The Animal Kingdom

A film examining character and intelligence, motives and integrity, the artist's life versus the conventional life. It is a love story which depicts love and friendship on many levels. This film is one of those interesting ones where the viewer has to be able to listen to dialogue and interpret meaning. There are subtle interactions between the characters and a civilized, low-key ambiance.

Previous reviewers have summarized the plot well. Likewise its pre-code frankness. But what makes this movie most interesting is the unusual context the various stars find themselves in. Think playwright Phillip Barry. What comes to mind: "The Philadelphia Story." Think Leslie Howard: "Pygmalion" and "Gone with the Wind." Think Myrna Loy: the "Thin Man" series. Think William Gargan: many later movies. Notice that Myrna Loy, later such an important star, has to take third billing after Ann Harding. That certainly wouldn't have been the case just a few years later. Good to see Ilka Chase in a screen role. I thought Howard and Loy superb in their acting, probably among the best work they ever did. Under the banal everyday polite surface of the dialogue and events little by little the characters expose themselves: Loy as the manipulative femme fatal and Howard as the man for whom the light begins slowly to turn on. For those whom the title puzzled, I caught Howard saying at one point, "We're just members of the animal kingdom."

Compare this film to Platinum Blonde of 1931 starring Jean Harlow. My IMDb review summarizes the parallels between these two films.

Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, and Myrna Loy are all members of "The Animal Kingdom" in this 1932 film based on the play by Phillip Barry. Barry in his way was a transitional playwright - he wrote about the upper class, usually negatively, but always gave a nod to the lower class - they were the ones that had more fun. Just a little bit later, plays about the upper class would go by the wayside for plays about the working class - Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing - as America moved through the depression.

Leslie Howard plays a member of said upper class who has engaged in a Bohemian lifestyle, living with an intelligent artist (Harding). They have a no attachment, open relationship, and he takes her at her word and gets himself engaged to a gorgeous, wealthy young woman (Myrna Loy) just as Harding decides she wants to settle down and have a family. She accepts his decision, but not his offer of continuing friendship.

There is a line about the "animal kingdom" in the film, but I prefer to think the title has to do with baser instincts. If Howard passionately desired Ann Harding, he wouldn't have wanted to be friends - and it's her desire of him that makes her reject his "just friends" suggestion. Let's face facts - Loy turns him on and knows it. In fact, she uses sex as a manipulative weapon, and he's putty in her hands. It's more blatant in this film than, say, "Harriet Craig" which was done under the code - but the power of sex is there.

Of course, a relationship based on sexual desire and nothing else eventually grows tired, and Howard finds himself going back to talk with Harding and spend time with her. She smartly keeps running. Clearly, Howard is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

Harding was an interesting leading woman - she was attractive but not beautiful and had a very low, distinctive speaking voice. She came from the Broadway stage, and her heyday in films was through the mid-thirties, though she worked consistently in films and television until the mid-60s. As was the case back then, at 31 years of age, her time as a leading lady was drawing to a close, and soon would be turned over to people like the younger Loy. Her performance in "The Animal Kingdom" is a very honest one. Loy is absolutely ravishing and wears beautiful clothes. She essays the part of the glamorous wife beautifully, reminiscent of Gene Tierney later on with the ultra-feminine facade hiding the steel underneath. Howard is handsome and thoughtful in the lead, and one can see it slowly occurring to him that he made a mistake.

Very good.

1st watched 12/7/2004 - 7 out of 10(Dir- Edward H. Griffith): Surprisingly honest and frank drama about a man who can't decide between two women in his life. One, ties him down to a commitment and is a solid person and the other doesn't ask for a commitment and is a great friend but doesn't have the stability of the first. I never did figure out why the movie was called "Animal Kingdom", but I believe it has to do with how we as humans tend to become survivalists like those in the animal kingdom do when things aren't going well. This is one of the most complex character studies that I've seen in awhile especially from a movie made so long ago. The acting is kind of up-and-down but the story is consistently intriguing as we try to figure out what Tom(the book publisher) is going to do in his life from one moment to the next. Every character in this story is interesting in one way or another and the movie works hard to follow these characters and not just make a happy-go-lucky movie experience. There is a uniqueness in this film's open attitude towards love and friendship and how to piece them together that I have not seen often.

Once I actually spoke to Ann Harding on the telephone, but, alas, I didn't really know who she was. Yes, it was late in her life and early in mine, but if I had had the slightest idea what an extraordinary actress she had been, I would have been more forward, would have tried to spend time talking with her in person.

I knew the name. She had been a star. But now having seen her in "The Animal Kingdom," I am simply astonished at her ability.

In fact the entire cast is compelling. Even other people of whom I knew nothing or very little were impossible to look away from.

For example, "Franc," played by Leni Stengel, was such a strong, and well-written, character, she was never over-shadowed even by the major characters. "Joe," played by Don Dillaway, was another, and I had never heard of either actor before. Now I want to see everything they ever appeared in. The two actors were remarkable performers, contributing great talent to an already overwhelmingly talented cast.

Myrna Loy played a strong and attractive "society lady," but her character was different from the kind she is known for and gave her a chance to demonstrate she too was one fine actress, capable of variety, and not just a pretty face.

Leslie Howard played, as it seemed he so often did, a rather weak character, but one capable of greatness, or at least potentially of strength.

William Gargan was wonderful as a supposed-to-be-servant who just didn't "know his place." I've never seen him in this type of role, and he was just captivating.

But Ann Harding stole it all.

She was, of course, beautiful, but her mannerisms and gestures, under played, just proved definitely that she was an actress, and an actress of power.

Horace Jackson's script is based on a Philip Barry play so perhaps credit for the dialogue belongs mostly to Barry, but it's intelligent and entices an audience into sticking with everything happening on the screen, even though the actual story is rather sad. It's about misdirected desires, and sacrifices people really shouldn't make.

"The Animal Kingdom" is a good movie, one I recommend, and one I am grateful to Turner Classic Movies for presenting on 9 December 2016. It is and has much more than the one-sentence description found in TV listings. It is much more than a soap opera. It is a strong drama beautifully acted and written, and deserving of serious attention.