The Enchanted Cottage (1945) User Reviews

A beautiful film about seeing with your heart, not your eyes

[jem132 · 8/10 · 25 April 2006]

This is a lovely, almost-forgotten little RKO weepie from the 40's. It boasts touching performances from it's two leads, Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young, and a fine supporting turn by the always good Herbet Marshall.

'Enchanted Cottage' has a real message. This is a film about seeing with your heart, not your eyes. Laura Pennington (McGuire) and Oliver Bradford (Young) learn to do so while cast under the magic spell of the 'enchanted cottage' they are inhabiting. It seems a hokey concept on paper, but this film really works.

Laura is a homely maid who looks as if she is going to spend her days as a spinster. She takes on a job at a pretty cottage owned by a dour old widow. Oliver Bradford originally wanted the cottage as a honeymoon location for him and his soon-to-be bride. However, Oliver was called to war a day before their wedding. He is disfigured and scarred as a result, and upon arriving home, his fiancé expresses disgust (although we never see it) at his changed appearance. Crippled, bitter and lonely, he takes the cottage as a single man. The kind-hearted, yet plain, Laura helps him in his loneliness, as she too knows what it feels like to be judged on looks alone.

They eventually decide to marry out of convenience. But the spell of the enchanted cottage starts to work on them on their wedding night, as they realise the true love and affection they harbour for each other, a love that goes past face value and transports them into another realm.

It is a tender love story. McGuire is never anything but convincing as the downtrodden yet kind Laura; she impressed me a lot more here than in her Oscar-nominated work for 'Gentlemen's Agreement'. All the time throughout watching the film I was thinking of her as a perfect actress for 'Jane Eyre'. She certainly could play the plain, ordinary girl well, with emotional depth and understanding. Indeed, the relationship between the once-handsome but now-scarred Oliver and the homely, unwanted maid Laura is reminiscent of the Jane-Rochester relationship.

The widow seems to subscribe to the English novel theory too; her stopped clock at the time of her husband's death is very 'Miss Havisham' from 'Great Expectations'.

Marshall is great, giving his usual understated performance as the blind composer who cannot 'see' with his eyes, but can feel with his heart and his brain.

A great musical score accompanies the scenery well, and appropriately dark cinematography complements the darker points of the story too. This was a war-time pic, and once again we are being shown the harsh realities of war through the disabled figure of Oliver. Still, this is more of a love story than propaganda.

This was made by the cash-strapped RKO studio, and today it is little-known. Apparently finding this film is hard, but here in Australia the ABC free-to-air network plays it regularly. I view myself as lucky.

This a tearjerker, and a beautiful romance story. Keep the tissues nearby.

8/10.

It's not a myth!

[david-1976 · 8/10 · 21 December 2006]

When I was a little boy, my mother used to say that "The Enchanted Cottage" was her favorite movie. It was a long time before I ever saw it.

This is a lovely little film. Herbert Marshall does his usual good job playing someone impaired in some way but with a great deal of emotional fortitude. Mildred Natwick, cast a bit against type (she was a lovely comedienne) as the landlady, a dour WWI widow, ends up being sweet.

This is one of Robert Young's best performances, and I think that he is often underrated. He was something of an insecure man, and he projects his humanity so well in this and in many other films of the 1940's; of course, I'd gladly buy insurance from Jim Anderson, too!

What really strikes me about this film, though, is that the Young character, returning from the war, finds himself to be disfigured, and "Laura Pennington" believes herself to be ugly and unattractive. One of the things that has often struck me about people is how little their actual physical beauty affects how they perceive themselves, and how that influences their behavior.

Could it be that Robert Young's scar and Dorothy Malone's plainness are more in their minds than on their faces? Could it be that love can transform not only the plain so that they believe that they are beautiful, but also that it can transform the beautiful so that they can see that quality in themselves? The reason that this film works--and it works wonderfully well--is that it appeals to every person who has ever felt inadequate, and that there are very few people (and let's face it, those very few are probably sociopaths) who don't feel inadequate.

Pinero, the playwright of the original, understood this all to well, but it has never been a popular way of looking at things: in a way, this film is a "revenge of the nerds," which says (as does the nerd film) that beauty is, truly, in the eye of the beholder.

