Pluskylang Great Film overall

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

vincentlynch-moonoi SPOILER ALERT:The first problem with this film is that none of the major characters are likable. Joan Crawford plays a self-obsessed, half-drunk socialite who ruins the lives of every husband she has had, and while wallowing in self-pity intends to ruin the life of our other main character -- John Garfield. Garfield plays a violinist who is rude to just about everyone -- because he's an artist -- including his mother and the woman who really loves him. About an hour into the film you're wishing the father had gotten his way and the young Garfield had been forced to take the fire engine (you'll understand if you choose to suffer through this film). The third major character is Oscar Levant, a pianist whose sole purpose in the film seems to be to make wisecracks which often seem out of place. I know, he was the accompanist, but that role could have been played by a bit player. The only acting I enjoyed in the film was by supporting characters -- J. Carrol Naish as Garfield's father, Ruth Nelson as Garfield's mother, and Paul Cavanagh as Crawford's husband.I will give Garfield credit for making his violin playing quite convincing, although closeups of the hands playing the violin were actually the hands of Issac Stern. Nevertheless, Garfield did a nice job here. Also, there's some great music here! By the time we reach the movie's climax, I began wishing that Crawford's character would commit suicide and put us all out of our misery. Take pills with all that alcohol. Slit your wrists on that broken glass. Walk into the waves. I didn't see it coming...but she did! If only she had done it 2 hours earlier.I know some people think this was a wonderful film, but I think it was a dog. The best thing about the film -- Crawford in the movie poster. Early in the film when his brother was complaining about Garfield making no money for the family, I was afraid Garfield was going to become a gangster. Two hours later I wished he had.

Alana Fu BEAUTIFULLY shot. Great musical performances. Witty and humorous lines, Oscar Levant got some pretty good one-liners. Joan Crawfords was gorgeous as ever! Even though her eyebrows were a little too thick (I find her eyebrows perfect in A Woman's Face). However the story doesn't really hold up, nor does the characters. Especially the mother? probably the worst mother on earth. Gina? Her role is very ineffective. Helen? I felt this role was too weak for Crawford, also very unreasonable. The acting was also stiff and contrived. John Garfield as a violinist wasn't convincing to me (maybe he's too deadpan?), and there's no chemistry between him and Crawford.

evening1 I got about half-way through this when I threw in the towel. I am eager to read other reviews to try to grasp why this melodrama is rated so highly.I just felt like Joan Crawford, as the ice-queen socialite Helen Wright, whose very name is a cliché, was phoning in her lines. I didn't like her hair, her face, or her demeanor, and all those things wore away at my interest.Oscar Levant, who does not seem to age a day from the time when Paul Boray (John Garfield) is a boy in short pants to when he's a professional violinist, grates badly as a wisecracking pianist. After a while you wish he'd restrict his communication to tickling the ivories.Of the leads, Garfield is best here but his contribution couldn't salvage this for me.To its credit, this film features some wonderful orchestral and solo musical performances. And a 13-year-old Robert Blake is excellent playing Paul as a boy.

mark.waltz Looking the most exquisite here since her MGM days, Joan Crawford doesn't make her entrance until 32 minuets into the film, dramatically entering into the life of promising life John Garfield, and like Norman Maine did with Esther Blodgett in "A Star is Born", aids him to success for a damning price. Both stars are at their dramatic best, Crawford here even more mesmerizing than she was as Mildred Pierce the year before. Garfield trades in his boxing gloves for a fiddle and in some stunning musical sequences, makes love to his violin violently with a passion fit for a Golden Boy.Both invest much emotion in to their dangerous characters, brought together in spite of the odds and doomed from the start, whether it will be his overbearing mother (an excellent Ruth Nelson), his cynical piano player pal (the very droll Oscar Levant) or her possibly impotent husband (Paul Cavanagh), their own personal failings or her many neurosis, this is a doomed affair that can only end in a manner that only Fanny Hurst could envision.The music plays an extremely important role here, the actors expressing their turmoil through close-ups occurring over the dramatic classical music. Peg La Centra, as a piano singer in a smoky cabaret, adds understated involvement in the plot, popping up throughout to lay on a torch song to add to the soul-destroying decay and inner-torment which Crawford lays inside her with great understanding. Perhaps her very best performance, it is one where she looks like a movie star but truly reveals herself to be a genuine actress. Shadowy photography and MGM like gloss (typical for her mid 1930's romantic melodramas) make this a truly wonderful women's picture that stands the test of time with great emotional flair.