In name only (1940): a lovely film

I don't know if this happens to you: you saw once a marvelous movie and you haven't seen it again because you fear that maybe you'll realize it wasn't as good as you remember it.

Well, it happened to me with "In name only" (dir: John Cromwell;1940).

Yesterday I was answering Amanda's survey and when asked to "name a screen team that appeared in only one film together but are still noteworthy for how well they complimented each other" I chose Cary Grant and Carole Lombard (update: as one of my readers correctly points out, they also worked together in The Eagle and the Hawk. Sorry about that). It was very late at night, but I decided to re-watch the film. And it was marvelous as I remembered it.

I'm usually very critic with weak points in the plots. But in this case I just don't mind the few it has. Alec Walker (Grant), a good-hearted millionaire has a very unhappy marriage with bitch Maida (Kay Francis). He meets Julie Arden (Lombard), an independent widow with a young daughter. They fall in love, obviously, in these settings: countryside, a sunny pond perfect for picnics, a bright house rented to spent summer vacations where the milkman passes every day...

One of the things I like the most is Julie's personality and her down-to-earth way to see things. She's very practical and doesn't make big scenes even when she's given shocking information about her new friend. It seems that she learned to expect nothing and take the good and bad things from life without thinking too much about it. At the beginning, she just enjoys the moment. This contrasts with Alec's need to be near her, to start a new life. And when you see these two different kind of people looking at each other so in love, well, you have a well-developed relationship, full of chemistry in front of your eyes.

If you add to this tension the impossibility of being together because Kay Francis is playing one of the most despicable characters in the history of cinema things get even more interesting. Scene to scene you see the leading characters trying to solve the situation. Alec is such a gentleman that doesn't want to use deciding proofs against his wife in order to get the divorce. In the meantime, Julie, the character we saw so independent, with such a small but bright and beautiful family, is being painfully humiliated by a bunch of secondary characters, stupid Alec's parents among them. It brings some tears to your eyes from time to time.

The film is always precise, never over the top in my opinion. The dialogs are very natural, not forced to be epically unforgettable. However, some of Cary's lines are really funny and others really sweet.

Talking about sweetness, one of my favorite scenes is the when Alec takes Julie to see the house he just bought (and decorated)...

Don't you just want they had done more films together? There are a few things that distract me near the end, like Cary's way to play sick and feverish Alec, but it's not really a big thing. I really really really recommend this lovely movie and I hope you like it as much as I do :)