Really nice acting on the part of all concerned, including the wonderful Spring Byington. We don't have Hollywood actors like Byington and Marshall anymore, those wonderful character actors whose presence in a movie was part of the tissue that held it together, and connected it with other films. Lubitsch, Sturges, Capra, RKO, Warner Bros, and even MGM had a stable of these actors whose presence illuminated their work and expanded on it. Someday I will make a list of them and dilate on this subject further. This is a little gem that needs to be seen more often.

Sweet People, Profound Message

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 31 October 2006]

This was a nice, short fairy tale-type romance with truly nice people in the leads: Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire. One of the best features of this film, to me, was listening to McGuire's soft, sweet feminine voice. It certainly went with the nice, compassionate character she played in this movie ("Laura Pennington").

Robert Young, as "Oliver Bradford," also is very good in here and Herbert Marshall is outstanding as the blind neighbor, "Major John Hillgrove." The annoying character was played by Spring Byington but her "Violet Price" role was small.

This is the story of a plain woman and a battle-scarred World War II pilot who meet at this cottage, fall in love, see each other as beautiful thinking that some mystical power at the cottage and transformed their faces, but in the end find out they haven't changed at all. They find out that love changed they way they looked at each other. Sounds corny, but a lot of profound truth to it.

I read one famous critic write that this film could have been better. Well, I don't doubt it, but you could say that about most movies. I have no complaints with it. I do have a question: it's listed at 91 minutes but my tape only plays for 79. Did I have 12 minutes cut out of the story on my VHS?

Touching, classic, romantic fantasy

[maxwell_hoffmann · 26 December 2000]

This is a very touching, classic film that will stick with you for a long time. Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire play two "unattractive" outcasts who are literally transformed by their gradual discovery of love for one another. (Watch for the brief flash of McGuire "half beautiful/half homely" near the end of the film). Unusual roles for both Young and McGuire, and arguably their best performances in any film of that decade.

Herbert Marshall gives a deft, deceptively "understated" performance as the blind "middle man" who helps them to really "see" for the first time. Brief but memorable performances from strong supporting cast; Spring Byington, Mildred Natwick and Hillary Brooke. Thoughtful cinematography, lighting and set decorations help sustain the mood and help capture the "willing suspension of disbelief" to allow you to accept the film's "enchanted" gifts.

The film has an especially touching musical score. A "tone poem" played on piano by narrator Herbert Marshall is the spring board for the flashback that reveals the story. The haunting melody reoccurs throughout the film in various moods.

Rarely shown, and unfortunately not available on video, this wonderful film is available on Turner Classic Movies. Set your VCR or alarm clock to stay up after midnight for this one. It (the story) will haunt you for a long, long time. It would be an especially magical film to watch on the "big screen" should a repertory cinema near you have the good instincts to revive this classic.

All Time Favorite Romance

[movie-173 · 10/10 · 9 June 2005]

My wife and I love this movie. There is an ugly duckling in all of us but the right person can bring out the swan. This movie brings that out so well. I am my wife's prince charming and she is my Princess. This movie helps us remember that after 15 years of marriage. In the movie we are taken away from our everyday lives to a quiet mysterious cottage. Couples have visited the cottage for hundreds of years, and gone away mysteriously changed and in love. The film creates a strange atmosphere that takes you into the thoughts and feelings of two lonely people. We then witness their magical transformation into happy beautiful people. No matter how hard the outside world tries to take that happiness away from this happy couple, the cottage protects their romance.

Soothing, healing, appealing film!

[flikflak · 10/10 · 31 January 2002]

This film has the power to entertain, as well as heal. My wife and I watch it every so often, to put that sweetness back into life. What other film can do that? The acting is superb; the actors are alive with their roles. A stirring suspense abounds.

What love should really be about

[lauraeileen894 · 7/10 · 8 July 2005]

In an age where men and women alike use plastic surgery to nip and tuck themselves into homogenized oblivion, "The Enchanted Cottage" is a nearly forgotten parable of what true beauty is and what love should really about. A simple story of a plain, lonely woman (Dorothy McGuire) and a deformed soldier (Robert Young) who seek refuge in a supposedly magic cottage made for newlywed couples. As their relationship grows, they gradually find each other beautiful in the other's eyes. This sweet little movie always puts a lump in my throat and will renew your belief in love. No matter what you look like, no matter what you think of yourself or how society judges you, there is someone out there who is meant for you and who finds you beautiful just the way you are. McGuire and Young are just superb and have a lot of chemistry. A must-see.

