To me, this movie is perfection.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

According to the Citadel Film Series book, The Films Of Errol Flynn, MGM and Warner Brothers did a swapping of stars for the services of the other. Errol Flynn went to MGM for a picture in return for Warner Brothers getting the services of William Powell for Life With Father. I think Powell made out far better in the deal than Flynn did with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his film.Not that Errol Flynn was bad in That Forsyte Woman, in fact his casting as the proper and stuffy Soames Forsyte was quite a revelation. But the movie-going public simply wouldn't buy it. Errol, not the dashing hero with sword in hand and cape over the other shoulder was not accepted. If That Forsyte Woman had been made a decade earlier and for Warner Brothers, Flynn would have been perfect to play Robert Young's role of Philip Bossiney.Flynn is married to Greer Garson and is guardian of niece Janet Leigh. Leigh is the daughter of black sheep brother in this proper Victorian family, Walter Pidgeon. Pidgeon years ago ran away with his niece's governess after the family did not permit the recently widowed Pidgeon to marry her. Back in those days proper English families did things like that.Anyway the rather staid marriage of Flynn and Garson gets a jolt when opportunistic Robert Young who Leigh has been keeping company with, falls for Garson and she, him. In modern times it would be a no fault divorce, but things aren't done that way in Victorian England.If there is a weakness in casting it's that of Robert Young. I'm surprised that MGM did not use someone like Peter Lawford whom they had under contract and was British besides. Greer was British, but the rest of the cast had two Americans in Young and Leigh, a Canadian in Pidgeon and Flynn was Australian. Young was older than Errol Flynn and just doesn't come over as the young opportunistic lover.Garson of course is the perfect English lady who usually wan't allowed dalliances by MGM, but she's fine here. Greer wrote the introduction to the Films Of Errol Flynn and she says that she found Flynn to be a perfect gentleman and anxious to prove himself a serious actor.He did in many ways in That Forsyte Saga. He was a prisoner of his own legend at this point.

Because there is (for the most part) a sense of fun and adventure in the best of Errol Flynn's movies movie lovers tend not to see that he could perform well in dramatic fashion. I can site two examples: 1) In DAWN PATROL he starts cracking up under the stress and strain of his command position; 2) In THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, Flynn senses that he is going to probably die on his last military mission (as does his wife Olivia de Havilland). But they kid and joke together about how they'll retire and grow fat together once the campaign is over. So he could act very well indeed. But the hijinks that were part of his films usually covered his abilities to act. Then there was Jack Warner. He rarely agreed to let Flynn do "straight" dramatic or comic roles. In Flynn's early career he did do films like GREEN LIGHT, FOUR'S A CROWD, and THE SISTERS with mediocre results (the comedy FOUR'S A CROWD is the best of this bunch), but Warner knew how the public liked certain actors as dramatic players and certain ones in particular grooves. He rarely gave Flynn a non-adventure part after 1940. The murder mystery FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK, the all star romp THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, and the interesting French war drama UNCERTAIN GLORY were exceptions I suspect this treatment began to bug Flynn after the rape case in 1944, when Warner's was determined (for damage control) to try to retain Flynn's hero image at all costs, and to make his sexuality a type of joke. Then, his contract with Warners ended and he went to M.G.M. He was able to do THAT FORSYTE WOMAN with Greer Garson, Walter Pigeon, and Robert Young. Here, he hoped, he would demonstrate his abilities as a straight actor as never before. THAT FORSYTE WOMAN is based on THE FORSYTE SAGA's first novel, THE MAN OF PROPERTY (with a bit of the second novel IN CHANCERY thrown in). Written by John Galsworthy in the teens and twenties, the nine novels and numerous short stories and "interludes" about members of his rich, upper middle class family remain a favorite series of tales about the period of England from 1880 to 1929 (Galsworthy died in 1933). They won him the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unfortunately, the stories' appeal has led to them being used for television twice, the last time only four years ago. The best version is either that recent one, or the 1960s version starring Kenneth More, Eric Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter, Martin Jarvis, Susan Hampshire, Nicholas Pennell, and (introducing) Michael York. I say unfortunately because the television versions (being multiple episodes) allowed the screenwriters more opportunity to dramatize more of the stories. Whole plot lines, jettisoned or condensed in a single film (even of a single novel) were expanded more comprehensibly. Also, as the 1960s version was going through the first six novels in 26 hour episodes, characters were given a chance to develop. In particular Soames Forsyte, the character played by Flynn in the movie.In the 1960s version Soames was played by Eric Porter. Now it is an odd balance here. Porter had no great film career - he did not become the film icon that Flynn did. But on television he certainly was quite effective in several programs (he was a memorable Nevil Chamberlain in WINSTON CHURCHILL: THE WILDERNESS YEARS). His version of Soames was a wonderful full blooded characterization. Instead of just being a stuffed - shirt solicitor and art collector, Porter showed the demons that drive Soames to the mad act that blights his home life (Soames sexually attacks an unwilling Irene - his wife - when she refused to fulfill her wifely duties). Later his stuffiness actually stands out in rather good contrast to the anti-Victorian backlash that follows the First World War. He becomes a grand old curmudgeon.Flynn could not do this. Indeed the entire rape issue in the novel was totally played down in the film (MGM brass could not bring up the idea of rape with Flynn, even though he had won the 1944 case brought against him on that charge). Instead they emphasized the other unattractive side of Soames. Committed to property, in his art collecting, his accumulation of wealth, and his home (and his future house being built by Philip Bossiney (Robert Young)), the movie Soames considers Irene (Greer Garson) his possession. In the novel this theme is brought out by Galsworthy (typical of the mindset of Victorian England - even in it's laws). Irene tries to escape with Bossiney (who is engaged to Soames cousin June (Janet Leigh)), but the latter dies under violent circumstances. However, Irene does leave Soames, and ends up marrying Soames other cousin Jolyon (Pidgeon).With the total affect of the novel cut due to the mores of 1949 and the history of it's male leading man, the story was weakened. To his credit Flynn did give a good performance. He is a totally unlikeable Victorian pompous ass who happens to have no sense of humor (which is Soames' character, before his marriage problems) who likes to collect things. Problem is, even with his money it is hard to understand why anyone would be willing to marry such a man. Irene (in the novel) is the daughter of a professor who has died, and is living with her step-mother (whom she can't stand). If this was developed (as it was in the 1960s series) the problem of her marrying Soames would be understood. Here it wasn't.As the story was done so superbly by Porter and his co-stars in the 1960s, Flynn's good performance in such a mediocre version is distinctly minor. However, out of respect for Errol's attempt to show what he could do (and his personal results) I'll give the film a "7" as a better than average try.

