Gioia d'amare

Joy of Living is not one of Irene Dunne's five best movies, but she does what she can with a plot that often seems like a blend of "Theodora Goes Wild" and some of her earlier heroines she played so seriously and so well. In my opinion, it never quite gets off the runway, even though it has a long list of well-known character actors such as Eric Blore, Alice Brady and Franklin Pangborn and some able talents such as Douglas Fairbanks and Lucille Ball.

The trouble I had with "Joy of Living" is the fact it's too close to previous roles Irene Dunne played with distinction. How best to describe it? Going to the well once too often? Taking advantage of past successes audiences loved in order to leverage their drawing power? I thought the plot was weak and the writing less than top-notch, which was also true of the cinematography. The sequences in the roller skating rink were not well done; and the one real highlight of the film was Irene Dunne's impishness when she finally lets loose.

I don't blame Irene Dunne for making this movie; but the director failed in my opinion to develop it in such a way as to draw out and highlight her monumental talents. The music written by Jerome Kern, who is one of my favorite composers, doesn't reach up to his usually high standards either.

This movie is not a waste of money; and I hate to pan it. But I'm afraid Irene Dunne spoiled me with efforts like "Back Street"; "Ann Vickers"; "Consolation Marriage"; "Theodora Goes Wild"; "The Awful Truth"; "Love Affair"; and "I Remember Momma" and this movie simply isn't in that league.

The 1930s were one of the worst decades in our history in terms of economics. People if they were lucky to have even the most menial of jobs, just scrimped and got by. You did that too if you were on what was then called relief.

Lots of socially relevant films were made, but they didn't draw flies as compared with escapist entertainment like Joy of Living. That's what people wanted to see, to keep their minds off their troubles.

And they wanted to see beautiful people and certainly stars Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. fill that bill. Dunne is a musical comedy star on Broadway who has these leeches of a family dependent on her. And she meets playboy Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who is a sea captain by avocation who wants to take her to the South Seas. Experience the Joy of Living.

I'm convinced part of the charm of this movie at least for the men is the notion they could escape with Doug and Irene by signing on as a deckhand. And the women sat in the audience hoping that a Fairbanks would come into their lives.

Well, maybe if they sang like Irene Dunne. Playing a musical comedy star gave her to sing some tunes from her favorite composer Jerome Kern. Besides Joy of Living, Irene Dunne did four other films with Jerome Kern scores. Sweet Adeline, Showboat, Roberta, and High Wide and Handsome were the others. From the score of Joy of Living, Just Let Me Look at You and You Couldn't Be Cuter sold quite a few 78 rpm platters back in 1938.

Escapist stuff like this depends on the charm of it's leads and charm is what Fairbanks and Dunne have in abundance. Nice and entertaining and easy to take is Joy of Living.

Comedy about a famous singing sensation Maggie Garret (Irene Dunne) who is constantly hounded by the press and rabid autograph hounds, and that's not all - a man (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) who is crazy in love with her from afar is busy chasing after her too, but she doesn't seem to care for him and sees to it he is arrested for "mashing". But when he is sentenced to six months in jail (and based on the fact that he is rather handsome and charming, I surmise) she agrees to become his "probation officer" so that he can be released. Next thing you know he's advising her that she needs to live for herself and have some "fun". Soon they out on the town boozing it up on gigantic mugs full of beer, becoming very, very drunk to the point where they are playing face slapping games with other and end up stealing a bunch of signs from local businesses - h'm, at this point she actually begins to really like him for the first time, I guess all it took was the drink.

Nothing great here - but still entertaining, silly, and fun to watch. I didn't find this film particularly laugh-out-loud funny (except for the scenes with Billy Gilbert which ARE quite funny) - but it is amusing and has a number of scenes featuring favorite comic actors from the thirties including not just Billy Gilbert, but Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, even Lucille Ball - all seen in very small parts. The film also features a number of catchy songs performed by Irene Dunne, especially "You Couldn't Be Cuter" - so catchy, in fact, I am still singing it aloud as I type. Worth seeing.

A successful star, a sponging family, and a wanderer with a pencil-thin mustache to upset the apple cart. With its antecedent in proto-screwball BOMBSHELL, 1938's JOY OF LIVING has a clear model that allows us to note its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths first: Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Miss Dunne sings here, something she did all too rarely in the movies. She was also a perfect foil in screwball comedy. As for Fairbanks, he was made for light comedy, one of those great leading men who never seemed to understand how good-looking he was. Their scenes together are a delight. The sequence where they go out for a cheap night on the town is simple, lighthearted fun. There's also a gret cast in support, including Guy Kibbee, Alice Brady, Lucille Ball, John Qualen Billy Gilbert....

The weakness, however, is that most of that cast is wasted. They are so wasted that there's no real sign that they are leeches. Kibbee and Miss Brady as Miss Dunne's parents might just be retired and enjoying having a daughter so successful she can keep them all on Sutton Place. Kibbee drinks secretly, Miss Brady flutters, Miss Ball seems a trifle clingy, but there are twins for Miss Dunne to sing "You Couldn't Be Cuter" to. The movie feels unbalanced, as if editor Jack Hively (who, as a director, may have invented Film Noir) tossed out the scenes establishing their character in favor of the leads drinking beer and playing "Crack the Whip" on an ice-skating rink.... which is understandable. Or perhaps director Tay Garnett thought the plot was so common he could just indicate it.

It's a close decision, and while I enjoy watching Billy Gilbert berating waiter Bert Roach, I don't think it's a favor to the movie. Still, it's great fun.

This ecstatic little musical comedy pageant must sport the highest level of springy, rambunctious, impromptu optimism of any film, right down to the lighthearded silliness of the whole movie which, at the same time one can feel underwhelmed by it, the filmmakers are holding true to the spirit of its characters, allowing no room for ardor of any kind.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s supposedly self-styled sprawlingly open and adaptable stream-of- consciousness maverick is not a very good person. In spite of guiding the always outstanding maven of feminine supremacy Irene Dunne to break free of her oppressive, controlling family, he is oppressive and controlling, too. He is essentially a stalker whose influence on his object of fondness (no description of anything regarding this film could get more passionate than that) causes her to reciprocate. This, however, is no matter, because by means of the movie's completely detached, carefree spirit, it doesn't matter what he's like.

Joy of Living's philosophy seems to border on reckless, Fairbanks and gradually Dunne feeling overly optimistic and expansive, disregarding the resulting difficulty with commitment and trustworthiness as the itch for fun and free-flowing unpredictability of events call the shots. But it's a perfectly cast film with hilarious scenes featuring a fat German man dancing.