1941 Directed by Robert Stevenson
Previously filmed in 1932, and remade a third time in 1961, this second film version of Fannie Hurst's novel stars Margaret Sullavan as a fashion designer in love with a married banker (Charles Boyer). Directed by Robert Stevenson, the film also stars Richard Carlson, Tim Holt, Frank McHugh, Esther Dale and Cecil Cunningham.
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Cinematic Time Capsule
1941 Marathon - Film #11
”I wish I could think of something to say, but I can’t. I’m not going to cry. I’m not even going to laugh. I’m not going to do anything and I’m not going to let you say another word. Let’s not say anything… now or ever.”
😕
🤔
😐
”Well… Don’t you think I’m disappointed to?”
Fonda/Sullavan Birthday Tribute (Part 1 of 2)
Although I intended to recognize the double birthdays of Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan today by watching the screwball comedy that they made in 1936, The Moon's Our Home, my DVD was nowhere to be found. So I decided instead to cobble together a double feature honoring each actor individually, pairing a sappy melodrama and a deliriously madcap rom-com that were both released in 1941. (Briefly, I considered the sweet temptations of The Good Fairy and The Shop Around the Corner, Sullavan's two finest comedic showcases, but ultimately chose to try a film I haven't already seen.) First up was Back Street, the second of three American cinematic adaptations made of the bestselling…
The second (of three) Universal adaptations of Fannie Hurst’s turn-of-the-19th-century-set novel stars Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer (possessors of two of the best voices in classic Hollywood: she with her musical rasp, he with his luxuriantly accented baritone) as adulterous lovers whose brief encounter stretches into a decades-long affair, with her forever living in the shadows as the “other woman.” One of the few films made under the Production Code to deal sympathetically with marital infidelity, this elegant tearjerker overflows with dreamily romantic moments: the couple lounging under a cloud-filled sky, a chance meeting on a snow-shrouded New York sidewalk, and the quietly devastating liebestod of the climax.
Maggie Sullavan was such an incredible actress. There has been no one like her since. I have seen the 1932 film as well. I dislike the John Boles/Charles Boyer character so much, but I feel much sympathy and sadness for the character of Ray.
The second of what would ultimately be three adaptations of the classic Fannie Hurst soaper (the 60s version with Susan Hayward is a favourite of mine while I've yet to see the first, in 1932 with Irene Dunne). This version of Back Street ultimately feels mostly at the standard level of woman's pictures of the era in terms of production but is boosted by Charles Boyer (always a boon to these films) as well as Maggie Sullavan as his leading lady. They have quite excellent chemistry but it's definitely a more rote adaptation of the material without the subversive twists in the tail of the Miller version, and the ending is pretty overdone - not bad though and you'll probably get something out of it if you're interested in melodrama of the era as i am.
Robert Stevenson's BACK STREET marks the second of three times Fannie Hurst's eponymous novel was adapted for screen, with the ever chameleonic Maggie Sullavan in a leading role first originated by Irene Dunne nearly ten years prior. The film spans the course of several decades, tracing an illicit tryst between married banker Saxel (Boyer, who is charmingly despicable) and the free-spirit turned kept woman Rae (Sullavan), who ultimately relinquishes the autonomy she once championed to live in his shadows as the town's most notorious open secret.
I'd never thought I'd live to see the day where melodrama would bleed superfluous for me, especially given my heavy bias -- but alas, BACK STREET's heavy hand overindulges to the point of ironic…
I wonder what would have happened if I had met that Sunday at the boat.
Even if I got frustrated with Charles Boyer's and Margaret Sullavan's characters most of the film, the ending broke my heart so fucking hard 💔
Margaret Sullavan is very good in this as expected, but does this movie really expect us to root for her affair with Charles Boyer, who lacks any sort of charisma and whose character is a self-centered cheat?
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A Margaret Sullavan pueden ponerle los vestidos más horteras y los sombreros más aparatosos, pero un quiebro de su voz bastará para estremecerte. Y la película queda muy lejos de la obra maestra de Stahl pero, ay, Margaret Sullavan...
Middle and best version of the Fannie Hurst tearjerker about a couple who love each other but because of outside forces and misunderstandings must live their life together in the shadows. Boyer is suave and sleek as the somewhat caddish male half of the duo but it's Margaret Sullavan who is the transcendent force of the film and elevates it above the others. For fans of doomed romances its a must
