Vivi ama e impara

"Live, Love and Learn" is a 1937 MGM film starring Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley and Monte Wooley. Surprisingly, it's not very good. Russell is an heiress who marries poor artist Montgomery, only to see him become successful and interested in money -the very thing she was trying to escape.

With better direction and a stronger script, this film might have had more of a "Holiday" feel to it, but it doesn't. It's part comedy, part drama, and because it doesn't know what it's supposed to be, neither does the audience. The two forms aren't integrated enough.

One scene that shows the innocence of the times is one in which Montgomery hires a little boy to pose for him in a loincloth. A very discomfiting scene when watched today, yet then, it was supposed to be funny. However, this is toward the end of the movie, which had dragged on too long, so the scene wasn't terribly amusing.

The acting was okay. Frankly, it's kind of a waste of time, despite the good cast.

Starving artist Bob Graham (Robert Montgomery) is painting in the countryside when he almost gets run over by a fox hunt. Socialite Julie Stoddard (Rosalind Russell) gets thrown off her horse and into him. They get marry right away. She quickly adjusts to his bohemian lifestyle. Oscar (Robert Benchley) and Jerry Crump (Mickey Rooney) are some of their intrusive neighbors. Lily Chalmers (Helen Vinson) is her society best friend. A riot in Central Park turns Bob's art into an overnight success.

I would like more romancing before their marriage if only to see her home life as a socialite. That would make the class jumps more compelling. Their relationship needs more setting up and possibly a villain. More than anything, I love Russell and Montgomery is a pretty good match. Their relationship seems very matter of fact. It just needs a bit more heat during the first half and their marriage is so rushed. The drama only comes in the second half.

...because some of the possible bawdier aspects of this situation could not be explored due to that production code. Nevertheless, the cast is really good in this one and marks Monty Woolley's first film appearance at age 49 as an art critic. Let me tell you, Wooley's screen persona in his later films would never have taken lying down the shabby treatment he got when being mistaken for a reporter like he pretty much did here.

Robert Montgomery plays a starving artist who impulsively marries heiress Rosalind Russell. He doesn't care if his art sells, but with her encouragement he becomes quite successful, and the success goes to his head. Now she must bring him back down to earth. Enjoyable comedy, good MGM production. The stars are always enjoyable to watch.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of it is that the comic possibilities inherent in a rich, society girl adapting to the bohemian life are left completely unexplored. Also, Robert Montgomery has the personality and manner of a banker in this one, not an artist. Roz Russell's good, as usual, and Robert Benchley, playing a mooch, is amusing. Mickey Rooney is in this for just one minute, but it's really funny, because as soon as you hear that Tarzan-yell, you know who it's gotta be! That voice is unmistakable!

Since I love Robert Montgomery, and since he has such great chemistry with Rosalind Russell, it's a cinch that I'd rent all five of their movies together. Live, Love and Learn may have given me terrific eye candy, but it ended up being so silly, it seemed like one of those terrible Doris Day comedies from the 1960s. You might want to just watch the first half hour and turn it off before it gets bad.

The first scene is incredibly cute. Bob is painting a landscape in the countryside, and a foxhunt passes him by. Roz is on horseback, and when she topples, she accidentally knocks over his canvas. They argue, and in the midst of their argument, the scene cuts to their wedding ceremony! Roz is giving him moony eyes, but all through their vows, Bob is constantly trying to talk her out of it, vowing she'll be sorry for ruining her life if she goes through with it. They do go through with it, and the rest of the movie follows their early years as he continues to be a starving artist and she gives up all her money and finery. They live in a studio apartment with loud, obnoxious neighbors and a live-in moocher, Robert Benchley, who refuses to leave even though he knows he's dampening their newlywed bliss.

The main problem with the movie is that although he's extremely handsome and charming, Bob's character isn't very likable. He never tries to better Roz's life, he pulls rude pranks on total strangers, picks fights when people don't like his artwork, and then, when he gets a whiff of success, he turns into an egotistical snob. There's only so far good looks can take a person, and unfortunately, his don't take him to the end of the movie. If you do decide to rent it, you'll see Monty Woolley as an art dealer, Helen Vinson as Roz's snobby pseudo-friend, and Mickey Rooney for about fifteen seconds as one of the neighbor kids. You'll also see that Bob and Roz could have easily been cast in the adorable Rag-winning comedy Third Finger, Left Hand.

It is someone amusing and ironical that MGM which had for its slogan Art for Art's sake in Latin did a comedy based on just that premise. Live Love And Learn stars Robert Montgomery as the Bohemian artistic type and Rosalind Russell as the society girl who falls for him. They marry and he goes about trying to get people to notice him.

When critic Monty Woolley does notice him Montgomery and his work get taken up by the rich and famous. In the process though he loses his muse and Russell. Around to catch him is Russell's society pal Helen Vinson playing one of her patented 'other woman' roles.

A cast of familiar players step into roles like Vinson that are easily identifiable. Such wit that is in the script is provided by Robert Benchley as the hero's perpetually inebriated friend who seems to have moved right in with them.

Today Benchley's character would be treated exactly as he is, gay. A closeted gay to be sure as this was the era of the newly adapted Code in Hollywood. His character seems to have deliberately been put in the film in order that someone get to say witty things. If you've seen the film Remember? that starred Robert Taylor and Greer Garson also from MGM Lew Ayres was playing a similar role to Benchley's.

Montgomery and Russell starred in Night Must Fall which won for Montgomery critical praise and an Oscar nomination. But the public stayed away in droves. I'm guessing that Louis B. Mayer wanted to showcase his stars in more traditional roles for them when he assigned them Live Love And Learn.

Tradition was preserved.