Beautiful fantasy

[blanche-2 · 10/10 · 14 October 2007]

Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire meet in "The Enchanted Cottage," a 1945 film based on a play and originally filmed as a silent in 1924. Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick and Spring Byington also are in the cast.

The story is told in flashback by Major Hillgrove (Marshall), a blind composer who has written a musical piece in honor of a married couple, Oliver and Laura and is debuting it for his guests. When he learns that they will be late, he tells their story.

McGuire plays Laura, a hopelessly plain, lonely young girl who goes to work in the cottage for a severe woman, Mrs. Minnett (Natwick) whose life stopped in 1917, the day her husband was killed in the war. The cottage has long been a haven for young marrieds, and they have all written their names on one of the windows. Oliver (Young) arrives with his pretty fiancée to put a deposit on the cottage for their honeymoon - but Mrs. Minnett predicts that they won't be back. Oliver goes off to fight in World War II and does return to the cottage alone, to hide the injuries to his face that he suffered in battle. He and Laura befriend one another; she falls in love with him. Eventually they marry, mostly for convenience on his side in order to keep his pushy family from moving in with him or trying to get him to leave the cottage.

One day, they realize that they have become beautiful, flawless people and excitedly tell the Major about it. When he learns that Oliver's family is going to visit, he is afraid that Laura and Oliver will learn the truth.

This is such a wonderful story of two people who are made beautiful to each other in the enchanted cottage because of their love for one another. Robert Young was such a huge television star that it's hard to remember that he started in film in the 1930s. He never achieved superstardom, but he played some good roles. Oliver is perhaps his best part and his best performance. He plays the full range of the character, from his confident handsomeness to his angry bitterness to self-acceptance and does an excellent job. He and Dorothy McGuire costarred in several films and worked very well together. She is heartbreaking in Laura's loneliness and self-loathing but also captures her wistfulness.

A very emotional film that touches on the insecurity, the feeling of being different and apart that many people, if not most, experience. The dark, overstuffed cottage, the isolation of it and many scenes done at night all lend a special, almost eerie atmosphere to the film. But as Oliver and Laura arrive outside of the Major's house, one can tell that they have stepped into the light at last.

A great movie. Not to be missed.

Romance drama featuring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall ...

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 4 December 2016]

Directed by John Cromwell, with a screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen and Herman J. Mankiewicz that was based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, this slightly above average romance drama stars Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick, and Spring Byington (among others). The film's Score was nominated for an Academy Award, representing the last Oscar nomination for Roy Webb.

Herbert Marshall plays Major John Hillgrove, a blind pianist (due to injuries received as a pilot during World War I) who recalls this story in flashback:

Laura Pennington (McGuire) was a homely young woman who found employment working for Mrs. Abigail Minnett (Natwick) when the war widow housekeeper needed a maid to help put and keep her cottage in order for a young 'about to be married' couple that wanted to rent it. The cottage, thought to be haunted, was really an enchanted one in Laura's eyes, the only part of a much larger castle-sized estate that remained and used to be rented exclusively to honeymoon couples. Mrs. Minnett discontinued the practice when her husband was killed in the war some 24 years earlier. Oliver Bradford (Young) had discovered the cottage, begged and convinced Mrs. Minnett to rent it to him, and his bride-to-be Beatrice Alexander (Hillary Brooke). Laura tells Oliver about the cottage's history and shows him where the newlyweds had etched their names on a window. However, pilot Oliver is called to fight World War II before the wedding.

Oliver returns to the cottage alone one year later, after being injured and scarred, his face and emotionally, and crippled during the war. He wants to avoid all human contact, especially with Beatrice, his mother Violet (Byington) and his stepfather Freddy Price (Richard Gaines). However, he gets to know Laura, who's still living there having been earlier embarrassed at a canteen when no one wanted to dance with her; she's kind to him, understanding what it is to be ugly. Oliver is also befriended by John, who gets about with the aid of his nephew Danny (Alec Englander). In time, Oliver and Laura grow close and even marry, out of convenience, but their relationship quickly grows into true love, one that transform their views of one another into a belief that they've both become beautiful. They share this remarkable occurrence with John who, based on their description of Mrs. Minnett's reaction, understands the situation. He tells them to 'go with it', steal the moment and enjoy their good fortune.

