Looking Forward

Taking advantage of Hollywood's ample supply of British actors in the 1930's, MGM set this depression-era film in an English department store. But the two stars are American actors Lewis Stone (best known for his appearances as Judge Hardy) and Lionel Barrymore. Barrymore received top billing on the titles although Stone's part is considerably larger. Both are a treat to watch, especially their scenes together, and the script (adapted from a play) is high brow enough that the mix of British and American accents is not that disruptive.

Stone is excellent as Gabriel Service, the owner of a financially troubled up-scale department store headed toward bankruptcy as a result of the depression. A competitor offers to buy the store but will not promise to retain the staff. Service is a very paternalistic owner and wants to do what is best for his employees, but he knows that declining the offer puts the long- term financial security of his family at considerable risk.

Barrymore plays Tim Benton, a 40 year employee of the store who is among the first group of laid off employees. At this stage of his career Barrymore's standard character was a version of his grumpy and overbearing Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life"; the main variation being whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. But in "Looking Forward" he gets to play a meek accountant with total loyalty to Mr. Service and his store. It's a refreshing change of pace and this unusual performance is a good reason to watch the film.

Both men have families who for the first time feel the impact of the depression on their life styles. Service has remarried and his new wife Isobel (Benita Hume) is much younger. She is carrying on not so discreetly with another man and obviously just married Service for his money. For some reason the gold-digging younger wife was a staple of the films during this era.

The title of the film, from a speech made by FDR during the depths of the depression, is explained by the opening credits. The theme is how economic pressures impact personal relationships and aspirations. The early narrative establishes the domino effect of the depression as Benton's layoff also causes the layoff of a struggling mother who helps his wife on a part-time basis. The upbeat ending illustrates the somewhat "Pollyanna" notion that adversity causes people to rise to the occasion and find new ways to be productive.

This pleasant little film is well crafted but nothing spectacular. It is a nice time capsule of the depression era, historically interesting not just because Hollywood felt the need to make an uplifting film, but because viewers flocked to the theatre seeking the comforting and motivational messages delivered by this type of entertainment.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Thoughtful, touching story about a wealthy store owner named Gabriel Service (Lewis Stone) who's going broke during the Great Depression while his spoiled family only seems to care about maintaining their lifestyle. Lionel Barrymore plays a long-time employee of the store who is laid off. The contrast between how the two men and their families deal with these hardships is the heart of the story.

Lewis Stone and Lionel Barrymore are both extraordinary. Benita Hume is quite hissable as Stone's no-good wife. Colin Clive plays the loyal second-in-command to Stone. A very subtle performance from Clive, an actor not known for subtlety. A fine supporting cast includes Halliwell Hobbes, Elizabeth Allan, Billy Bevan, and Phillips Holmes. Excellent production that grants us nice insight into the era. Unlike some other reviewers, I felt the ending was good. I guess some would have preferred Lewis Stone shoot himself or Lionel Barrymore blow up the store or something like that. Any movie where pastries figure into the plot heroically is alright with me.

Understandably, but regrettably, this understated drama of sympathetic characters facing a lifetime of honest effort gone to waste is transformed into propaganda for facing the Depression (1930s) with courage and determination. That the filmmakers make a 180-degree turn toward optimism and a (hopefully) better future is commendable in regard to boosting public morale during economically bleak times, but in doing so they sacrifice the touching story that had been developed up to that point.

As a businessman trying to stoically face the demise an operation that has supported his family for generations in comfort and style, Lewis Stone is superb; no less so Lionel Barrymore as a dull, unimaginative clerk whose long-standing devotion to the company gives him a reason to look forward to each day - until he is laid off when the staff must be reduced. Their scenes together are especially moving: low-key, but charged with emotion. All of this, however, goes for naught when the film's "message" is thrust at us during the final twenty minutes. Lewis Stone's despair, along with his conviction that the business cannot possibly survive another six months, is transformed into a resolve that somehow a way will be found to carry on and prosper. Equally unconvincing is Lionel Barrymore's becoming something of an entrepreneur in order to support his family - he who was deemed expendable by the company for lacking ambition and imagination. The upbeat ending may have been exactly what the times called for, but a well-wrought drama was lost in the process.

As a lowly accountant in a big London department store, Mr. B. doesn't wheeze, waggle his eyebrows, or overact in any way. He's pleasingly restrained as a small, passive cog in a large machine, and so is Lewis Stone, not resorting to any Judge Hardy tricks as the sympathetic but staunch corporate patriarch who must reluctantly let him go. Adapted from a stage play by C.L. Anthony (a pseudonym for Dodie Smith, who wrote "101 Dalmations"), this Depression family drama does acknowledge the Depression more than most early-1930s studio product, and it provides a nice contrast in how these two gentlemen's families (Stone's with greed and self- centeredness, Barrymore's with sacrifice and resolve) react to adversity. It's not thunderingly dramatic and kind of peters out, but as MGM prestige product of the day, it's less showy and artificial than many of its contemporaries.

Set in Great Britain, everyone except Barrymore has a British accent. He is a bookkeeper for a large firm, and is let go by the president of the firm. Filmed in 1933, its a statement on the depression, and the lack of available jobs. How timely that Turner Classics shows this now, as this is occurring today all over the U.S. Barrymore is Tim Benton, father to Elsie (Viva Tattersall) and the dashing Willie ( Douglas Walton). Viewers will recognize Lewis Stone as Mr. Service, the head of the firm that fired Benton. Stone and Barrymore had been in Grand Hotel together in 1932. We see the contrast between Service's family and Benton's family, and how they are all forced to cut back. The actresses playing the wives, Mrs. Benton ( Doris Lloyd) and Mrs. Service ( Benita Hume) were both from England, and came by their accents naturally. Everyone does a fine job, although it DOES run like a play (on which it is based).... we don't really see any character development or emotions... it's all action-based, and moves right along. Directed and produced by Clarence Brown, who had worked several times with Greta Garbo and Barrymore. Garbo was ALSO in Grand Hotel, which may explain the connection to Stone and Barrymore. One of Barrymore's lesser known works.... he made Dinner at Eight (and SIX other films) the same year!