Ah, Wilderness!

MGM apparently had very high hopes for "Ah Wilderness!" when it came to the Oscars and according to IMDB the studio put on a concerted campaign to get it nominated. But, apparently, the Academy voters were just not that impressed by the film and it didn't receive a single nomination. After seeing it, I think I can understand why.

While the basic story is engaging, as you see a family in early 20th century America during a summer, there is a problem with the main focus of the show. It focuses on the second child, Richard. Richard is about 17-18 and is very opinionated and full of himself...much like MANY 17-18 year-olds (trust me...I taught high school!). But Richard goes above and beyond...to the point of being irritating. Yes, he was full of himself...but also came off as an annoying jerk...at least to me. I loved the other characters...but considering most of the focus was on Richard, I just finished the film feeling a bit let down. I frankly expected much more...especially from MGM.

"It seems as if we are surrounded by love" says Barrymore's genial patriarch at the end of this movie. To this viewer at least, the line has perhaps acquired an unintended irony as we contemplate the dulling nature of that ‘love'. O'Neill's work, which originally made gentle mockery of small town middle American taste and values, has perhaps unfortunately, these days gained an uncalled-for 'satiric' edge. The charm and skill of the original vision, captured by the craftsman-like direction of Brown, remains the same. What's happened is that the mildly eccentric, extended Miller family - one for instance in which Swinburne is considered shocking, and radicalism is half digested by callow youths (and then abruptly discarded) now appears stultifying, and we can too easily over compensate by allowing it the hues of a parody. Otherwise it takes a stupendous suspension of disbelief by today's viewer to accept the Millers on their own terms, apple pie and all, which is a shame.

A very young Mickey Rooney has a few scenes but is rarely allowed to really shine. This sort of role was no doubt good grounding for the enormously successful Andy Hardy series that lay ahead.

Wallace Beery, as Sid Miller, provides the most entertaining scenes in the film as he plays out another characteristically ungainly and comic romance, one typical of his screen roles. (Although he is given top billing, his screen presence is less sustained and more integrated than you'd expect.) Particularly memorable is the evening meal scene where he returns home drunk, and the family are gathered around the table to enjoy his antics. Even Lily, the woman who has consistently refused his repeated proposals through her distaste of his drunkenness, laughs at his comic behaviour. In this sense Beery provides a degree of liberation. The family is relaxed and draws together around the light of Beery's unthreatening inebriation. Some of his interior scenes remind one of W C Fields' work in The Bank Dick and It's a Gift, where he deconstructs the pretensions of middle class America with an anarchic sharpness that speaks to us much more directly today.

All in all it's a shame that the focus of the film is more on the young son Richard, whose unsteady standing on the border of manhood is never that enthralling. After a while his foibles and self-absorption become somewhat cloying, and one longs for Beery to reappear so that the fun can recommence. If Richard's on-off romance (and eventual drunkenness) is intended to parallel Sid's, then the comparison is very much to his detriment. Whilst Sid's romance seems important and meaningful, the son's is slow and irritates the modern viewer by the degree of feyness.

In short, an entertaining enough film, full of strong performances, but one which needs a dose of modern salt to make it just that little bit more palatable.

In this sweet piece of Americana, Eric Linden stars as a rebellious teenager at the turn of the century. His idea of being rebellious is a little different than nowadays, which makes it refreshing to watch. He reads radical socialist literature and drinks beer after curfew, which makes his mother Spring Byington worry and his father Lionel Barrymore in constant need of helpful lectures to straighten him out. Weren't the good old days nice, when the biggest problem a man faced was how to stop his son from making an embarrassing valedictorian speech? If you think so, you'll love every version of this movie.

What is perhaps the cutest thing about this movie couldn't have been enjoyed if one had seen it at its release in 1935. Little Mickey Rooney, who plays the younger, prank-playing brother grew up and played the lead brother thirteen years later in the musical adaptation Summer Holiday. The casting of the remake is very respectful to the original, unlike many remakes. Lionel Barrymore, the perfect father figure, was replaced by Walter Huston, another perfect father figure, and the drunken yet jolly Wallace Beery was replaced by Frank Morgan. The spinster Aline McMahon was replaced by Agnes Moorehead, and the motherly Spring Byington with Selena Royle.