Unfortunately, both learn the truth of the matter later, when Violet and Freddy come for a visit and Oliver's mother can't help but express her pity for them both, despite John's prior preparation, warnings, and pleadings. There has been no physical transformation (something which would have been readily obvious if the couple had been touching one another, right?), though Mrs. Minnett was inspired to live in the present. But, whereas John had assumed that this information would have been the couple's undoing, it doesn't affect them. Both realize that the real miracle is their love, and they scratch their names on the window. The final scene, back in 'present' times, shows John playing the piano at a party; he'd been waiting for the Bradfords to arrive. Oliver and Laura get there, but they stop and kiss at the door before entering (and the film ends before they do).

Excellent

[Patty-5 · 10/10 · 11 October 1998]

This is without a doubt one of my all time favorite films though very few people I know have ever seen it. It is a story of true love as never seen before. If you have never seen it, make a point to do so. If you love romance films, you will love this one.

Do you know what loneliness is, real loneliness?

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 1 February 2008]

This Oscar-nominated film (Score) is interesting in it's background. It was designed for returning GIs after WWII who were disfigured by the war and to ease their return.

It features a homely girl (Oscar Nominated Dorothy McGuire (Gentleman's Agreement) who has given up hope of finding love. She meets a dashing pilot (Robert Young of "Marcus Welby, M.D." and "Father Knows Best" fame) before he is called to duty. he returns a year later disfigured and depressed.

This is a story of love. The two become enchanted with each other, marry, and are transformed into beautiful people. The transformation occurs only in their eyes, however, but does not destroy what they have.

Made even more enjoyable by the addition of Oscar-nominated Spring Byington (You Can't Take It with You, Because You're Mine), who played Young's mother. Byinton is best know to TV watchers for "December bride."

An enchanting and transforming romance

[johno-21 · 9/10 · 15 May 2006]

This is a forgotten gem of a movie that I have only seen two or three times over the years but it's a well made romance/drama/fantasy film that deserves a look. A WWII casualty played by Robert Young was to be married and honeymoon in a New England historic quaint honeymoon cottage before the war and fate stepped in. Instead he returns from the war with disfiguring and disabling injuries bitter and resentful and as he takes refuge in the cottage he was to have honeymooned in he meets a housekeeper who is plain in appearance and self doubting in confidence and appears resigned to an unmarried life. They marry at first out of convenience and then the magic of the centuries cottage ignites in them the beauty of the soul. Noted British playwright Sir Arthur Wing Pinero wrote the play The Enchanted Cottage: A Fable in Three Acts as a moral booster to WWI veterans resuming life after the Great War with many disabled and disfigured. It was first staged in London in 1921 and then in America on Broadway in the spring of 1923. The stage play was quite different from the two filmed versions in it showed the stories of three couples who honeymooned in the cottage set in England over the years. It also had witches and cherubs and imps. Four roles from the play made the transition to the film Laura Pennington, Oliver Bashforth (with a slight change to Bradford), Major John Hillgrove and Mrs. Minnett. Hollywood filmed a silent film version in 1924 with a script adapted by Gertrude Chase and Josephine Lovett that eliminated the overt supernatural characters and other wedding couples so it centered more on the four main characters. For the 1945 film Screenwriters Dewitt Bodeen and Herman J. Maniewicz do a rewrite of the 1924 adaptation with John Cromwell directing. Cromwell had made such films as The Prisoner of Zenda, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Of Human bondage, Abe Lincoln in Illinois and So Ends Our Night among many in his fine directorial career. Proliffic cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff who photographed such films as Talk of the Town, I Married a Witch and Notorious is the the film's cinematographer. Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire star along with fine performances by Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick and Spring Byington. This is a fine film and is indeed enchanting. I would give this a 9.0 out of 10.

For the hopeless romantic

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 17 March 2019]

While The Enchanted Cottage is a sweet romance, it's also rather sad to watch. Literally every one of the four leads has a sob story to make you reach for your handkerchief. Dorothy McGuire plays someone so homely men actually turn and walk away rather than ask her to dance when she's the only wallflower remaining. Normally, I can't stand her, but her character is quite pitiable and her situations are very sad. Robert Young starts the movie completely in love with Hillary Brooke, and he buys her the titular college as an engagement present. When he comes back from the war with a maimed face and a paralyzed arm, the engagement is broken and he hides away at the cottage. Herbert Marshall is blind, which is sad in itself, and he serves as a wise guide to Robert. And Mildred Natwick, the housekeeper, has a broken heart and a secret story about the cottage.

