In Name Only

This is the perfect movie to curl up to on a winter day and get lost in a soap opera. The performances are very good and Lombard is just gorgeous. I think the best reason to see it is to see Kay Francis in a comeback performance. She had been relegated to the undesirable list by the studios at this point in her career. Her portrayal of Maida, Cary Grant's uncompromising wife, is great fun to watch. The movie is a little cornball in parts but overall it works. Lombard fans really won't be disappointed.

The presence of Grant and Lombard drew me to this one on American Movie Classics, though I thought the script might a bit of a handkerchief-wringer. To my surprise the story was thoroughly absorbing and involving, as well as being a great study of the manners and mores of the era. And of course, Cary Grant and Carole Lombard carry the whole thing through with their wonderful performances. Well worth a see.

Have been seeing quite a few films with Carole Lombard - what a talented actress, she is. Prompted by Hitchcock's only (screwball) comedy "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (1941) where Lombard was paired with Robert Montgomery - it's a lively repartee incessant - I jumped at the chance of seeing another film of hers. Thanks to cable Turner Classic Movies (TCM) programming, I was able to catch "In Name Only" (1939) where she played opposite Cary Grant and Kay Francis. Grant hardly get to be humorous or cheerful for that matter due to the character he's portraying. In fact, he had to play a man deprived of marital love, striving for a true love that kept being stumped by a vixen of a loveless wife, and he sure is convincing as a wearied man - seldom see him in such a sad-faced role.

This is a tearjerker, alright. But you can't help wanting to hang in there with the loving pair of Julie and Alec (Lombard and Grant), while Francis's Maida unrelentingly scheming to 'destroy' their hope of being together. Soap, quite so. I can't turn away but glued to the screen watching the pair's delightful encounters, wishing and hoping with them, worried with the two and Julie's daughter welfare, Julie's sister to understand and support her, just hoping Maida would 'disappear'. Alec is such a nice guy, so kind and trusting - how we wish he can see through Maida's deviousness! Julie is so patient - how long can one wait? So easy to fall into the pressures of society - what other people may think or say of you. Such entanglements. Why can't Alec's parents see through the guiles of Maida? Kay Francis' portrayal of callous Maida is insidious personified. How will this all end? Will Julie and Alec ever get to be together, ever?

Catch this brilliant soap drama directed by John Cromwell ("Made for Each Other" 1939, Lombard with James Stewart), scripted by Richard Sherman based on Bessie Breuer's novel. Music by Roy Webb complemented the mood. I fell in love with the performances of Lombard and Grant in "In Name Only." 95 minutes in B/W is quite a love story challenged, indeed.

Charles Coburn has a bit part as Grant's father in this film. To enjoy more of him, check out his performances along with the vivaciously demure Jean Arthur in director Sam Wood's "The Devil & Miss Jones" 1941, and director George Stevens' "The More the Merrier" 1943 (with Joel McCrea, too.)

Boy meets girl. Boy is married. Girl is widowed with a child. They fall in love, but his wife won't let him have his freedom. She will do anything to hold onto him. That is In Name Only in a nutshell...and what a masterpiece it is. With so many major films released in 1939, it is understandable how a film about 3 people in a grueling triangle can be overlooked. It seems that today, thanks to TCM, so many wonderful moments of screen history may once again be viewed and shared. I can remember as a child seeing this moving film on television. It was wonderful then, and even better now. The years have not left a mark on it. The evil portrayed by Kay Francis, subtle at times, flagrant at others keeps the viewer from feeling this is a sappy soap opera. As good as both Carole Lombard and Cary Grant are in this film, Kay outshines them. It's about time the world once again discovers the merits of Kay Francis. In this movie, she not only steals each scene she is in, but proves herself to have been thoroughly underrated as an actress. She was so much more than just a great beauty or a clotheshorse for the most stunning wardrobes in Hollywood. Try to catch each and every film she made and visit http://www.kayfrancisfilms.com/

This film is an old favorite and a crowd pleaser. I saw it recently and the amazing this is that even though 65 years have passed since its release, it still holds one's attention. Thanks to the direction of John Cromwell, this is a timeless classic.

The production of this film must have presented problems to the team involved in it. Films of the era stayed away from taboo themes because of the censorship, but this movie is an exception: an unhappily married man finds happiness with a widowed working mother. It is clear that there's nothing between Alec and Maida, a power couple living a life of luxury in the country.

Enter lovely Julie Eden. She is beautiful, talented, but with no desire to be a part of the country gentry around her. She's a free spirit who falls under the spell of a handsome Alec; who wouldn't? At the same time, Julie realizes this relationship has no future. She leaves the situation going back to Manhattan, trying to forget Alec.

The combination of Carole Lombard, playing Julie, against the Alec of Cary Grant, pays a great dividend. These two actors were meant to play opposite each other; they both bring enough charisma to fill a few other movies. Added to this mixture is the great Kay Francis, as Maida, the society wife who will not let go of her ticket to the life of luxury she is accustomed to.

The rest of the cast is excellent. Additional credit must go to Irene, the costume designer who had an eye for the clothes all the society types wore at the time.

A truly good time at the movies.