Ingratitudine

Saw this early am today 2/10/04 on TCM want to see again..sentimental, weepy yes but so well done, and a beautiful Oscar Nominated performance by Marie Dressler... have not seen this before was impressed good cast, Jean Hersholt (who has an award named after him I believe ?). a very young Myrna Loy, and Richard Cromwell as Ronnie... couldnt place hin, seen before, thanks to Imdb I was reminded that he played Julie (Jezebel) other boyfriend(Ted Dilliard) in the classic Bette Davis film Jezebel... Emma is a little gem, and Dressler more than deserved her Oscar nomination ..She was so funny in the airport scenes & the train station scene where she losses (amongst other things)her corset...and so moving in the final scenes...Watch again,, thanks TCM & Imdb for the info....

I saw "Emma" as a child over 50 years ago. I only remembered three scenes in it and never knew the names of the stars or the name of the film, for that matter.

Thanks to IMDb, I was able to go on one of the message boards and find out the name of the film and that the star "who was a Marie Dressler type" as I recalled was indeed Marie Dressler (what instincts I had, even in childhood).

I was just able to actually see the film on TCM. I'd love to know why it is we remember certain phrases and scenes growing up - the parts I remembered in "Emma" were exactly as I recalled them.

"Emma" is the story of a housekeeper who cares for a motherless family, actually raising the youngest, Ronnie (Richard Cromwell) when his mother dies in childbirth. The entire family is very dependent upon her.

Mr. Smith (Jean Hersholt) over the years becomes very wealthy as an inventor, so his kids grow up in wealth and, with the exception of Ronnie, become horrific, ungrateful brats. Emma, of course, thinks they're wonderful and is blind to their faults.

When Emma leaves for her first vacation, Mr. Smith accompanies her to the station, buys an extra ticket for Niagara Falls and proposes. The two enjoy their time there, but it's to be their only time as man and wife.

Mr. Smith's chronically bad heart gives out, and he dies. All of his money is left to Emma with the proviso that she take care of the children, who would squander every cent unsupervised. The children (Myrna Loy, Kathryn Crawford and George Meeker) assume Emma is going to take all of the money for herself.

To break the will, they accuse her of murdering their father. Emma is put on trial for murder. Ronnie is away in the wilds of Canada and doesn't learn about this until the trial is underway.

This is such a sweet story, buoyed by the magnificent performance of Marie Dressler. What an actress! Warm, strong and honest, she pulls at your heart.

The very handsome Richard Cromwell, Angela Lansbury's first husband, is the adorable and adored Ronnie, and he gives an energetic performance.

Cromwell had an interesting life. Not only did he enjoy some years as an actor in A productions, but he was a successful artist his entire life. Eventually, he opened his own studio. After years out of films, he was scheduled to make one, but withdrew when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Jean Hersholt is excellent as Mr. Smith. Myrna Loy as one of the brat kids is absolutely stunning, though she doesn't have much to do except to act stuck-up.

Highly recommended. Any movie that can stay in your mind and heart for over 50 years has something going for it. Emma had several things, the best being Marie Dressler.

This is one of the rare melodramas from 1930's MGM that is really not outdated as others. It is a funny, but genuinely touching story of a devoted housekeeper (Dressler) who marries her wealthy employer, which does not settle well with his grown children. Dressler is just perfect and the ending is so perfect and bittersweet.

Hefty housekeeper Marie Dressler (as Emma) becomes the surrogate mother to a wealthy Long Island family, after their mother dies, giving birth to Richard Cromwell (as Ronnie). While helping her prepare for a well-deserved Niagara Falls vacation, family father Jean Hersholt (as Smith) startles Ms. Dressler by proposing marriage; and, the trip becomes a honeymoon. Back home, only Mr. Cromwell, Dressler's favorite "son", celebrates the marriage. The three other Smith children (George Meeker, Myrna Loy, and Barbara Kent) are furious; they feel the ailing Mr. Hersholt married a mere "servant", who will steal the family fortune.

This is Marie Dressler at her sentimental best; assisted by an apt MGM team, including Clarence Brown (director), Oliver Marsh (photographer), and Frances Marion (writer). Dressler won a "Best Actress" Academy Award" for a previous effort, "Min and Bill" (1930); however, her "Emma" is a stronger characterization. This more deserved "Best Actress" nomination became the Academy Awards' #2 choice for the 1931/32 eligibility period; in the voting, Dressler was just behind winner Helen Hayes (in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet"). Dressler should have won for "Emma", rather than "Min and Bill".

Richard Cromwell and Jean Hersholt might have been nominated as "Best Supporting Actors"; but, the category was not introduced until 1936 (Dressler would have likely won the 1929/30 award, in this category, for "Anna Christie"). Parts of "Emma" have not aged well, especially some of the early, yet important, scenes. But, its strengths make up for these weaknesses. Watch for the scene in which Dressler throws her ungrateful step-children out of the house. This is followed by a scene with Dressler being "haunted" by the "ghosts" of the little Smith children; it's an extraordinarily touching "special effect". And, it all works so well due to Dressler.

Dressler is unfairly called a "scene stealer"; most of the time, she was just very good. If you were good, you kept up with her. With material to work with, Dressler's co-stars are just as memorable. Note, how, in lesser roles, Cromwell and Hersholt compliment Dressler's "Emma" perfectly. Both Hersholt and Dressler play his "death scene" beautifully. And, Cromwell's one-word description of "Emma" is the film's most lingering. You won't forget it.

********* Emma (1/2/32) Clarence Brown ~ Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy

Has there ever been another Hollywood story quite like Marie Dressler's?

Is it even imaginable that in today's world an overweight, late middle age, and let's face it -- not very attractive -- woman could be the number one box office draw among movie audiences? But that's exactly what Marie Dressler was for two years running in the early 1930s. She won an Oscar for the 1931 film "Min and Bill" and received her second and last nomination for "Emma," the story of a nanny in a wealthy household who marries the father years after the mother has died in childbirth, and then sees the children turn on her when they become jealous of her inheritance. It's a short film (about 70 minutes or so) but nevertheless packs in a lot of plot. It covers decades and manages to work in a murder trial among everything else, and still manages to have moments that feel like padding. Poor Dressler is really put through the ringer. Everyone she likes best ends up dying, and she never gives us the catharsis we are begging for, which is to see her punch the spoiled brat children who accuse her of murdering their father in the face. No, Dressler stays good and true, choosing to see the best in them and never thinking of herself.

Dressler is a bit of an acquired taste. I found her Oscar-winning performance in "Min and Bill" to be tiresome. She mugs and grimaces, and that film gave her several "comedy" bits that were played up in an exaggerated, yuck-yuck vaudeville style. "Emma" has a couple of those moments as well, but overall her performance in this is much more varied and nuanced. I can see why she seemed unique at the time. So many actors in early sound films planted themselves in place on the movie set and delivered their lines like they were reading them off of cue cards. They didn't seem to be able to both move and speak at the same time. But Dressler is always doing something while she's talking -- she fidgets and dithers, and when she's not delivering actual lines, she's muttering and ad-libbing.

"Emma" is certainly guilty of being one of those sentimental melodramas so popular at the time, but for all that it does have some emotional force, and I found myself lingering over it for a little while after I watched it. There's a scene in which Emma walks through her house seeing the ghosts of the young children that once were, before they all grew up to be vile adults. It's a bit corny, but also strangely moving, and the whole movie is kind of like that.

Grade: B+