Are you crying yet? Well, you will if you sit through this romantic drama, which was Robert Young's personal favorite of his movies. It's not really my favorite, because I'm not the target audience, but I totally appreciate why others love it so much. The acting is good, and the story is touching. If you're an advocate of inner beauty or are secretly a hopeless romantic, you'll probably really like it.

Romantic movie

[jfarms1956 · 5/10 · 10 November 2013]

The Enchanted Cottage will appeal to those in their mid 20s and above who share a committed relationship with another person. This is a true romantic movie and is not sugary sweet. The movie is a good one to watch on a rainy day or early evening. Although the story will keep loving hearts filled with entertainment, it does not encourage one to eat popcorn, but sip hot tea or coffee. Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, and Dorothy McGuire provide excellent support for the story. It is truly wonderful when actors/actresses provide performances in which you remember the characters, not the actor/actress. Their role is so convincing that they become the character. That is something that we don't get much of today, but was prevalent in the pre-1965 movies. Watch with a loved one, preferably a spouse or boy/girl-friend. Enjoy the love and the good feelings that this movie brings.

We loved the movie so much, we named our home after the title

[cox-1 · 3 January 2000]

My wife and I had seen this wonderful,hopeful romantic film, long ago.When we retired to the Ocean Shore, we built our dream cottage. All who visit have remarked on the feeling they get when they enter our home. We christened it The Enchanted Cottage and had that name carved across our mantle.We love to tell the story behind the name and even have a copy of the Movie to share with others as the video is no longer available.Our friends are charmed by the premise, and share our feeling about this absolute gem of a movie.

Behaviors raised to the sublime

[mcgarig1 · 9/10 · 11 August 2002]

This insightful story of a young lady (Dorothy Maguire), and her family such as it is, and a man (Robert Young) and his family, such as they are, get its center from the character of a blind neighbor (Herbert Marshal) who knows them all. The girl, retiring, awkward and shy lives in "the enchanted cottage" with its owner, an older lady (Mildred Natwick) whose financial situation forces her to rent the cottage out. The man played by Robert Young was facially disfigured in WW II and returns from the war directly to the cottage, to hide from his former rich and dashing life as the fine son of a wealthy family, and his former fiance (Spring Byington) all of whom can not initially accept his disfigurement when he returns from the war to seek utter solace in the obscure locale of the enchanted cottage. The relationship between Maguire and Young has many halting and awkward moments as they each come to grips with their own large difficulties. Yet one circumstance after another comes to help each of them to start to overcome their own problems by concentrating of the problems of the other.

But this viewer finds much more than a touching a powerful love story, as this film shows ever so clearly how the many powers of kindnesses and thoughtfullnesses, and the lesser powers of blunders and mistakes, come to spread and affect all the characters as they haltingly, yet steadily move past their own individual problems into the bright sunshines of brotherhood and lasting love.

This viewer also hopes that the strong and gently kind ways of the people in 1942-43 time period of the movie will once again flower in our now much more brash and brutal society, so that we may have a culture that is fitting and kind to the best in all of us. If the enormous task of making a movie was itself done to produce this one film, then certainly our people of today can learn the enduring lessons for themselves that are shown by the human behaviors, which are raised to the sublime in this film. Our men and women of the year 2002 could gain much for all of ourselves by seeing and giving thought to the clear and simple values portrayed in "The Enchanted Cottage". This film shows that much more enduring messages than crash and slash can be put profitably into a film.

(Now lets get up an effort to have "The Enchanted Cottage" returned to video availability, as it is currently available only on Turner Classic Movies - so watch that schedule and set your VCR to get this real gem for your life.

Proving once again that it's inner beauty that counts.

[fixerup · 10/10 · 20 January 2002]

SPOILERS AHEAD ---- SPOILERS AHEAD Do not read this unless you have seen the movie or do not mind knowing in detail what this movie is about.

This movie takes place over an 18 month period but the entire story of the cottage dates back to the mid 1700's. Oliver (Robert Young) and his fiancee make plans to stay at the Cottage after they marry. Oliver is called to war and the wedding is postponed. Oliver gets injured in the war and comes home. His injuries are a badly scarred face including the cheek, eye and mouth. He has also lost the use of the arm on the same side of his body as the facial injuries. He returns to the Cottage after being released from the armed services and has already seen his fiancee and because of her reaction is hiding out at the cottage. Oliver's fiancee and his parents try briefly to convince him to come back home to no avail. Laura (Dorothy McGuire) is working as a maid at the cottage and feels sorry for herself and unattractive and out-casted as does Oliver. Over the next 3 or 4 months they have bonded and marry more out of need then love. The cottage doused it's magic dust over them and on their wedding night they see each other in a different light. They are both interesting and beautiful. Is it really the cottage or is it true love?

