Claudia

This film was adapted from the hit play by Rose Franken, and featured the actress who created the character of Claudia for the stage, Dorothy McGuire, in her film debut. Set in suburban Connecticut at a time (1943) when the state was still semi-rural, it tells the story of a perky young woman married to a mature but not yet middle-aged man, and their trials and tribulations, most of them revolving around Claudia's chronic immaturity, her attachment to her mother, and her over-reliance on her husband's know-how. There's not a whole lot of story here, and an awful lot of dialogue, much of it extremely pleasant, all of it observant and well-crafted, none of it brilliant. Stars McGuire and Robert Young make an exceptionally attractive and credible couple. Young's droll underplaying is very stylish and often upstages his bubbly co-star.

It's a fun movie none the less, and at times even moving, belonging to an era when mainstream culture was supposed to be genteel. If if were made today half of it would be set in the conjugal bed, with the leading characters naked most of the time. With considerable subtlety it's suggested in this film that indeed a good deal of the action is in the bedroom, but they never, of course, show any of it. It's easier today to see the virtues of such bright entertainment as this, though when it was first performed out the play, like so many others like it, was attacked at times rather brutally by intellectuals in left-wing journals. A case can be made for Claudia being no more than anodyne entertainment to please and flatter the bourgeoisie into thinking that they're nicer and smarter than they are in real life. Perhaps so. But as an artifact of its times Claudia is still a pretty good show, and on occasion a fascinating if Hollywoodized glimpse at how the comfortable middle classes lived in the years before the postwar boom.

CLAUDIA is an excellent film, based on a novel and Broadway play which starred Dorothy McGuire as a young and naive wife of an older man who lives in the Connecticut countryside. McGuire recreated her stage role in her film debut, which was a smash hit.

Claudia is a naive young woman who lives on a farm in rural Connecticut before WW II. The farm is isolated and has no electricity. Her major contacts with the world are her architect husband (Robert Young) and her mother (Ina Claire) who lives in New York City. She is devoted to both but is torn between living with her husband at the cost of being separated from her mother.

A few colorful characters breeze through her rural idyll. There's a roguish writer (Reginald Gardiner) who lives down the road and who makes a pass at her. And there's an opera diva (silent film star Olga Baclanova) who wants to buy the farm. These characters change Claudia and her relationship with her husband.

There are other changes coming to Claudia. She discovers she is pregnant just as she discovers a sad truth about her mother. Claudia adjusts to her world slowly but resolutely. It's called growing up.

Wonderful performances by all with McGuire center stage. Director Edmund Goulding had wanted retired superstar Marion Davies for the role of the mother. He knew she would add some star wattage to the cast. She would have been marvelous. Legend has it Davies' long-time love William Randloph Hearst could not bear the thought of his beloved Davies playing a middle-aged mother. She was 46 years old at the time. What a pity she bypassed the film.

The film instantly established Dorothy McGuire as a film star and was followed by a sequel CLAUDIA AND David in 1946.

"Claudia" is a very good story of family, love and newlyweds filled with light comedy and drama. It's also the first film made by Dorothy McGuire and a very good and unusual look at that superb actress. That's because, McGuire's persona in later films, for which she was most identified and remembered was as a more quiet, serene and dignified person. So, this early look at McGuire is quite a contrast. Yet, it clearly shows her acting talent. She was chosen for this film which reprises the role she played in the highly successful stage play of the same title, that ran 722 performances on Broadway in 1941 to 1943.

McGuire was 27 when this movie was made. Her "late" start in film, came after she had been on the stage. Her first role was at age 13 in an Omaha community playhouse. She then performed in high school and college, and wound up in summer stock at age 21. By 1937 she was acting on Broadway.

McGuire never won an Academy Award but was nominated for one, and later for three Emmy's for television. Of all the roles of the few actresses who received nominations in their debut films, McGuire was certainly deserving of an Oscar nomination here. But 1943 was like many another year during the golden age of Hollywood. So many very talented actresses were in as many great movies that made the competition exceptional that year. Jennifer Jones won the best actress Oscar for her role in "The Song of Bernadette;" over Ingrid Bergman in "For Whom the Bell Tolls." And three other great actresses nominated were Greer Garson, Jean Arthur and Joan Fontaine.

McGuire had many succeeding films with lead roles, most of which were highly successful films. While she did appear in a few TV series late in her career, she didn't have her own show or series. She made occasional movies in matronly or other dramatic roles, and she made TV movies as well. She also returned to the stage and helped Gregory Peck and some other actors form the La Jolla Playhouse.

Well, this is a fine movie about life, with McGuire's Claudia as a very young bride. She's almost immature, very energetic and almost childish in her enthusiasm at times. She is somewhat naïve, very close to her mother, and very much in love with her husband, played very well by Robert Young. This was McGuires first of three very successful pairings with Young. While he had a long career in cinema with many good films under his belt, Young will forever be remembered mostly as Marcus Welby, M. D., for that highly popular TV series that ran for eight years from 1969 through 1976.

Others of the cast of this film give very good performances. Ina Claire is Mrs. Brown, Claudia's mother. Reginald Gardiner is a playwright neighbor in the Naughton's rural Connecticut setting. And, Olga Baclanova, the Russian actress who defected from the Soviet Union in 1925, has a nice role, adding some comedic spice to the film.

One word of caution for those who might think of watching this film in a family setting. The younger audiences of the 21st century may find this film hard to sit through. It is heavy with talking and dialogue. So, younger folks (through middle age, no doubt) who thrive on lots of action and relentless motion in their viewing may quickly be bored.

"Claudia" and its sequel "Claudia and David" are unique in the history of American movies. The sequel is as good as, if not perhaps better than, the original. But they work beautifully together in a way almost no two movies ever have. (I am excluding post-1980 sci-fi blockbusters and their sequels, which I leave to someone else to address.) Dorothy McGuire is an acquired taste. She is a taste I have acquired over the years. At first I thought her bland and a touch saccharine. But based on these movies and on the heartbreaking "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn alone, she has a major place among our movie history.

Everyone here is excellent. Robert Young is very good. Ina Claire -- the divine brittle comedienne of earlier days -- is immensely endearing as Claudia's ailing mother.

The movie is billed as a romantic comedy. And it is romantic. It is comic -- in a way that at times (e.g., the leitmotif about Young's missing $.25 pipe-scraper) presages television sitcoms.

But it has dark edges everywhere. A mournful quality hangs over it. It seems to say: "Yes, life holds romance. Yes, people can be very amusing when interacting with each other. But life is essentially tragic. Do enjoy life but remember: It is not all innocent flirtations and problems with the servants. It's filled with sad things that pop up when one least expects them." It's a charming movie and a wise one as well.

Claudia is a child bride whose insecurity and inexperience nearly destroy her idyllic marriage to an older man. During the course of the film, Claudia is forced to mature and to learn what makes a marriage between two adults. What makes this film special is the luminous portrayal of Dorothy McGuire in her film debut. Her beauty and sweetness have remained in my mind for over forty years, when I first saw this movie on TV. For students of social history, the 1940's setting also gives us a glimpse of marriage and social customs sixty years ago. But the real reason to see this film and its sequel, Claudia and David, is McGuire. I can compare her beauty only with that of the young Maria Schell.