Suzanne et ses idées

... he would have given the part of Susan to his wife Norma Shearer. Instead it went to Joan Crawford, and, oh my, what a revelation. As socialite Susan, Joan goes from being sly to oblivious to caring (in her own way) at the snap of a finger. Joan had played socialites before, but usually with that world weary and wise way about her that Joan brought to so many of her parts. This is a completely different type of role for her.

In a nutshell, Susan is a wealthy rather air-headed woman who goes on a trip and learns about God "in a completely new way" from a fellow traveler, one Lady Wigstaff. She comes home loaded down with brochures in every language and immediately just bursts in on the most personal parts of her friends' lives in a very open and coarse way - You two should never have gotten married, you two should never get married, etc. Except now what she would previously have called nosy she calls religion! Plus you can tell that this rude kind of criticism is just Susan's nature but now she can claim she is on a mission from God.

However, this new found faith has not changed her attitude towards her husband, Barry (Fredric March), who drinks heavily due to Susan's neglect, nor her attitude toward her teenage daughter, Blossom, who at first glance looks like she is doing anything but blossoming - physically that is. Susan will do anything to avoid the two of them, but Barry arrives at the estate where Susan is staying with her friends and has a showdown. In the end Susan agrees to Barry's challenge. She will spend the summer in their country estate with Barry and Blossom and if Barry slips up and gets drunk just once, Susan can have the divorce she has wanted for some time. Complications ensue.

Did I mention that a close friend of both of them (Ruth Hussey as Charlotte) has always been and is still in love with Barry, hates to see Susan walk all over him, but is too good a person to trespass? Even though she has a small part I thought Hussey was really a stand-out here.

I think this film has been unfairly forgotten with an IMDb rating that might have you thinking it is a bore. I disagree. With an unusual topic explored in an unconventional way right before the second world war, with great ensemble acting and crisp dialogue that keeps the first half of the movie moving when it could easily have bogged down, I would recommend this one.

Odd film especially for a Crawford vehicle about a shallow socialite who takes up religion on a whim with an overly simplistic ending.

It's easy to see why Joan accepted this after Norma Shearer's vanity got in the way of her taking the part, she wouldn't play a part of a woman with an almost adult child. Norma would have been much more right for the role since her facile, sometime brittle superior air was more in line with the part than Crawford's earthiness although she tries to submerge it. Susan was definitely different for Joan who at this point was looking for challenges cracking that she'd play Wally Beery's grandmother if it was a good part!

The film suffers from not having anyone to really root for outside the minor character of the main couple's daughter Blossom. Both Joan and March's characters are selfish, and for the most part, thoughtless fools.

This was the screen debut, in a wordless bit, of Susan Peters and Dan Dailey in a slightly larger part. Also keep a sharp eye out for Joan Leslie and Gloria De Haven in tiny parts just starting out.

Someone who has a larger part and actually attracted quite a bit of notice for this picture moving her forward to larger parts than she had been cast previously is Rita Hayworth. She's ravishing although not quite fully arrived at her star persona just yet. Still a brunette she handles her small supporting role well injecting a touch of pathos into a sketchily drawn part.

Points to Crawford for trying to stretch her established persona but while it's an admirable attempt the results are mixed.

SUSAN AND GOD goes on too long and looks as padded as Joan Crawford's shoulders. Based on the 1937 Broadway play, which starred Gertrude Lawrence, story has the annoying socialite Susan Trexel (Crawford) coming home to her Long Island estate (and equally annoying friends) after having been uplifted (spiritually) during a trip to England. The play took a swipe at the Oxford Group, followers of Frank Buchman, an American missionary who believed that the root of all problems were the personal problems of fear and selfishness and that one of the "cures" was in the sharing of our sins and temptations. Rachel Crothers' play then has Susan espousing her slim understanding of this by pontificating to her friends about their lives while she ignores her own husband and young teen daughter. It's meant to be a comedy set among the horsey set, and sometimes Susan's absurdity comes through as stinging comedy; other times she just seems cruel (or even worse, stupid). Anyway, the film version is 2 hours long and is padded with extra scenes and characters. It didn't need it.