Time Line of the Cottage

1750-1790 English nobleman built the estate on a New England State coast beach--During this time most of the estate burned except one wing which was refurbished and the son of the English Nobleman lived in the cottage with his new wife for several years and then it was used for newlyweds which the son of the English nobleman appears to have been the first. The English Nobleman continued the tradition after the son moved out of the cottage. It is stated that the Son and his new bride were the first to live in the cottage. We are made to understand the main estate had burned before the cottage was ever used as a newlywed home and was remodeled which means it might have encountered minor repairable damage or clean-up from the fire but we can conclude that the fire happened prior to 1790 when we see that newlyweds had been living in the cottage.

1790 We see signitures of newlyweds as early as 1790 on the glass window. (Judith & Richard 1790)

The cottage burned down at least a hundred plus years before Abilgail or her husband were even born. Abilgail didn't lose any property to fire, the English Lord that built the estate lost it to fire. Abilgail received it as it was when it was given to her husband as their wedding present.

1915-1917 Approx. when Abigail and her new husband move into the cottage which was a wedding gift to the husband.

April 6 1917 Abigail's husband leaves to go to World War I and gets killed, Abigail stopped the calendar the day her husband went to war. (The calendar reads April 6, 1917)

December 07, 1941 (Sunday) Laura moves into the cottage, this is the same day Oliver & his fiancee come to make payment and planed on getting married on Tuesday Dec 9, 1941 and returning to the cottage that same Tuesday. Abilgail Minnit has lived alone for at least 24 years, 8 months, and one day until Laura moves in.

December 07, 1941 (Sunday) Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor and Oliver is called to active duty immediately. His fiancee notifies Mrs. Minnit by tele-gram that the cottage will not be needed and sends compensation for the inconvenience Approx. Jan-Feb 1943 Mrs. Minnit receives a tele-gram that Mr. Bradford (Oliver) will be there that same day and Laura states that it is amazing he even remembered the cottage, that it had been over a year since he and his fiancee had been there. June 06, 1943 Oliver and Laura get married, Mrs. Minnit sets the calendar the day of the wedding. Laura had already lived in the cottage for 1 1/2 years and Oliver for about 5 to 6 months.

love the premise

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 7 September 2020]

Shy homely maid Laura Pennington starts working at the magical cottage which hosted many honeymooners in the past. Oliver Bradford and beautiful Beatrice Alexander arrive to plan for their honeymoon. He's a pilot headed for the war. The couple is beyond confident about their eventual nuptials but cottage owner Mrs. Abigail Minnett is strangely hesitant. Oliver tries to mark the window as the earlier couples but he fails for an unknown reason. Oliver is disfigured during the war and withdraws to the cottage. Beatrice tries and fails to convince him to return to her. The reclusive Oliver falls for Laura and befriends blind neighbor Major John Hillgrove who is telling the story at the beginning of the movie.

I love the central premise of the cottage. It's poetic, beautiful, and utterly charming. I would probably cut out Beatrice. She's a no-win-situation character. If she's too superficial, it rubs off on Oliver in a bad way. In this case, she pulls back a little and isn't a complete B. That makes it harder to villainize her and shift the ship to Laura. It would be better to just make him a single guy. The cottage could be a recovery place for the war wounded and Laura could be the nurse. That would be a better use of the premise. Instead of a blind neighbor, it could be a soldier blinded in the war. Overall, I really love the poetry of the premise. While the story is functional, I would rework it to emphasize its romantic melodrama.

Not For A Honeymoon, But For Solitude

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 14 June 2010]

The Enchanted Cottage is about two emotionally wounded people who find themselves and find love in the cottage where the man was supposed to honeymoon with his intended bride and the woman worked as a maid to the lady who owned the place.

Robert Young who is a Boston Brahmin has plans to marry the beautiful Hillary Brooke and they've got a beautiful seaside cottage owned by Mildred Natwick in which to honeymoon. They're about to close the deal when it's announced that Pearl Harbor has been attacked. Like so many others the war puts a hold on personal plans and Young goes off to enlist.

But Young comes back from the war facially disfigured, no longer the charming and self assured to the manor born type he was before. He takes the cottage not for a honeymoon, but for solitude as he wants to shut the world out.

