Today We Live (1933)

Buy This Item Today We Live (1933) by MGM (Warner)  Available from Amazon  $19.98  on 11-28-2008     I'm surprised at the negative reviews here regarding "Today We Live". The triangle between Joan, Franchot Tone as her brother and Robert Young as their childhood friend is so touchingly and sensitively directed and rendered by these actors, I don't see how anyone could fail to be moved by it. Joan is beautiful as never before--and never again--she is really at her most stunning here. There's an electrifying shot of her staring gloomily out a rainy window, turning her head slowly toward the camera to peer through an open bedroom door at Robert Young that you have to see to believe. And except for a few stagey moments, she is always convincing, and--as one reviewer pointed out about another of her films--was generally more natural and contemporary than her peers. Young also was never this good, and Franchot Tone nearly walks away with the movie. Gary Cooper as the love interest is interesting, and the sexual theme about not waiting for marriage is very modern and daring for the time. Somehow, Joan looks even more beautiful to me in the trenchcoats and uniforms she wears as a nurse in the British army than she does in her Adrian gowns, perhaps because the starkness of the drab clothing reveals her beauty by contrast. The weirdest thing about the film is the "language" spoken by Joan, Young, and Tone, completely lacking in pronouns. No one ever says "I", "You", "He", "She" or "We". They just start each sentence with the verb or adjective! I guess that's a Faulkner trademark? But Joan's performance can make you tear up, especially when she is maternally comforting Robert Young who is getting a little shell shocked, promising to be his girl in order to hold him together, even though she is in love with Gary Cooper! It's the usual Crawford formula---and yet it is moving. For all her staginess, Crawford has an earnest streak, something vital and desperate to connect --that makes her presence more compelling than everyone around her. Ironic, as she seems to be remembered instead for hammering the life out of her performances by overplaying the lady (a trait she acquired in her later film roles). Not true here. Joan and the rest of the cast are all quite effective. Anyway, if you are a fan of Joan's, give this movie a chance. I doubt you will be disapointed. Reader Reviews I had the opportunity to see only a small part of this film weeks ago and was knockout by Joan's beauty, portrayal and vulnerability. I went straight to the Amazon sales and found it only available in VHS at an extraordinary price for the tape. I want to demand this film treat in DVD so this beautiful black and white Crawford and Gary Cooper romance of yore be preserved in my home and others' for a long, long time. A old film buff I was enthralled by the beauty of the crisp film and relationship of the characters.

Today We Live (1933) Available from Amazon Price: $19.98 Updated on 11-28-2008.

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