Thanks for the memories!

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

In Bridgefield, Connecticut, wealthy Alec Walker (Cary Grant) falls for widow single mom Julie Eden (Carole Lombard). He is in a loveless marriage to Maida (Kay Francis). He discovers her previous infidelity. He offers her a lucrative divorce but she refuses to surround the prestigue of his wealth. With disceets to his parents, she tries to destroy his relationship with Julie.This relies on making Maida a horrible villain and Alec's intentions pure. It feels too easy. There is some darkness here but the movie intends to keep the romanticism. The characters are presented as broad constructs. The plot is melodramatic worthy of any summer-reading romance novels. It also ends in an odd way. I don't see why Maida would go along with the lie and it leaves the audience hanging in the air. I understand the attempt at a poignant ending but I can see better ways to do it. As a romance with some bite, this does deliver on the main.

My pleasure in watching this gem was doubled by the fact that I'd never heard of it - I stumbled upon it in a 'remainder' DVD shop in Paris and at five euros it could have been chopped liver. It seems it was released in 1939, that watershed year in which Hollywood went mad and offered a slew of all-time great titles which may account for this one getting lost in the shuffle. It's very much of its time and sadly Hollywood has totally forgotten how to make stuff like this. Cary Grant, out riding near his lavish country home, comes across Carole Lombard fishing; young widow Lombard, an artist, has rented a nearby house for several months. There is instant rapport between the two and Lombard's young daughter is equally beguiled by the charm of Grant. What can go wrong> How much time have you got. Turns out Grant is married and ostensibly living with his wife, another fine actress, Kay Francis, cast against type as the ultimate super bitch. She freely confesses she never loved Grant, falling instead for a penniless rival who conveniently died leaving Francis to opt for money over love. Despite her indifference to Grant she has no intention of allowing him to be happy and refuses to divorce. We are now primed for the unravelling of a soap par excellence in which all hands turn up trumps. One to savour.

In Name Only (1939)I thought I had seen pretty much every Cary Grant movie but this one evaded me and it was a thrill to discover, right from his best early period stuff. And he's good, and the movie is good, a story of being trapped in a bad marriage and then finding the right girl. And having your wife connive and become almost murderous to keep the marriage from ending.It's all about money, too, since Grant plays a wealthy young man. So his wife, played with utter, awful precision by Kay Francis, has her eye on the dollar as she sees him begin to stray. The new woman is a restrained Carole Lombard, who is lovable and sincere, even after it becomes clear that Grant will never get free of his wife. It's all drama, not quite soap opera, and it's convincing enough to work. Grant has some moments where he has to act with some deeper richness, not his strong point, but he hangs in there (especially if you are predisposed to liking him). But Lombard and Francis are pitch perfect, and if quite the opposites, equally so. Director John Cromwell had just directed Lombard in "Made for Each Other" (with Jimmy Stewart) and he has a way of bringing her out. This one is a better film, however, I think, so if you liked that other one, give this a look. Grant just filmed "Bringing up Baby" and is at the height of his lovable comic career. This would be his only film with Lombard, who actually might have been a good match in a lighter, wittier movie.Expect nothing less than a fast, smartly written, involving drama.

I have seen several of Helen Vinson's movies.I saw this one on TCM.I had the pleasure of meeting her a few years back here in Nacogdoches,Tx. She was my 5th cousin and left her estate to my aunt my "mother-like" aunt of many years who is now 90 plus years and in bad health.I enjoyed her(Helen's) starring with Cary Grant.i had heard of Helen all my life. I finally got to see some of her movies thru TCM. glad i did. she was a very refined lady when i met her.my aunt gave my sister Sharon and I $1000 for Christmas from Helen's estate..she did it for 2 years straight!! i always cherish the memory of seeing this movie and meeting Helen Vinson,my cousin.She spent most of her life in Houston, Texas.