Dorothy McGuire plays the rather plain Jane maid who Natwick employs and who crushes out big time on Young at first sight. He doesn't notice her back then, but he notices her now and the two when they start to open up and communicate discover love. Is it them or is it the cottage they're in who some say does cast an enchantment over folks.

The Enchanted Cottage is a Madame X style weepy woman's picture made enjoyable by the sincere performances of its stars. McGuire is truly touching why she did not get an Oscar nomination is really ridiculous. The film did get one nomination for Best Musical Scoring.

On hand also is Herbert Marshall as a blind veteran from the first World War who is a pianist. Marshall was in fact a wounded veteran, he lost a leg in combat there and understood his character very well. He guides the younger generation to some self realization. Spring Byington plays Young's mother and her usual flighty character takes on a bit of an edge to it as she can't see what kind of angst Young is going through.

The Enchanted Cottage holds up very well for today's audiences, it could probably be remade with very few changes made and then only to place and time because the message about love is timeless.

A romantic fantasy about love in the eyes of the beholder...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 5 January 2007]

I agree with the Leonard Maltin Film Guide when it says: "Never quite as good as you want it to be", about THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE.

True, there are some nice moments and the story is a good blend of romance and fantasy, much in the same vein as the fragile tale Robert Nathan wrote for "Portrait of Jennie". But here the theme is that for true love, one has to look beyond the surface and see the inner qualities that make a person beautiful in the eyes of the beholder.

Basically, it's the story of an unattractive girl (DOROTHY McGUIRE) who gives solace to a war hero (ROBERT YOUNG) when he returns from the war so facially disfigured that he shuns the company of others. Gradually, in the strange seaside cottage that has sheltered many lovers over the years, something enchanting happens when they see each other with new eyes because of their ripening love for each other. They think they've really changed, but the manager of the cottage inn (MILDRED DUNNOCK) knows that to everyone else they still appear as they were.

HERBERT MARSHALL is a blind pianist in a rather stiff, uncomfortable performance. HILLARY BROOKE is Young's fiancé who eventually gives up on him, and SPRING BYINGTON is his annoyingly meddlesome mother.

Some of it works beautifully, other scenes never quite have the intended effect. But it's sensitively played and MILDRED NATWICK gives what is probably the most interesting performance in the film as a woman whose own past hides a sad secret.

Simply charming!

[CDSteffen · 9/10 · 7 January 2007]

Simply charming is not a phrase that comes naturally to me, but it fits this movie - as does the word enchanted, as used in the title. The movie doesn't appear to be going anywhere at first, but the characters keep your attention. As the movie progresses, you may find yourself under the spell of the cottage, as the unfolding events trap your emotions. All in all, it is not a movie typical moviegoers of the 21st century will go for. It lacks spectacular special effects, fast paced action, or even sweeping visual vistas. It's more of a "Hallmark" kind of movie that you'll enjoy for the story and the way the actors play their roles so well.

True beauty doesn't come from potions or a cottage!

[thejcowboy22 · 6/10 · 21 May 2018]