As much as I love Lionel Barrymore, and you know how much I do, I like the 1948 version better. Frank Morgan is more sincere in his vows to reform than Wallace Beery, probably because of his own personal experiences he put into the role. The musical remake is softer and sweeter, as even though most of the troubles in this story are faced with tongue-in-cheek humor, there are some moments in the original that are a little sad. For example, there's a father-son talk about falling in love and facing real life, and after Lionel gives the talk, he's left alone to question himself and sigh in anguish and disappointment in the result. Walter gives the same talk and is able to fix his son's problems. Pick which cast you want to see, and rent one of the versions for a step back in time. The original is very enjoyable, so if you decide to try it first, you probably won't be disappointed.

In a small American town, a young man from a good family faces some of the realities of maturity.

Clarence Brown's fond recreation of Eugene O'Neill's popular stage play AH, WILDERNESS! makes a wonderful celebration of basic American virtues. Attention to detail, coupled with excellent performances & MGM's best production values, results in a film full of quiet joys & sorrows.

The story follows young Eric Linden (in his best film role) during the one month period from his 1906 high school graduation until the Fourth of July, as he deals with the pangs & confusions of puppy love. His yearnings for his pretty neighbor and his experimentation with an older, much rougher sort of female, perfectly underscore the angst so often found in young adults regardless of the era. This is brilliantly displayed in the film's most hilarious sequence, the graduation ceremony which Linden hopes to sabotage, which reveals the honest insecurities and mawkishness of the senior class.

Wallace Beery, playing Linden's dyspeptic bachelor uncle receives top billing, and he is a scene stealer with much experience, but he acts alongside an equally good Lionel Barrymore, as Linden's father, who quietly underplays his role as head of the family. Each actor had a powerful screen persona, however neither attempt to dominate what is in effect a prime example of ensemble acting from the entire cast.

As Barrymore's spinster sister, Aline MacMahon is especially fine, her romantic feelings for Beery barely canceled beneath her prim exterior. Spring Byington, as Barrymore's wife, shows a touching sensitivity in her sometimes flustered, nervous concern for her brood.

Playing Linden's collegiate brother, Frank Albertson is good-natured and sturdy, and in a poignant moment gives a gentle parody of his own considerable musical talent by crooning ‘When Other Lips' from The Bohemian Girl. Bonita Granville & Mickey Rooney portray the youngest siblings in the family, with Rooney in particular having some very funny moments.

In smaller roles, Cecilia Parker is all innocence as Linden's sweetheart, while crusty old Charley Grapewin almost spits vinegar as her cantankerous father. Helen Flint gives a forceful performance, considering Production Code restrictions, of the wanton woman who attempts seducing the much younger Linden.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Eily Malyon as the family's Irish maid.

The title is an ironic reference to a line from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Will Rogers was originally pegged to play the role which ultimately went to Barrymore, but he backed out in order to make his tragic plane flight to Alaska.

Eugene O'Neill wrote only one comedy, and this screen version of it is delightful. It treats some of the same problems as his tragedies, like alcoholism, but treats them lightly and with compassion. The cast is great. I especially like Lionel Barrymore as the father, Wallace Beery as Sid, and Aline MacMahon as Lily--but Mickey Rooney as the little brother dominates every scene he is in. My favorite scene is where the family is at dinner and Uncle Sid comes home drunk. They are concerned for him but can't keep from laughing at the nutty things he says.

After seeing this movie, I bought a CD of the Broadway musical version, "Take Me Along," and a video of a Hollywood musical version, "Summer Holiday." This is such a great play, they can't do too many different versions of it.

(My brother-in-law - who doesn't even LIKE movies - liked "Ah, Wilderness!" when I showed it for him and my sister on a recent visit.)