In Name Only
by John Cromwell
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Product details
Actor: Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Charles Coburn, Helen Vinson, Kay FrancisDirector: John Cromwell
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: PAL
VHS Movie Reviews of In Name Only
Movie Review: Only a flawed ending mars Lombard's finest dramatic role
Summary: 4 Stars
"In Name Only" is a poignant look at an unhappy marriage that provides Carole Lombard with arguably her finest non-comedy performance and film. Based on the novel "Memory of Love" by Bessie Brewer, this 1939 film casts Lombard as Julie Eden, a young widow who rents a summer cottage in Connecticut near the estate of Alec Walker (Cary Grant). The two have fallen in love and Alec wants to get a divorce from his wife, Maida (Kay Francis), who only married him for his position and money. Maida appears to give in and promises to obtain a divorce in Paris, but when she returns after a long absence she announces that she will never divorce Alec and threatens to sue Julie for alienation of affection should Alec sue for divorce. It looks like Julie and Alec will never life happily ever after, but that same night Alec develops a serious case of pneumonia.
It is rather surprising that this film is generally devoid of humor, given the two stars, but the subject matter does not lend itself to comedy. When Julie and Alec talk about Reno, there is an overriding sense of melancholy, because the dream seems so far beyond their reach. Talking about it is a way of keeping the dream alive, but the situation seems so hopeless. True, this hopelessness seems alien to us, but the Walkers live in a world where reputation apparently matters more than money. Lombard's performance is fascinating simply because she is doing a lot of what she does in her comedies, what with the bewildered look in her eyes and the melancholy voice, but now it works to evoke a sense of tragedy rather than farce.
Then there is Kay Francis as the manipulative Maida, an unpleasant character who presents herself as understanding and patient to Alec's parents (Charles Coburn and Nella Walker) as she tries to drive a wedge between them and their son in order to get her father-in-law's fortune. Grant's character is the minor figure here, because what matters is the two women. While Maida stretches out the trip to Europe, clearly intending for Julie to doubt Alec's resolve and to cause fatal cracks in their relationship, our focus is on Julie's face and what we can read about what she is thinking as her chances for happiness slip away.
The flaw in this film is the conclusion, although I do not know if the fault for this is with the original novel or Richard Sherman's screenplay. But the ending because traditional Hollywood melodrama. Alec is dying, but Julie, the only one that can give him the will to live, is not allowed to come to his bedside. Then Maida shows up and is instructed by the script to suddenly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and in the rush to provide a happy ending "In Name Only" throws away everything the two actresses had so successfully created until that point in the film.
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