John Galsworthy's sometimes ponderous but very interesting social drama "The Forsyte Saga" has been attempted as a TV-mini series since this production of a feature film, based on the earlier books of the series, was issued by MGM Studios' heads. The film they produced turned out to be an absolutely-gorgeous color offering, by anyone's standards, featuring costumes by Walter Plunkett and Valles, cinematography by talented Joseph Ruttenberg, and art direction by Daniel B. Cathcart and Cedric Gibbons. The interesting original music for the film was composed by Bronislau Kaper, and Edwin B. Willis produced lovely set decorations. The script for the piece was furnished by Jan Lustig, Ivan Tors and James B. Williams, drawing the events largely from "The Man of Property" by John Galsworthy. In the cast were lovely red- haired Greer Garson as Irene Forsyte, and Errol Flynn as Soames Forsyte, the eponymous new-money tycoon of the "The Man of property"s" original title. Walter Pigeon played young Jolyon Forsyte, whom the family has disowned for following an artistic career, among other complaints. Robert Young was architect Philip Bossinney and respected British actors played the delightfully and frighteningly stuffy Forsyte family including Halliwell Hobbes, Lumsden Hare, Aubrey Mather and more. Janet Leigh played young June Forsyte and Harry Davenport the elder Jolyon Forsyte. With all this talent, the film which is quite good could perhaps have been made even better. Compton Bennett's direction is angular, always interesting and more-than-competent at all points by my standards. The story-line, for those who have never seen it, involves a loveless marriage between Soames Forsyte, who regards his wife as an article of property and Irene, a 19th-century woman who has to marry, being without profession, who grows to despise his miserly nouveau riche pretensions, controlling behavior, and bullyings. She takes up with an excitingly-imaginative architect, who has been hired by Soames to build their new home. Finding out about their attachment, Soames uses his financial power against Bossinney, who grows distraught and then is killed in a street accident. Irene turns to the black-sheep of the family, who had married for love, the artist Jolyon, leaving Soames to confront the colossal failure of his pretensions. The classically-trained Garson and Pigeon are wonderful and memorable in their parts. Flynn tries hard, but lacks a bit of the vocal power he developed soon after this film as released; nevertheless he is more-than-adequate and intelligent in his role. The entire supporting cast ranges from very good to even better by my standards; but their parts seldom allow them to stand out for very long in this look at an entire social class. As a writer, I must suggest that the only loss of power in this strong film appears to stem from MGM's studio heads asking for a script that stressed Soames's emotional coldness; the strongest line of development appeared to have been to stress the tyranny aspect of Soames as versus the regard for individual dignity and rights-- regardless of the wealth owned by any man--on the part of Irene and Jolyon and the other ethical sorts in the work. The film has quite a bit to say about the misuses of power, I suggest; it depicts the imperial side of Britain and the postmodernist unethicals it spawned, folk who never noticed that they were acquisitive types who seemed to admire piracy more than honesty. "That Forsyte Woman" I find to be a very absorbing, beautiful and sobering cinematic production.

I'm not surprised that many viewers find this film frustrating, particularly those unfamiliar with the novels or the later TV adaptations - coming to this film with such knowledge definitely helps one be more charitable towards it.THAT FORSYTE WOMAN is one of MGM's "prestige" literary productions, tackling the first novel of one of Britain's most beloved series of novels by one of its most beloved authors, John Galsworthy. It's another well-executed, professional MGM effort. Yet it's another strange choice for MGM (as was THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY earlier in the decade), since in this case the story's main plot is an adulterous affair,casting its two leading players (Flynn and Garson) very much 'against type' - one can't blame Flynn for being willing, but I'd like to know just exactly which MGM executive thought to cast Greer Garson as the adulteress! The lady was simply too likable!These are complex characters, and it actually took Galsworthy 6 novels to reveal them fully to the reader. Neither Soames nor Irene (the Garson role) are particularly likable in the first novel - both seem selfish and willful, but the reader ultimately comes to understand both of them better (although Galsworthy never really does give a satisfactory reason for Irene's loathing of Soames).MGM originally produced the film under the title THE FORSYTE SAGA (I have a copy of the movie tie-in edition of the novel published by Scribners in 1949)) but, since the film was merely a slice of the Saga anyway, they changed the title to the more catchy THAT FORSYTE WOMAN emphasizing Irene's 'fast' nature. It remained THE FORSYTE SAGA in the UK.One has to admire MGM's ambitious attempt, but let's face it, they'd really bitten off more than they could chew: THE FORSYTE SAGA was too big, too rich, and too multi-layered for one film. Rather, it was a work destined for success in another medium which was still in its infancy - television, in a format to which its breadth, length and varied cast of characters would be perfectly suited - the "mini-series", for which it would provide the pioneer effort with spectacular success in the late 1960s.