Looking Forward

Thoughtful, touching story about a wealthy store owner named Gabriel Service (Lewis Stone) who's going broke during the Great Depression while his spoiled family only seems to care about maintaining their lifestyle. Lionel Barrymore plays a long-time employee of the store who is laid off. The contrast between how the two men and their families deal with these hardships is the heart of the story.

Lewis Stone and Lionel Barrymore are both extraordinary. Benita Hume is quite hissable as Stone's no-good wife. Colin Clive plays the loyal second-in-command to Stone. A very subtle performance from Clive, an actor not known for subtlety. A fine supporting cast includes Halliwell Hobbes, Elizabeth Allan, Billy Bevan, and Phillips Holmes. Excellent production that grants us nice insight into the era. Unlike some other reviewers, I felt the ending was good. I guess some would have preferred Lewis Stone shoot himself or Lionel Barrymore blow up the store or something like that. Any movie where pastries figure into the plot heroically is alright with me.

Set in Great Britain, everyone except Barrymore has a British accent. He is a bookkeeper for a large firm, and is let go by the president of the firm. Filmed in 1933, its a statement on the depression, and the lack of available jobs. How timely that Turner Classics shows this now, as this is occurring today all over the U.S. Barrymore is Tim Benton, father to Elsie (Viva Tattersall) and the dashing Willie ( Douglas Walton). Viewers will recognize Lewis Stone as Mr. Service, the head of the firm that fired Benton. Stone and Barrymore had been in Grand Hotel together in 1932. We see the contrast between Service's family and Benton's family, and how they are all forced to cut back. The actresses playing the wives, Mrs. Benton ( Doris Lloyd) and Mrs. Service ( Benita Hume) were both from England, and came by their accents naturally. Everyone does a fine job, although it DOES run like a play (on which it is based).... we don't really see any character development or emotions... it's all action-based, and moves right along. Directed and produced by Clarence Brown, who had worked several times with Greta Garbo and Barrymore. Garbo was ALSO in Grand Hotel, which may explain the connection to Stone and Barrymore. One of Barrymore's lesser known works.... he made Dinner at Eight (and SIX other films) the same year!

As a lowly accountant in a big London department store, Mr. B. doesn't wheeze, waggle his eyebrows, or overact in any way. He's pleasingly restrained as a small, passive cog in a large machine, and so is Lewis Stone, not resorting to any Judge Hardy tricks as the sympathetic but staunch corporate patriarch who must reluctantly let him go. Adapted from a stage play by C.L. Anthony (a pseudonym for Dodie Smith, who wrote "101 Dalmations"), this Depression family drama does acknowledge the Depression more than most early-1930s studio product, and it provides a nice contrast in how these two gentlemen's families (Stone's with greed and self- centeredness, Barrymore's with sacrifice and resolve) react to adversity. It's not thunderingly dramatic and kind of peters out, but as MGM prestige product of the day, it's less showy and artificial than many of its contemporaries.

Looking Forward (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely well-acted drama from MGM is a rather depressing tale during its first half only to pour too much sugar during the second part. The film takes place during the Depression as Lewis Stone is forced with the fact that his department store is losing too much money and he is forced to lay off several people including one (Lionel Barrymore) who has been with the company for over forty-years. Soon things are getting even worse and Lewis finds himself nearly broke when someone makes an offer for his store. Barrymore gets top-billing and his name over the title but he's got a rather small role and only appears at the start and end of the film. The movie clearly belongs to Stone who turns in a marvelous performance and really makes this film worth seeking. The Depression-era tone of the film certainly fits in well today and one can't help but feel a lot of the messages being said in this movie could be said today. There are some truly depressing moments in this film including the start where Lewis has to lay off Barrymore. The acting these two give during this sequence is certainly spell bounding as they both perfectly nail the situation and really make you feel everything their characters are saying. Barrymore perfectly captures the depression of his character early on and then matches the happiness that would later follow. Colin Clive of FRANKENSTEIN fame has a small role here that doesn't give him too much to do but fans of the horror genre will still enjoy seeing him. The films title was taken from a speech given by F.D.R. and there's no question that the heart was in the right place even though the final third has way too much sugar than what was really needed. Considering a real Depression was going on, it's understandable that the studio wanted to say something with this film so I'm sure it worked better back when it was released. Fans of the two actors will certainly want to check this one out as both men give wonderful performances.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that more people go to the movies to escape their problems than to confront them. This was never more true than in the 1930s when most films sedulously avoided even mentioning the D word, let alone showing people in economic extremis. What audiences got instead, in great profusion, were Andy Hardy, show gals, gangsters and Meeting Cute, to mention just four well trod paths of avoidance.

So, it is always interesting to see a film made during the Depression that focuses on money worries and unemployment. It is especially so when the film is intelligent, realistic (at least until the end) and possessed of good performances by a varied assortment of fine British and American actors, such as this offering from director Clarence Brown. I was particularly struck by the lead performance of Lewis Stone, an early practitioner, along with Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, of the always effective Less Is More school of acting. Indeed, Stone's restraint and low key-ness seems to filter down to the rest of the cast. Even veteran scenery chewer Lionel Barrymore gives the furniture a masticatory break, for a change.

Being a Clarence Brown film the pacing is going to be deliberate ( in other words, an hour and twenty minutes feels like two plus) and someone, be it the screenwriters or Brown or all of them, should be shot for that treacly rainbow denouement, but taken all in all this film, set in England (perhaps that enabled a Hollywood studio more easily to make it), will hold your attention. Give it a B.

PS...Of the rest of the cast I was particularly struck with Benita Hume. Sexy and sardonic to Brit perfection. Read where she was married to Ronald Colman and George Sanders. Must check out her other film work.