Barbara Stanwyck starts My Reputation as a bereft widow with two young sons. Her uptight mother, Lucile Watson, is also a widow and tries to tell Barbara the new rules of how to conduct herself, but for some reason she resists. She doesn't want to wear black, and she doesn't want to alter her social routine. Yet, she claims her life is over because her husband is dead, so her behavior is a little confusing. Then, while on a vacation with her friend Eve Arden, she meets George Brent and has the opportunity to throw away her reputation. What do you think she does?
If George Brent's character were written differently, this might have been a more enjoyable movie. He's written to be a complete cad who tells her up front that he has no desire to marry her. He's conceited, critical, controlling, and doesn't take her refusal as a serious answer. Then, when it turns out she was merely playing hard to get and didn't really mean her "no" as a "no", it gets hard to root for her as well!
As Gwyneth Paltrow says in Emma, "Now for the cream." There is an element of this movie that's worse than Barbara's inconsistency and even worse than George's unworthy character. Max Steiner's music is so horrible, the only explanation must be that he never watched the movie he was scoring for and someone told him to write music for a light comedy. Time after time, a dramatic scene plays out, with a lilty, upbeat theme playing in the background. It will make you cringe, I guarantee it.
If George Brent's character were written differently, this might have been a more enjoyable movie. He's written to be a complete cad who tells her up front that he has no desire to marry her. He's conceited, critical, controlling, and doesn't take her refusal as a serious answer. Then, when it turns out she was merely playing hard to get and didn't really mean her "no" as a "no", it gets hard to root for her as well!
As Gwyneth Paltrow says in Emma, "Now for the cream." There is an element of this movie that's worse than Barbara's inconsistency and even worse than George's unworthy character. Max Steiner's music is so horrible, the only explanation must be that he never watched the movie he was scoring for and someone told him to write music for a light comedy. Time after time, a dramatic scene plays out, with a lilty, upbeat theme playing in the background. It will make you cringe, I guarantee it.