changing from eager innocent to troubled tycoon. It's Muni's show but he's ably supported by Mary Astor, Guy Kibbee and even a moppet Mickey Rooney in a small role. There's a touch of "Citizen Kane" about "The World Changes." It's a terrific "lost" movie, well worth your time.

Paul Muni outdoes himself in this movie. I thought I had seen most all of his work available on TCM, but one night featuring him, this one looked unfamiliar, and I watched it. Stunning, based on my previous impressions of Muni. From the Good Earth, onto Emile Zola, and others, I thought he was a guarded intelligent thinker, as an actor. In the World Changes, he plays a cowboy, turned cattle rustler, turned businessman. The first half of the film I couldn't believe it, but it eventually almost "devolved" into the typical Muni character everyone is so familiar with. A loner, a thinker, but he's saddled with some material that shows its age. He still, I highly recommend it, as Ailine MacMahon and Mary Astor also plate strong courageous parts. A pleasant surprise, a wonderful find.

Ladies, go out and rent The World Changes because Paul Muni is gorgeous! If you thought he was handsome as a brunette, just wait until you see him as a blond. Of course, by the end of the film, he's undergone severe age makeup, but feel free to drool your way through the first half of the film.

Paul lives out in the country with his family, but a chance meeting with Buffalo Bill, played by Douglass Dumbrille, inspires him to explore and make his way in the world. He gets a job in a meat-packing factory, and after marrying the boss's daughter, he transforms the industry. In addition to showing one man's struggle in the business world, the movie explores themes of ambition, ingratitude, family quarrels, and marital problems. Parts of the film are very good, but keep in mind that it was made in the early 1930s. It's worth noting that this was the first film Paul Muni made in which his character aged decades, something that would become his signature throughout his career.

Enjoy the eye candy, and the supporting cast, including Mary Astor, Guy Kibbee, Aline MacMahon, Margaret Lindsay, and Donald Cook, but you might want to watch a musical afterwards. The film takes place over several decades, and each time change shows a globe turning. The scene-change music can get stuck in your head quite easily.

... and this film explains the run up to the stock market crash in the person of Orin Nordholm, Jr. (Paul Muni), born in Dakota territory to Swedish immigrant parents looking for a place to build a farm. When another family arrives there, they decide seven people are enough for a town and christen it Orinville.

As Orin grows to manhood, he decides to seek his fortune in the multitude of cattle in Texas, and the multitude of meat hungry folk in the northeast, leaving Orinville and his fiancee Selma (Jean Muir) behind. Orin is hard working and enterprising, cagey when he has to be, and tragically partners with James Claffin. It's not tragic because Claffin tries to cheat him, but because he introduces Orin to his daughter, Virginia (Mary Astor),a terrible ungrateful snob. They inexplicably marry, and Orin is ultimately an unhappier man because of it. Claffin dies shortly thereafter, leaving the business for Orin to ably run.

We are shown absolutely nothing of the Orin/Virginia courtship, so the audience has no idea what he sees in her. They must have never had a conversation for him not to see she was bad news. Or maybe Virginia was as good an actress during courtship as the actress that played her. Two sons are born to the marriage and they are both as snobby as their mother, whom she ruins by spoiling them, not letting them see that all of their money is not just heaven sent.

The rest of the film plays out like a Greek tragedy or maybe the decline and fall of the Roman Empire with the subsequent two generations just getting more spoiled, reckless, entitled, worthless. Orin has long sold out his interests in his meat packing empire. One son is a professional loafer and lady's man. The other has married a girl just like dear old mom - not a good thing - and owns a brokerage firm where he and his son are involved in embezzlement Madoff style that in better times they could probably cover up, but then comes the crash of 1929.

Orin was a hard worker, always as honest as you can be in big business, his biggest sin seeming to be marrying the woman that he did. And yet it seems like this film is trying to say- and rather obviously at that - that his sin was to leave Orinville in the first place. What kind of place would America have become if nobody had big dreams and followed them? Questions not asked or answered. But maybe not popular questions at the height of the Great Depression.

Kudos to Aline McMahon as Orin's mother who credibly ages from a teen bride in 1856 to a 90 something widow in 1929. I just love her subtle acting style, her natural beauty. Interesting factoid here is that MacMahon actually lived into her 90s. She is as credible in her aging process as the more famous Paul Muni is in his.

A few funny things. Somehow the Nordholms manage to run into three famous western figures - George Custer, Buffalo Bill, and Wild Bill Hickok. Also director Mervyn Leroy always had trouble transitioning between scenes to the point that early in his career he actually had a curtain lower and rise like he was changing scenes in a play. Here he uses a globe turning with the years ticking by to indicate the passage of time.

I'd recommend this one for Muni's as well as MacMahon's acting.

Mervyn LeRoy was a more than capable director and was responsible for some great films, especially 'Gold Diggers of 1933', 'Random Harvest' (my personal favourite of his) and 'Waterloo Bridge'. Also like 'Little Women' a good deal. Another reason to see 'The World Changes' for me was the cast, Paul Muni and Mary Astor could always be counted on to give very good and more performances. And there has been no bias against melodramas, some great ones out there.

'The World Changes' is not one of the best examples of melodrama and doesn't entirely escape potential traps. It is far from being one of the worst at the same time and is actually a lot more interesting than it sounds. On the whole it was a very well done if quite sprawling film, especially in the production values and the acting, that represents all involved well if not seeing them at their very best. 'The World Changes' is not a perfect film but is deserving of more credit.

Could it have been better? Yes. With many characters and events, 'The World Changes' at times did feel over-stuffed and a bit sprawling. A longer length by about half an hour more would have made this less problematic and would have given more room for more depth.

While most of the dialogue is fine, not always the case with melodrama, there are times where it does get on the overwrought side and where it rambles (Muni's dialogue for instance could have done with a trim).

In no way is this meant to sound that 'The World Changes' is a bad film. There is a huge amount to like about it. It looks great for one thing, with the photography especially being spectacular at its best. LeRoy directs with assurance and things don't plod too much under him. When it's used, the music is sumptuous enough and doesn't come over as too syrupy or melodramatic. The ageing is remarkably convincing, in look and acting.

Although the dialogue is not perfect, much of the script's construction is solid and neatly done without being too much so. The story sprawls about but is mostly quite absorbing and moving, and the characters are far from sketchy, intrigue from the get go and carry the story beautifully. The historical characters fascinate. Not to mention that they are excellently acted, especially from Muni in a complex role that he pulls off with vigorous but never overdone aplomb (especially shining in the character's more troubled side). Though one shouldn't overlook scarily formidable Astor and against type and quite powerful Aline McMahon.

Overall, didn't wow my mind but very interesting and well done. 7/10