Not quite as good as Smilin' Through, The Barrets Of Wimpole Street is saved from sinking ship with good set design and costumes (bar the ones for Frederic March, but we'll get to those later 😅), as well as one of Norma Shearer's most Oscar-worthy performances.
Elizabeth Barrett (Shearer) is the oldest of nine children, and the most sickly- and a poet. She's the only one who can't get out of bed, but all of her siblings are kept in a sort of prison-like situation by their domineering father (Charles Laughton). The father does not know that Elizabeth has been writing to another poet, Robert Browning (Frederic March). Elizabeth and Robert fall in love and start dating behind her father's back, but Elizabeth is still unnerved by her father's shadow looming over her (it's implied that he has designs on her, but ther Hays code had just recently come into effect)- as is her sister, who also has a secret boyfriend. This is a story of triumph, as Elizabeth both gets well and is also able to stand up to her father.
Norma Shearer gives one of the best performances of her career (she wasn't playing a "spunky, sexually liberated upper-class woman", so that helped her broaden her acting horizons) as Elizabeth Barrett, and she makes you believe that she wrote the poems that were once penned by the real Elizabeth Barrett Browning. True, she could have been made to look more sickly, but she acts sickly, and you feel sympathy for her, especially in the scene where she pictures herself walking down the stairs, and it feels like she's really doing it, but it turns out that she hasn't moved at all.
Frederic March is rather unremarkable and not believable as Robert Browning- I believe he was just there because he was willing to wear pants that tight. Boy, are they ever tight- you can see the entire outline of his balls! He must have been in A LOT of pain filming- unless he really liked to wear pants that make the costumes of the male ABBA members look like baggy rapper jeans. 😑 He's more palatable than usual, though (I don't like him).
Charles Laughton was also disappointing as the father- he was only nine years older than Norma, but he looked like he could be her father. However, he overacts quite a bit in his role, and while if does look like he does have designs on Norma (he famously said regarding this role, "They can't censor the gleam in my eye"), that's the only convincing part of his performance- sadly. I wished he could have been better, but you can't have everything.
The rest of the actors who play the family are good, an exception being a VERY ANNOYING actress who plays an equally annoying character (a cousin of the Barretts). Costumes are good, not wacky or über-glamorous, but effective. Set design of the house is exceptional.
Overall, recommended, but watch Smilin' Through first. If you don't like that one, you definitely won't like this one.
Elizabeth Barrett (Shearer) is the oldest of nine children, and the most sickly- and a poet. She's the only one who can't get out of bed, but all of her siblings are kept in a sort of prison-like situation by their domineering father (Charles Laughton). The father does not know that Elizabeth has been writing to another poet, Robert Browning (Frederic March). Elizabeth and Robert fall in love and start dating behind her father's back, but Elizabeth is still unnerved by her father's shadow looming over her (it's implied that he has designs on her, but ther Hays code had just recently come into effect)- as is her sister, who also has a secret boyfriend. This is a story of triumph, as Elizabeth both gets well and is also able to stand up to her father.
Norma Shearer gives one of the best performances of her career (she wasn't playing a "spunky, sexually liberated upper-class woman", so that helped her broaden her acting horizons) as Elizabeth Barrett, and she makes you believe that she wrote the poems that were once penned by the real Elizabeth Barrett Browning. True, she could have been made to look more sickly, but she acts sickly, and you feel sympathy for her, especially in the scene where she pictures herself walking down the stairs, and it feels like she's really doing it, but it turns out that she hasn't moved at all.
Frederic March is rather unremarkable and not believable as Robert Browning- I believe he was just there because he was willing to wear pants that tight. Boy, are they ever tight- you can see the entire outline of his balls! He must have been in A LOT of pain filming- unless he really liked to wear pants that make the costumes of the male ABBA members look like baggy rapper jeans. 😑 He's more palatable than usual, though (I don't like him).
Charles Laughton was also disappointing as the father- he was only nine years older than Norma, but he looked like he could be her father. However, he overacts quite a bit in his role, and while if does look like he does have designs on Norma (he famously said regarding this role, "They can't censor the gleam in my eye"), that's the only convincing part of his performance- sadly. I wished he could have been better, but you can't have everything.
The rest of the actors who play the family are good, an exception being a VERY ANNOYING actress who plays an equally annoying character (a cousin of the Barretts). Costumes are good, not wacky or über-glamorous, but effective. Set design of the house is exceptional.
Overall, recommended, but watch Smilin' Through first. If you don't like that one, you definitely won't like this one.