My Love Came Back

The best part of this film was the musical interlude where a serious band plays swing. Other than that sequence, you can forget this film.

It's 1940 and everyone is so young here. Fresh from her Oscar nomination as Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With the Wind," Olivia de Havilland plays a promising violin student who needs to make money for her indigent family. She will be forced to leave where she is studying since she is on a scholarship and the latter forbids her from giving violin lessons.

Enter the lovable Charlie Winninger as a music impresario who secretly gives additional scholarship money to her so that she can remain. When the money is funneled by way of Jeffrey Lynn, sparks fly. When the adult children of Winninger find out, they think that their father is having an affair with deHavilland. Then, they turn their attention to Lynn.

A very youthful Eddie Albert and Jane Wyman have supporting parts as players in the band who really want to swing with the swing music.

Lynn is rather droll as de Havilland's love interest. The chemistry between them never really ignites.

With the writing going somewhat awry, you'd think that the able Winninger and others could pull it through. Sweet, ever pleasant Spring Byington plays his wife but she really plays her role as having to do it under contract.

"My Love Came Back" is the inappropriate title for this sweet, blithe romantic comedy that was unlike anything Olivia de Havilland ever did. Olivia de Havilland winningly displays fine comedy talent and really makes the movie shine beyond what was apparently a programmer film, although she is ably assisted by Jeffrey Lynn and S. Z. Sakall (beginning his most famous period, as a Warner Brothers supporting player). Eddie Albert and Jane Wyman make for believable foils for de Havilland and make an ingratiating, warm comedy team. A film beautiful to watch for its shimmering black and white cinematography, breezy yet warm score, and, once again, the radiant comedic performance of Olivia de Havilland to carry the picture.

With some great music as background, "My Love Came Back" is a very enjoyable film from Warner Brothers, starring Olivia de Havilland, Jeffrey Lynn, Jane Wyman, and Eddie Albert.

De Havilland plays a promising violinist who catches the musical ear - but mostly the eye - of a benefactor (Charles Winninger). De Havilland innocently lets him escort her to things that will further her musical education, having no idea that her new school scholarship comes directly from him.

Mixups and misunderstandings result when she falls for Winninger's business manager, played by tall, handsome Jeffrey Lynn, who comes off in this as sort of an American Ray Milland.

Meanwhile, her roommate, played by a vivacious, blond Jane Wyman and her fiancée, the delightful Eddie Albert, try to drag her into their swing music band. Albert and Wyman, along with S. K. Szall and Spring Byington, make up a great supporting cast.

De Havilland is a perfect sweet young thing, playing the comedy very earnestly. Her soft look is in contrast to Wyman, who's positively eye-popping as a blonde. It's hard to connect her with the same actress who would star as the deaf mute in Johnny Belinda, or for that matter, the dowager of Falcon Crest!

Lynn never made it to star status, partially because of World War II interrupting his career, but he enjoyed a long one anyway, as well as a career in real estate.

One of the things that makes this film is the marvelous music, not only classical but swing. This is a movie that's well worth seeing and makes for good listening as well.

This pleasant little picture is of interest primarily as it illustrates Olivia de Havilland's development as a star at Warner Bros. after GONE WITH THE WIND. If this picture had been done at Universal a few years later, the plot about mistaken identity with a classical music background might have been perfect for Deanna Durbin. Done a few years earlier it might have made a very funny screwball comedy with Jean Arthur. As it is, the title suggests that Warners was trying to sell this as a 'women's picture' rather than a comedy, and de Havilland plays it straight and very naturally. In fact, looking far less glamorous than Jane Wyman does as her friend, Olivia looks ravishing and is completely delightful, though her touch with comedy is heavy. Frankly, this film should have been livelier and the raciness implicit in the plot is unfortunately undercut at least partly by de Havilland's earnestness in the role.

Of interest to certain viewers will be the presence of two young actors getting The Build Up, neither of whom made it as stars. Jeffrey Lynn is tall, charming and very handsome, but not a memorable screen presence. Blond and big-jawed, you may wonder why William T. Orr didn't work more, but his bio suggests he had his eye on other career prospects: he married Jack Warner's stepdaughter and had a very long career as a TV producer. In addition, handsome young George Haywood has a walk-on near the beginning, making one wonder who at Warners had such a sharp eye for male pulchritude . . .

Olivia de Havilland is smart and funny as Amelia Cornell, star pupil and violinist at a prestigious music academy.

Wealthy patron Charles Winninger means well when he instructs his company's vice president (Jeffrey Lynn) to start sending de Havilland $100 scholarship checks to help her make ends meet; unfortunately his patronage looks fishy and starts a round of misunderstandings and modest deceptions that keep the plot moving but are really not too worrisome.

Along the way, de Havilland and Lynn meet and fall for each other, not surprisingly. Jeffrey Lynn never made it too big in Hollywood but he did have several featured roles right around this period, and he's actually quite good—handsome, energetic, snappy.

De Havilland's roommate Jane Wyman (also a violinist) and her boyfriend Eddie Albert (piano) are hilarious as fellow musicians hoping to form a swing band—really, the scenes featuring Wyman and Albert are the movie's funniest.

S.Z. Sakall is fun as always as the academy's orchestra conductor; Spring Byington has a fine bit as Winninger's smart wife; and William Orr and Ann Gillis are both good as suspicious siblings.

I guess it's all pretty silly….Olivia de Havilland certainly had more challenging starring roles. Still, as a light comedy the picture is completely enjoyable. Also: de Havilland delivers a great last line!