Peter Ibbetson

I watched this dreamy romantic film decades ago on TV and it has haunted me ever since. When I tell friends about the plot line we both get misty eyed thinking of the sweet, sad ideology behind this forgotten romantic film. This film does what movie do best. It takes a good book and play and transports them beyond into a world of fantasy that can only be brought about through the magic of Hollywood. This is another example of a film that was not a blockbuster when originally released so it's not available today on video or DVD. But if it was released thousands maybe millions of folks could turn it into a classic like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

Peter Ibbetson (1935)

An un-repenting romance, and I mean romance in the sense of two people being in true love for ever and ever no matter what. There is almost nothing less going on here, but who needs anything else? The best of it, in a way, is the fantasia near the end, some remarkable dream and surreal scenes with great effect. Also a great treat is seeing a young Ida Lupino as a sweet and somewhat self-absorbed young woman who is interested in our hero, played by Gary Cooper.

But Lupino is secondary, and once things get fully in gear in the present, it is Cooper's romance as Peter Ibbetson with Ann Harding, playing his childhood girlfriend, that makes it click. And no romantic stone is left untouched. By the time the movie gets to its final third you know what is happening, and then it takes a huge turn and things get both crazy and sentimentally moving. A romance turns violent, and then a crime turns first dark and then bright and almost religious (though never actually religious) and a sense of winning against all the odds is the final theme. This may strike some viewers as just wishful thinking and directorial excess, but it's so well done this isn't fair. The special effects are stunning, better than many recent effects, for sure.

And what about the filming and acting? All quite first rate. You might pigeonhole this as some kind of Depression-era escapist dream come true kind of film, but it really rises above that. It's about an impossible but not quite impossible ideal of absolute love, something that rises even above having a young Ida Lupino want you in your youth, or above giving up when chained to a wooden plank with a broken back. It's about hoping when it seems there is no hope.

But then, that's what people were doing everyday in the mid 1930s, after half a decade of terrible economic times (and without even knowing that another half a decade lay ahead). It's not a great film, but it's a great theme handled well enough to make you perk up. Someone else might have played Cooper's part with more subtlety or sophistication, but Harding is terrific in her role as rich kid turned angel. And Henry Hathaway, directing his heart out for a change, pulls off some great shifts in tone and temperament form one section of the film to the next, and narrowly avoids the sickly sweetness or downright camp that might have trapped another director. He may not have had a really classic film to his name, but among a good dozen very very good ones, from these 1930s dramas to some post-war film noirs, this is one of his best.

Once again, like many other film's I've finally come to see, after reading so many about them and longing to have the opportunity of watching them (i.e. "Trouble in Paradise"), I was afraid this one was not going to meet my expectations, and I was wrong.

First of all, Gary Cooper really impressed me so favorably; so early in his career he was able to handle such a difficult role and give a complex and sensitive performance, conveying Peter Ibbetson's ethereal aspects. Gary Cooper was really a fine actor (not only a charming personality and huge star), good at Drama, Adventure, Western, Romance, Comedy et al.

Cooper portrays the idealistic Peter Ibbetson, a young man so deeply attached to his childhood memories, that he cannot feel fulfilled or happy, in spite that he's supposed to have everything a man would wish, to find happiness.

Ann Harding, on the other hand, of whose performance regarding this film I've read that she wasn't ethereal enough to play this part (Peter Ibbetson's childhood sweetheart, Mary), I must say that I found her well suited to it, as always giving a sincere, sensitive, natural and restrained performance, looking perfect in period clothes.

Both lead performers transmit truth into their characterizations, embodying the love that transcends all the obstacles or "L'amour fou" as French defined it, giving endearing performances. Beautiful Cinematography by the great Charles Lang and great sets by Hans Dreier.

John Halliday plays expertly the stern Duke of Towers; Ida Lupino looks pretty and shows her great talent in a supporting role as a vulgar English woman Peter Ibbetson befriends in Paris and Douglass Drumbille is the "menacing at first sight", uncle of the Title character.

Mention apart deserve lovely Virginia Weidler and Dickie Moore, who portray the leading stars as children, giving impressive, terrific performances. Their scenes together have been among the most heart-wrenching and sincere I've ever seen, featuring a couple of child actors (the 1949 film "The Secret Garden" featuring Dean Stockwell and Margaret O'Brien comes to my mind).

If you liked such pictures as "Smilin' Through", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", "I'll Never Forget You", "Berkeley Square", "Somewhere in Time" or "Portrait of Jennie", you must see this one.

The DVD transfer (released by Universal as part of the "Gary Cooper Collection") is of very good quality.

Odd semi fantasy film has a good performance from a dashing Gary Cooper to recommend it but the pacing is off. The mood is too earthbound to make it haunting and too celestial for a standard telling. Part of the problem is in the female lead. Ann Harding while a fine actress is miscast as the object of Gary's lifelong desire, a more ethereal performer was required, Merle Oberon would have been perfect. The film drags in parts and feels stilted in others, a defect in the direction more than in the story. The appearance of an almost unrecognizable Ida Lupino as a bit of Cockney baggage is a treat but she's in and out of the film in under fifteen minutes.

A very sensitive and beautifully photographed film, with some strong performances. I had looked forward to seeing it for quite a time, as I had seen it recommended in print a few times. Last Christmas I missed it, but I caught it this time round (even though - again - it was put on at a very early time by the BBC). Basically it's a romance - but one which has a great deal of feeling to it. It's aesthetic appeal reminds me of Letter From An Unknown Woman. Yet when I viewed that one again recently it disappointed me. This one though had even more of an emotional impact (like when I saw La Strada a few years ago). It isn't really surrealistic, but it does have a power and is likely to linger in your memory. The ending is actually positive as well. It has a remarkable ability to make you believe in it, and to therebye become involved.