What is love between two people? Where does the attraction come from? That feeling of caring for another and realizing at that moment you can't live without that significant other by your side. Meeting someone unnoticeable and after time the layers of the indiscreet become strikingly alluring. I've personally had that experience with a girl who sat in front of me in seventh grade science class. We would talk and gradually play dots on scrap paper which led to tickle games. Yet I never looked at her as being attractive. One day she smiled at me for saying something profound. A glow came over her and I was smitten with her loveliness. I was suddenly attracted to her. I was infatuated with her. To this day many decades later I often wondered why she was my first love and how this phenomenon occurred. How spending time with someone develops into true love and desire. The movie The Enchanted Cottage is about a developed relationship between a homely maid and a disfigured Air force pilot. Our story begins with a meeting between the owner of this cottage Mrs Minnett (Mildred Natwick) and a lonely homely woman looking for work as a housekeeper Laura Pennington (Dorothy McGuire). Mrs Minnett explains the history of the cottage to Laura and the couples or honeymooners who spent their years there. Mrs Minnett does need a housekeeper as prospected renters are coming in the way of an engaged couple. A handsome couple played by Hillary Brooke as Beatrice and her dashing air force pilot Oliver Bradford portrayed by Robert Young. Oliver emphasizes that they will marry in a few weeks and use the cottage for their honeymoon. Oliver is confident that he will not be deployed into service for a while but unfortunately the Japanese sudden attack on Pearl Harbor thrusts the United Stares into World War II. Oliver puts his marriage plans on hold till the war ends. Oliver ends up severely injured losing the use of his hand and half his face is disfigured. Oliver some how goes back to the cottage discreetly with face covered and goes into seclusion. Meanwhile our story focuses on Laura and the rejections by men because of her homeliness at a local canteen function. The two lost souls find each other. At first pity becomes friendship which blossoms into love for each other. It's impossible to spoil this movie because everyone who views this romance is moved emotionally in different ways. Duly noted performances in this picture. The baritone articulate voice of reason Herbert Marshall. Marshall plays a blind pianist who points out to Oliver that his own misfortune opened his real eyes to the world through other senses. Marshall drains the self pity out of Oliver in a methodical relaxed way. Marshall seems to be the foundation throughout the movie as go between Oliver and his stuffy Parents. Speaking of stuffy vain parents great performance by Oliver's Mother played by Spring Byington. The Screenplay is well written as Young and McGuire have an ice breaking conversation about the comforts of having a hobby. Young tells McGuire metaphorically about a friend of his that spends his days making miniature ships in glass bottles. " If you look at it largely all of us one way or other are full master schooners or brigantines, whaling ships or even canoes. Ready to sail into life. Only there we were locked up in glass bottles." A wonderful film to watch about life's hardships and how to deal with them. It's not the Cottage or an elixir. It's the power of time and communication between two people that develops the "MAGIC" relationship regardless of flaws in a human beings makeup. This movie affirms my marriage to my wife. Beauty truly comes from within.FYI... Initially I was confused because I perceived the Laura actress Dorothy McGuire as an attractive woman regardless. Try to decipher how the Laura character is different to the eye between her beauty and ugliness. Dorothy McGuire refused to use facial makeup but instead used loosely fitted clothes when ugly and tapered well fitted attire for the beauty scenes.















The Enchanted Cottage brings up these questions about love relations and the

THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE. ('45 ) My favorite movie of all time.

[stroup62131 · 10/10 · 11 February 2005]

I was a young boy of 14 in 1945 when I just happened to see THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE. I had neither heard of the movie or Dorothy McGuire. I was mesmerized as the beautiful story unfolded. It is a bit of fairy-tale but so splendidly done. The change from plain and homely to beautiful and from scarred to handsome is a masterpiece of make-up. The cottage, its furnishings, the burned ruins still standing, and the outside sets were in themselves pure magic. Sadly, all gone now, McGuire, Young, Marshall, and Natwick were all perfectly cast. The only movies: PORTRAIT OF JENNIE and SOMEWHERE IN TIME have come close to the same theme. Odly enough there were 4 other classic movies of that same narrow 7 year time frame that I recall now: WUTHERING HEIGHTS ('39), JANE EYRE ('44) THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE ('46) and LAURA ('45). AMC (before commercials) is the only COMPLETE version I've found. The RKO Collection cut out 14 minutes. The complete AMC version runs 91 minutes. A must see. Richard Stroup ([e-mail])

The Enchanted Cottage review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 26 April 2020]

Hollywood was never any good at making its starlets look plain, and so it's difficult to believe nobody can see the true hottie lurking beneath Dorothy Maguire's lack of makeup and lank hair in this passable chick flick. Works a bit hard to make its point - and not always successfully - but is at least different from the usual stuff coming out of Hollywood in the mid-40s.

An Excellent Cast, A Creepy Premise

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 17 February 2006]

I hadn't seen this in many years. The acting was so good as I began this time, I thought, "Great! Another movie I misjudged as a foolish young man." But then the theme started to be clear and I felt the same way.

This was Hollywood, the seat of glamor; so the concept shouldn't be a surprise. But it is so condescending a concept I feel as if I need to take a shower after watching it. In brief, it tells us that even physically ugly people can seem beautiful to each other and even feel attractive.

Dorothy McGuire is likable as the homely heroine. She seems to have been filmed wearing minimal make-up. Robert Young is injured in the war and feels scarred. His parents can't bear to look at him either. He seems to have all his faculties and in part, the notions of disability are outmoded.

Herbert Marshall is on hand as a blind pianist. His character speaks is hushed tones and is omniscient.

The best performance is given by Mildred Natwick as the owner of the title residence. She is bitter and dour but not made of ice. Her story is much more interesting, and believable, than that of McGuire and Young.