The Toy Wife

With the US Civil War on the horizon, coquettish 16-year-old Luise Rainer (as Gilberte "Frou Frou" Brigard) returns from a French finishing school to her Louisiana plantation. After looking over her slaves, Ms. Rainer selects self-described young "darkie" Theresa Harris as her personal attendant. Called "Pick" (short for "Pickaninny"), Ms. Harris is the cast member with the most star quality in this story. Rainer becomes involved with two men, stable lawyer Melvyn Douglas (as Georges) and more irresponsible Robert Young (as Andre). Her immaturity and flirtatious nature causes heartache in Ms. Rainer's relationships with these men and her older sister Barbara O'Neil (as Louise)...

It should have been obvious by "The Toy Wife" that MGM's much hoped-for success with Luise Rainer was not going to materialize. Here, she impersonates Greta Garbo (from "Camille") doing Bette Davis (from "Jezebel"). The studio and Rainer would soon give up on each other. It's a shame, because Rainer might have gone on to have an engaging US film career. MGM and studio head Louis B. Mayer should have originally pushed Rainer for a "Supporting Actress" award (for "The Great Ziegfeld") and given her some more suitable projects. Here, she is way off the mark. "The Toy Wife" is also notable for its threatening treatment of house slaves. Alma Kruger does well as Mr. Young's mother.

*** The Toy Wife (6/10/38) Richard Thorpe ~ Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Young, Barbara O'Neil

Quite the period piece... the south, before the civil war. But some big names.. .Melvyn Douglas (star of silents and talkies), Robert Young (Marcus Welby), HB Warner (many films). some similarities to Gone With the Wind.... girl likes one guy. another guy proposes, so she accepts. but still likes the other guy. and doesn't really get over it. stuff happens. many references to slavery. not all complimentary, but historically accurate. goes on and on. lessons learned. one lives with ones' decisions. Directed by Richard Thorpe. about the biggest films for him were Jailhouse Rock and Fun in Acapulco.

This film is a period piece set in Louisiana before the Civil War. In this Hollywood version of the Old South, the rich plantation owners are good to their slaves and the slaves are happy people! I can't even repeat (due to IMDb standards) some of the ways these human beings are referred to in the film and I can't see this film earning a perfect 10 simply because of its whitewashing of slavery.

The story is about a very shallow, child-like and destructive woman nicknamed "Frou Frou" (Luise Rainer). She bounces about like a happy bunny--captivating men in the process. Yet, because of her selfishness and lack of depth, she is destined to screw up the lives of men who get close to her. Frankly, I think they overdid her character a bit in the first half of the film--you'd think that smart men would see right through her and know exactly what she is (I know I hated her almost as soon as I saw her on the screen).

The first man she becomes involved with is George (Melvin Douglas). George is competent, decent and a very good catch--and her sister, Louise (Barbara O'Neil)is already in love with him. After marrying him, Frou Frou has a child and everything seems fine. However, George becomes frustrated with Frou Frou. She's very simple-minded and too self-absorbed to be much of a mother (as he describes her "she's more like a playmate than a mother to the boy"), she spends money with abandon and offers no intellectual stimulation for her husband. When he is offered an important assignment from the government to the new territories of Texas and New Mexico, she refuses to go, as she finds these places boring (though she's never even seen them)! He stays but is quite unhappy about this and it's obvious that something bad is brewing in this marriage! I actually liked this next part of the film. I had incorrectly assumed that Frou Frou would cheat on George and was too selfish to even try to be a proper wife. This would have been the easy next step for the film. Fortunately, the writers chose a different and much more interesting path.

Because Frou Frou is so irresponsible and daffy, her sister Louise comes to live with them. Over time, the boy looks more to Louise for guidance and love and it's clear to the audience that she is slowly taking Frou Frou's place. In the meantime, Andre returns and begins to make the moves on Frou Frou. He can see that she is unhappy but Frou Frou refuses--she is determined to keep her home intact. She seems to realize that her marriage is slipping away from her and she makes some efforts to work on it...but it appears to possibly be too late. In desperation, Frou Frou tries to arrange a marriage for Louise to get her out of the house but Louise refuses the offer! Eventually, however, Frou Frou realizes that the marriage is beyond her ability to save it. Then, and only then, she runs to Andre. At this point, her life and the lives of those around her are in ruins--her family is aghast and she and Andre are now outcasts. As the film nears the end, George and Andre are about to kill each other in a duel--and Frou Frou realizes that this is her doing. How this all ends is something you'll just have to see for yourself.

