Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

MartinHafer Louise Storr (Miriam Hopkins) has recently divorced and she's decided to leave the big city to visit her Grandpa Storr (Lionel Barrymore) in the country. There she has a lovely time and reconnects with family...but she also ends up finding solace in the arms of a nice neighbor, Guy Crane (Franchot Tone). The only trouble is that Guy is already married to Nettie...though he and his wife seem to have little in common...far less than he and Louise.Despite the underlying conflict in this film is marital infidelity, this isn't exactly the overall tone of the film...nor is it a film endorsing this (like some Pre-Code films did). It's much more a nice slice of life sort of film and the sexual tension between Guy and Louise is just a part of this. However, this also makes it an example of the sorts of topics that you might have found in the Pre- Code days (up until mid-1934) where adultery was discussed in movies...and after it was rarely mentioned at all and when it was, it was severely punished.Overall, this is a very nice, meandering sort of picture. Very well acted and well worth your time. Barrymore, as usual, steals the show but the rest are also quite good.

marcslope A King Vidor Metro production, but it sure smells like 20th Century Fox, with its rural setting, leisurely pacing, and prosaic dialog--it's even based on a novel by, and co-screenwritten by, Phil Stong, who wrote 20th's "State Fair." Lionel Barrymore, wearing a fake beard that wouldn't fool an eight-year-old, is the patriarch of a successful Iowa farm, a Civil War vet (just barely--at 85, he'd have been 17 in 1865) saddled with a troublesome family he lives with, including a wonderful Beulah Bondi, as a calculating shrew. Granddaughter Miriam Hopkins, a divorcée, comes to visit from New York and falls in love with both the farm and married neighbor Franchot Tone, while hired hand Stu Erwin drinks and provides the modest comic relief. The writing's less than first-rate- -scenes just end, and there's more detail to the workings of farm life than necessary--but it's a quiet, touching character study, and Hopkins, often given to histrionics elsewhere, is restrained and appealing. The characters' dilemmas feel real, and the bittersweet ending resonates.

vincentlynch-moonoi I've always enjoyed old films, but somehow I came to think of Miriam Hopkins as only playing ditzy roles. Lately, however, I've seen her in a few of her earlier films where she played normal people, and I must admit she was quite good...as she is here, where she plays a young woman who has been living in the big city, but returns to the farm to visit her grandfather (Lionel Barrymore). She falls in love with a married man (Franchot Tone) and for that reason, and others, realizes that perhaps the rural setting is where she needs to be. But there are the beginnings of a scandal, and then two of the reasons she thinks the rural life is for her disappear. This is one of those somewhat slow 1933-era type films, but I enjoyed the story. The big let down here is the ending. Once the 2 things she has come to love about the rural setting disappear, will she stay? And if so, why?Hopkins and Barrymore are quite charming here, although it may take you a bit to get used to Barrymore's huge beard. Franchot Tone does nicely as the married man. Several people mentioned being impressed with Stuart Erwin as an alcoholic farmhand; I don't see anything impressive about the performance at all. Beulah Bondi plays the busy-body relative here, not the typically warm-hearted mother-type we usually saw her as. Grant Mitchell has a smaller role as a relative who is a passive lawyer.I'm not saying this is a great film, but it just feels comfortable. For a bit it seemed to be going off-track when Barrymore seemed to be slipping into senility...but that ultimately turned around nicely. I like Barrymore, so this film was a treat.

dbdumonteil A nice little comedy which stood the test of time quite well.Hopkins is the prodigal daughter who got divorced from her husband and comes back to the place where she belongs.There she will meet an educated farmer (Tone)with whom she falls in love ;but alas ,he's married with one child.In parallel ,we follow a wicked woman 's struggle to inherit the old patriarch 's valuable property.But this former military man does his Volpone act and things will change.As refreshing as the lemonade they sip and the cookies they savor.