Crawford is fine with what she's given to do, if you can get past distaste for the character. Fredric March plays the boozy husband. Fine supporting cast of friends includes Rose Hobart, Ruth Hussey, Bruce Cabot, Nigel Bruce, John Carroll, and Rita Hayworth (on loan-out from Columbia). Rita Quigley plays the hapless daughter. Added for the film version are Marjorie Main as a sarcastic housekeeper and Constance Collier as Susan's spiritual advisor. Among the horde of "young people" added for no real reason are Gloria DeHaven, Dan Dailey, Susan Peters, Lon McCallister, and Joan Leslie. There's also a singer played by the tall and repulsive Coco Broadhurst (no idea who he is), who also served as a "technical advisor."

Lawrence apparently filmed a TV movie of the play in 1938 (according to IMDb), but was never considered for the MGM film version. L.B. Mayer bought the film for Norma Shearer, hot again after THE WOMEN, but she refused to play a mother again (she was 38 years old). Greer Garson was also considered, and Mayereven reached out to Marion Davies, but apparently Crawford campaigned for a won the role.

The film cost about $1M and made about $1M and was considered a box-office bomb.

Susan and God (1940)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Joan Crawford certainly had a couple interesting years at MGM. In 1939 she delivered what many consider to be her best (THE WOMEN) and worst (THE ICE FOLLIES OF 1939) films while in 1940 she delivered two of the strangest religious pictures ever made. STRANGE CARGO was a pretty entertaining movie that also had Clark Gable. This picture co-stars Fredric March but sadly the end result is somewhat of a disaster. Crawford plays Susan, a woman who comes back from a cruise and only has God on her mind. She tries to push the word of God on her friends but they just laugh at her while her alcoholic husband (March) has a few issues of his own. SUSAN AND GOD is an incredibly weird little picture that some might want to check out just to see how weird it actually is. Up to this point I think it's the worst Crawford picture I've seen for a number of reasons. For starters, the film is just so darn boring that I couldn't wait for it to be over. The thing moves so slow and features so many boring characters that the film's 117-minute running time just seems like an eternity. Even worse is the fact that you really don't care or like the Crawford character. Perhaps things would have been different had we met Susan before the cruise and before she started to worship God. Since we meet her after the fact it's just an annoying character. It also doesn't help that Crawford is way too over-the-top in the film. I've read that she's tried to mimic the lady who originally played the part on stage and if so it just didn't work. Even March is pretty forgettable in the film and even worse is that the wasted cast includes Ruth Hussey, Rita Hayworth, John Carroll, Nigel Bruce and Bruce Cabot. SUSAN AND GOD is a bizarre film about religion and I must admit that I really didn't like any of it. It's a hard film to sit through but an easy one to forget.

I LOVE this film. Cukor made it the same year as PHILADELPHIA STORY and it has the same exact feel and tone. This film was definitely eclipsed by the Hepburn one but deserves to be revived. Crawford is magnificent. I have never seen her play comedy like this and under Cukor's direction she excels. It proved what a versatile actress she could be. I don't understand comments like "she gives a poor imitation of what Gertrude Lawrence did on-stage". I highly doubt the person who wrote that ever saw the original stage production. He says he heard Lawrence speak lines from PRIVATE LIVES on a recording with Noel Coward and obviously that is what Joan was trying to imitate. Joan does not imitate other people and Cukor would never have allowed her to. I find it odd that when Crawford stretches herself in character parts like RAIN, SUSAN AND GOD, THE WOMEN, and A WOMAN'S FACE her public, and more importantly MGM, did not support her when she is obviously and magnificently broadening her horizons and simultaneously doing great work. THE WOMEN was the only one of this bunch that was a hit. But MGM never seemed fit to promote Joan for an Oscar. Watch this film and you will be surprised at this twist in the MGM Crawford. I think her transition at the end is remarkable and the character of Susan really grows and changes. I'm sure it was difficult for Crawford to portray a flighty, ditsy, scatterbrained woman but she really connects with something in this. I watch this movie at least twice a year. People complain it is stagey and long but with dialogue this good I'll take it over a movie half its length. The supporting cast is great. Watch Rita Hayworth in an early role. Fredric March, as usual, is brilliant and wonderful alongside Crawford. This is Joan's best comedy; and more than that, an excellent film. It's subject matter resonates today with it's "new age" religious fervor. I only wish Cukor had directed her in more because she responds soooooo well to him. Imagine if he directed GOODBYE, MY FANCY or TORCH SONG. Ah well, you can't have everything.