Maybe It's Love

"Maybe It's Love" is a strange little Depression-era film...one that was later remade as "Saturday's Children". It's strange because it seems to say that poverty will destroy marriages...but during the Depression nearly everyone was poor and they somehow managed to muddle through and live their lives.

Bobby and Rims (Rims???) have been dating for some time and seem to love each other. But when their boss brings his ne'er do well son into the company, he pays a lot of attention to Bobby (it's s SHE) and Rims gets jealous. In fact, again and again, they argue and they settled all this by getting married. Not the smartest reason to marry, I know. Well, after marrying Rims insists (insanely) that she stay home and not work...which might have made sense if they had any kids...though they didn't. Pressures besiege them and the marriage falls apart.

I felt very lukewarm about this film....mostly because the couple's problems didn't seem that difficult to overcome. Had the wife simply gone back to work (at least until they had kids) so many of their problems wouldn't have existed. And, it also is difficult to love the film when BOTH Bobby and Rim were easy to dislike. Overall, a mildly interesting film that could have easily been better....same with the later remake.

MAYBE IT'S LOVE, a 1935 programmer, was taken from Maxwell Anderson's early success SATURDAY'S CHILDREN which starred Ruth Gordon and (late in the run) Humphrey Bogart at the Booth and Forrest Theatres for 326 performances from 26Jan1927 to April1928. The resemblance of the film's "Rims," Ross Alexander, to the very young Bogart is a delightful plus to a film possibly best remembered today as a vehicle for the young Gloria Stuart - of TITANIC fame late in life as Alexander's love interest.

Given the play's success - establishing Maxwell Anderson's reputation on Broadway - it is remarkable that it took this many years into the sound era for Warner Brothers to get around to using it as grist for their mill (changing the title and the character names along the way as if to disguise the origins). For a plot (up and coming boy and boss's handsome son wrangle over the affections of boss's secretary set against the background of the secretary's parents and meddling sister) which remains mild even after the ministrations of the usual crew of three Hollywood screenwriters, there are a bountiful hour (and three minute)'s charm, banter and surprises.

Don't expect a 21st Century comedy, but as a fairly honest portrait of a bygone era when Saturday wasn't a day off but a standard half day, with classic performances from the Warner Brothers' stock company (comedians like Frank McHugh and Henry Travers) and the ghost of a pre-Hollywood Bogart performance, MAYBE IT'S LOVE is hard to beat.

One would never suspect that this little domestic comedy comes from the pen of Maxwell Anderson, since it's no more than a typical piece of Depression-era fluff about money and finances being the root of most domestic squabbles.

Lovely GLORIA STUART (so beautiful in her prime) and ungainly ROSS Alexander (he never made it to stardom) are the leads and the supporting cast is a pleasant one filled with Warner contract players. But it's PHILLIP REED, as a rich man's playboy son, who should have had the romantic lead opposite Stuart, looking like a Tyrone Power clone, and not a bad actor at all.

HENRY TRAVERS, RUTH DONNELLY, FRANK McHUGH and others are well used, with McHugh being much less obnoxious than usual in his more subdued comedy role as Donnelly's husband.

It starts out briskly, with a lot of talk about "the situation in Europe" and "how Europe is making out" as part of the breakfast talk, so it seems that it's going to be a better than usual domestic tale that raises some serious issues. But before it's midway through, it gets stuck in a rut as no more than an office romance that ends in marriage but quickly falls into silly lover's spats and quarrels over finances and the inability to "live on a budget".

From that midway point on, it descends into a trivial domestic comedy with pat situations complete with a cornball ending that reunites the lovers under trying circumstances.

Summing up: Not worth the trouble. I note from another comment that this became a remake called "Saturday's Children" in the '40s with John Garfield, Ann Shirley and Claude Rains.

Trivia note: Ross Alexander was an up and coming Warner contract player who appeared the same year in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Captain Blood" and was being considered for bigger roles, but he committed suicide two years later over problems with his marriage and rumors of his homosexuality which the studio tried to suppress.

Maxwell Anderson's very popular 1927 play, with 3 television productions as well as the three movies versions, has some very funny moments. The top-notch cast has Gloria Stuart, of Titanic (1996) fame, and Ross Alexander as the romantic leads in a seesaw romance. The highlight of the movie is the way Stuart gets Alexander to marry her, as coached by big sister Ruth Donnelly, who supplies cues in shorthand, and accurately predicts Alexander's responses to Stuart's actions and statements. I couldn't stop laughing at the entire sequence, even though I had seen the remake, Saturday's Children (1940). Unfortunately, the second half of the movie doesn't sustain the comedy of the first half, and degenerates into more of a drama about the difficulties in marriage. Still, the movie is a winner.

Maybe It's Love (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Predictable but amusing romantic comedy from Warner has Gloria Stuart (The Invisible Man) playing a secretary who is waiting for the man she loves (Ross Alexander) to marry her but she must use another man to make him jealous. After they're finally married, both realize that the married life is harder than they thought. The story here certainly isn't anything new but the glowing charm of Stuart really makes this film a lot better than the script deserved. There's also some great character actors who add wonderful support and they include Cagney's buddy Frank McHugh as the brother-in-law, Henry Travers as the father and Ruth Donnelly as the sister. All three add some nice laughs to the film with McHugh stealing the film as the dimwitted sap. There are a couple problems with the film and one of them is Alexander who just isn't charming enough for the role. Another problem is that the film runs 63-minutes, which is too short because it leads to a major plot gap towards the end of the film. One scene the couple is happily married and then out of no where they are fighting and breaking up. This film certainly isn't a classic but if you're a fan of any of the actors then it's worth viewing once.