Vivre sa vie

Joan Crawford gets a change from being a taxi dancer or a shop girl and is a full fledged heiress in I Live My Life. She's living it pretty good too, far better than most in her Depression era audience were. She's on a nice holiday in Europe and comes upon an archaeological dig in Greece. A rare statue is unearthed, but the debonair Irish archaeologist doing the digging played by Brian Aherne interests Ms. Crawford far more.

Our heiress is quite the flirt, movie heiresses back then always were, but she sure hooks Aherne. The problem is she's already engaged to the wealthy and snooty Fred Keating back in New York. And she may have to marry him. Her dad is Frank Morgan and he's got a few bucks, but the real money is with her tyrannical grandma Jessie Ralph. There's reason personal and financial to marry Keating. And as the popular song of the day went, all Aherne has to give is love. And Keating is such a drip.

Although Crawford is one sly little minx in this film, Aherne's charm and sincerity really get to her. In fact they got to me as he gives the film's best performance. Frank Morgan is always good and he's his usual befuddled self. He actually married into the money, Joan's mother is deceased and he lives to a lesser degree on the largess of his mother-in-law.

I wish Aline McMahon and Sterling Holloway as Aherne's assistants had more to do in I Live My Life. They always add to any film they're in.

I Live My Life is not one of Joan's better films, but entertaining enough. The question is will Aherne live Joan's life or will Joan start living Aherne's? Back then there was only one way to go.

Bored socialite Kay Bentley (Joan Crawford) is on vacation in Greece. On one of the island stops, she falls for archaeologist Terry O'Neill (Brian Aherne). At the last minute, she has second thoughts and gives him the name of her father's secretary. He goes to visit her in New York City and finds that he's been fooled.

The second meeting is the meet-cute or maybe it's counted as the third meeting. It's a funny move to keep pushing her down into the chair. It may be too pushy for today but for its time, it's terribly cute. It's not the most compelling rom-com but it has all the parts. It also has Joan Crawford. I don't mind the chemistry but I do need more comedy. The basic premise is that he has trouble living in her world. It's not that funny and I don't see why she couldn't live in his. The worst thing that could happen is that he goes back to Greece and she could live on the yacht.

TCM, the old movies channel tends to give us the best of the old school movie stars but at times I think they show too much of them in dispensation of the movies of lesser known stars who have better movies, idest this Joan Crawford movie which is only being shown because it's a Joan Crawford movie. Trash is trash no matter the star. Crawford is a rich spoiled lass. Brian Aherne has one of those archaelogical jobs with a name nobody can remember or pronounce without sounding either ulta-intelligent or extremely foolish. Their love will not work because of the class differences. Will it? Have you heard of schizrophenic movie?, that movie that cannot decide what it wants to be, a comedy or a drama and as a joan of all movies, it tries many but masters none. It's funny for 10 minutes, then suddenly comedic with people changing attitudes and tone unconvincingly, especially at the matriarch's house. Ending seems rushed and even Joan falls short in this one. Obviously an A-production with the usually sharp craftsman Woody Van Dyke behind the camera, the whole buffoonery is a poor disappointment.

The worst thing about this film is the title! I often feel the title can make or break a film, and if this was named something a little less clunky and serious, it probably would get more respect and be a classic comedy. This is not a "great" movie, but that doesn't lessen the entertainment factor, which is, often enough, the reason we watch a film more than once. I have no problem with either Joan Crawford or Brian Aherne in the leads. They are both charming and lend the perfect role of sarcastic flirtatiousness called for. If one needs a serious theme to enjoy a film, there is a peripheral theme of class-consciousness. One of the film's highlights is the chemistry between Crawford and Frank Morgan, who plays her father; that's precious stuff. It's easy to praise Arthur Treacher, Jessie Ralph and Eric Blore. But how about Sterling Holloway in a small but memorable role as Aherne's assistant at the archaeological dig? Aline MacMahon, Frank Conroy, all these character actors insure the acting level is high throughout. My only regret is that Granville Bates, the yacht captain, didn't have a more substantial role. From what I've seen of him in My Favorite Wife, I'd say he was brilliant, too. I love these glossy black-and-white early '30s MGM films.

Crawford is very funny in this follow up to the trend started by It Happened One Night. Brian Aherne is miscast, but the are a good looking couple and there is some chemistry there, although not as much as there would be with Tracy or Gable. None-the-less, Crawford added a nice comedy to her dossier and it wears well even today.