Una donna dimentica

Fairly mundane, but foreshadows "sunshine of the spotless mind" fifty years ahead. Acting is charming. Script amusing if labored. I did find myself chuckling from time to time. Any attempt at building a real story usurped by "Thin man style" drunk acts of principals. Billie Burke is a highlight and the plot device of the erased memories is fun. The directing seems to be the problem here as the movie never reaches a strong comedic pace necessary for the screwball underpinnings. Lots of fun moments that don't add up to any kind of structural pay-off, not a bad movie just fails to be a great one. if you like screwball the elements are here. If you have seen the great ones here is one to understand what makes the others great. Maybe Charlie Kauffman stuck this baby in his subconscious for the gimmick idea of memory loss through which kismet repeats its destiny. Lew Ayres seems like an earlier version of Jack Lemmon.

After Greer Garson made her film debut in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," she was awarded an Academy Award nomination and gained international stardom. Her second film was "Remember?" which I'm sure Miss Garson would rather have "forgotten." A silly script that totally wastes the talents of not only Garson but Robert Taylor and Lew Ayres as well.

I gave "Remember?" a 6 because of the cast ONLY. I knew there had to be a disaster made during the "magic" year of 1939, and sure enough, this is it. Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, and Lew Ayres star in what surely is the foreshadowing of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" except that this is one case where a later film is better than one from the classic era.

The film concerns a man, Jeff Holland (Taylor) who falls in love with his friend Sky's (Lew Ayres) fiancé Linda (Garson) and abruptly marries her. However, he's a workaholic. This makes her very unhappy, and the two divorce. Desirous of getting them back together, Sky uses an experimental drug, that sounded like mematine. It erases everything that happened in the last six months. Interesting, because today there is a drug called memantine for Alzheimer's, so it actually has an opposite effect.

"Remember?" is only mildly funny. It lacks the pace of a comedy - it's one of those in between things where the story isn't compelling enough to be a drama but doesn't come off like a comedy either. The main part of the plot comes practically at the end of the film. One scene I did love - Billie Burke, as Garson's mother, has a surprise congratulatory party for the new couple. When they arrive, she has everybody hide behind furniture - which has become somewhat tedious, because the Hollands are late and the entire group has been hiding on and off for hours. When they arrive, Jeff and Linda are sent into the library, where Jeff complains to Linda about her father and her family's boring, blowhard friends. Then Billie Burke yells surprise. A very good scene, but there weren't enough of these in the movie to justify it.

The performances are good. Taylor is unbelievably handsome and really did have a nice flair for comedy. Lew Ayres, in real life a pacifist, vegetarian, and a very spiritual man, somehow played drinking men very well, and does so in this. Garson was still very early in her career but had already received an Oscar nomination. Guess Mayer thought she was a flash in the pan - this is hardly a step in a prestige career. Garson probably hoped she never was nominated for an Oscar again - who knows what MGM would do to her next. Fortunately it didn't work out that way.

"Remember?" is one of those films you'll more than likely want to forget.

The idea of a soon to be divorced couple taking a drug that causes amnesia AND their falling in love all over again is a cute idea for a romantic film. However, there is just too much irrelevant comedic stuff in the first half of the film that just seems poorly written and a bit silly. Sticking with this story idea and introducing it much sooner might have helped the pacing--and gotten rid of all the irrelevant crap early in the film.

The film starts with Lew Ayers introducing his fiancée (Greer Garson) to his best friend (Robert Taylor). Like a good friend, Taylor steals Greer for himself. At this point, the film is half completed--and made Garson and Taylor seem like real jerks. Poor Ayers--he seemed like such a nice guy that you couldn't help but hate the newly married couple. Why did they include this initial plot at all? There were some supposedly comedic moments leading up to it and Billie Burke plays her idiot routine well--but why write the film this way? It was as if the film didn't trust itself to be a romance and so it through in comedy and plot elements that seemed anything but romantic.

Overall, it's not a bad film but a huge waste of talent. With Greer Garson (just off her success in GOODBYE MR. CHIPS), Robert Taylor and Lew Ayers, it should have been dynamite. The biggest problem is making it a goofy comedy instead of a romance. Blame for this goes to the writers and producer--why did they do this?!

Anything coming out the same yr as Gone With the Wind and Wiz of Oz didn't really have a chance...stars Greer Garson, Robert Taylor, and Lew Ayres. some very clever bits in the script...the revolving door gag, and when Billie Burke (she was busy that yr!) says "We'll have a big breakfast. Do you like horses?" and of course the implication is that she was serving horse for breakfast..but they were going to have a fox hunt AFTER breakfast. Lot of fun bits, but you kind of have to buy into the memory loss deal. G. Garson reminds me of Myrna Loy... strong-willed, plain talking, speaks her mind. I liked Lew Ayres better in HOLIDAY... keep an eye out for Henry Travers as the Judge, an old friend of the family (he was "Clarence", the friendly ghost in "Its a Wonderful Life"). Some of the gags fall flat, like the "color of my eyes", since its in black and white. For the most part, its a fun, all around love-story farce. Directed by Norman McLeod, who had directed the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields, so he certainly knew how to make a comedy! this has pretty low ratings, but its a cute little love story. /ksf-2