Overall, not a great film but there is a lot to be admired. Several times during the film, I anticipated what would happen next and was wrong. Being a huge fan of classic Hollywood, my 'batting average' is pretty good in anticipating plots and I am glad the the writers didn't take the easy way or rely on clichés. I also like how late in the film George's responsibility for marrying a woman like this and then being unjustly angry because she lacked depth was brought to light--it wasn't just a 'one-way street'. As long as the way they portray slavery doesn't completely alienate you (and it easily might), the film is well acted and original.

If you liked films like CAMILLE or JEZEBEL, then you will most likely enjoy seeing THE TOY WIFE.

Luise Rainer gives a beautiful performance as "The Toy Wife," a 1938 film. After she won two consecutive Oscars, roles for this beautiful, petite actress were difficult for MGM to find.

Here she plays Gilberte, a young woman known as Frou Frou, who comes back to Louisiana after living in France and captivates New Orleans. Her sister, Louise (Barbara O'Neill) is in love with George (Melvyn Douglas) but he falls for Frou Frou and marries her. They have a son, Georgie. Though George loves her, he has to admit that she is not much of a wife and mother. She's childlike herself, a playmate to her son, impractical, and an airhead.

George brings Louise to live with them and take care of the household and Georgie. Meanwhile, Frou Frou is rehearsing a play with a man who is in love with her, Andre (Robert Young). Over time, she realizes that Louise has taken over Georgie, and her husband, occupied with work, is less interested in her. When Louise receives a marriage proposal and turns it down, Frou Frou blows her top and lets her sister know what she really thinks of her. "You don't want your own husband and children, you want mine!" she screams. That night, she runs away with Andre, embittering George and putting Andre in danger.

This is a very good movie with a wonderful performance by Rainer, who is surrounded by an excellent cast. The costumes are gorgeous.

The character of Frou Frou is so sweet and loving, it's painful to see what a mess she makes of her life and the lives around her.

After Irving Thalberg's death, Rainer left Hollywood, dissatisfied with what Louis B. Mayer had to offer her. She married Clifford Odets and, after that ended, left the country. She married again, had a child, and continued to work on and off over the years, as late as 1997's The Gambler.

Luise Rainer was a great treasure unappreciated by MGM. She brought beauty and excellence in performance to everything she did. But MGM figured she had two Oscars so they could give her anything, and they did. She was miserable. But she liked this film very much, as well as her costar, Melvyn Douglas.

Like her contemporaries, Garbo and Dietrich, the Vienesse Luise Rainer had both beauty and talent and yet, despite winning two consecutive Best Actress Oscars, failed to achieve the same level of cinematic greatness. Dissatisfied with the way MGM was handling her career, she fled Hollywood in the late 30s and, sadly, audiences today barely know of her work. Here, she had one of her better film roles as Frou-Frou, the flighty Southern Belle, indulged by a wealthy father and doting older sister and, consequently, aware of nothing but her own needs and desires. When she catches the eye of a staid lawyer (humorless Melvyn Douglas), who is charmed by her youthful joy and gaiety, she consents to marriage at the urging of the sister, who is hopeful Frou-Frou will somehow be forced to grow up, and in spite of the sister's own love for the lawyer. When the marriage fails to produce the desired outcome, and sensing the loss of her husband's affection, Frou-Frou drifts into an affair with a wealthy roué, with tragic results. Rainer gives a very fine performance as the innocently destructive Frou-Frou and is an absolutely enchanting presence on screen. With Barbara O'Neil as the more serious-minded older sister, Robert Young, bland as always as Frou-Frou's lover, and H.B. Warner, Alma Kruger and the very pretty black actress Theresa Harris (in a truly offensive role as Frou-Frou's maid. You'd have to see her in something like Miracle On 34th Street to appreciate how very different, and dignified, she really was).