Absolutely amazing

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I'm not surprised that Warners took a long time to put this one on DVD, even though the movie was extremely popular in its day. Alas, it's now mainly of curiosity value as it comes across as a filmed stage play, an impression reinforced by the fact that there is only ONE reverse shot in the entire movie! With this single exception, it's like a filmed stage play except for the fact that it is a very, very wide stage, large enough to accommodate some non-dialog scenes such as the tracking shots in the park. As for the dialog itself, it is generally put across in long, static takes. Despite all, Charles Laughton does deliver a performance of some depth and subtlety, while Maureen O'Sullivan makes her Henrietta a spirited foil. Unfortunately, March's endeavors as Browning are facile and superficial. Norma Shearer, alas, is equally inadequate, while a simpering Katherine Alexander provides some extremely wearisome and dated comic relief.

A devastating portrait of a father's tyranny over his favorite daughter whom he tutored to be the spouse he would have liked to have.Charles Laughton plays this perverted man to perfection and Norma Shearer excels as the poet Elizabeth Barrett, who starts out as a sophisticated ninny but grows to embrace her rights and independence after Frederich March playing Robert Browning questions the status quo in this stifling residence.This is a period drama with picture-perfect sets, including an exquisite street-side snow, and sumptuous costumes. The title of this piece is accurate to a fault, though; a significant amount of time is wasted on silly and tedious tangential family members.Still, the movie is worth seeing for the vigor and sensitivity of the central literary couple. It has left me with a curiosity to know more about their lives and their work.

I had seen the 1957 version of "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" so I wasn't going to take time for this one. My scheduling changed, I ended up with time and decided to watch the 1934 film. In it were Norma Shearer and Fredric March. I was surprised to note that they were superb. They played off of each other's characters. That spark of emotions were there.Edward Barrett's (Charles Laughton) lustful feelings for his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, become obvious right away. You know he's intentions are not honorable. The fact that he forbade any and all of his children to marry and have a life and family of their own shows that he is mean and self-centered. He isn't above belittling and tearing them down until they give up any idea of breaking away from the family. Edward Barrett wants total control over his complete family. This becomes obvious in the treatment of his own niece in front of her intended husband. How would you like to have the old monster sucking face with you? Ugh! Then comes Robert Browning who reads several of Elizabeth's poems. He falls in love, decides to meet her and convinces her to leave her father, family and marry him. Elizabeth agrees. They leave together with Wilson her maid. (Una O'Connor has that role.) They, also, want to take Elizabeth's beloved spaniel, Flush.Barrett is furious when he discovers their leaving. His cruelty quickly becomes definite. He is going to do away with Flush to get even with Elizabeth for leaving her father for Robert. Will his attempt succeed? Will he ever see his daughter again? What happens with the rest of the family once he loses his hold on Elizabeth? Will Flush make it to the wedding? There's one way to find out, see the movie.

Although 1934 was the year of Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MGM successfully translated this heavy-handed stage drama into a hit. Norma Shearer plays poet Elisabeth Barrett, who is virtually s shut-in, but has a will to live and in one touching scene, she looks through the window in her room to the outside, a flurry of emotions just shifting through her marble face, hinting of much inner pain.That she later becomes the object of the affections of writer Robert Browning (Fredric March) sparks the already over-protectiveness of her father Edward Moulton Barrett into showing his true colors is part of the drama; he plans on keeping her home, and one look at his fierce eyes reveal a lot more than the Studio and the censors were allowing to actively display on camera except for one scene, in which he confronts Elisabeth near the end. One only has to watch at both actors' body language to know that they understood their characters: he is a control-freak who has sublimated designs on his own daughter and she knows it and is horrified.If it's a little too tied to its flowery origins on the stage, this is permissible, because it does make for entertaining viewing and despite some of the performances showing their age, it doesn't tire. If the Academy had introduced the Supporting Actor/Actress category Una O'Connor would have won by default, giving a strong performance as Elisabeth's maid and confidant. One of the strong productions of 1934 and one of Norma Shearer's most textured performances as a woman of indomitable will who refuses to be tied down, not just to a chair, but to her own life at home under her father's unhealthy shadow.