Enchanted April (1935)
Von Arnim, an Australian-born British novelist, wrote the book at a troubled time in her own life, and in the Italian castle that was the real-life model for San Salvatore. Married for the first time to a domineering German count, von Arnim had turned to writing to support her family when her spendthrift husband went to prison for fraud. After his death, the now-successful widow had affairs with H.G. Wells and with Sir Francis Russell, whom she married impulsively and disastrously. When that marriage fell apart, von Arnim retreated to Italy and found solace in writing Enchanted April.
Ann Harding had been a Broadway leading lady who went to Hollywood at the beginning of the talkie era in 1929. Her naturalistic acting was a welcome change from the mannered style of some of the former silent screen stars, and she became one of RKO's biggest stars, particularly in women's pictures, where her warmth and honesty made even the most sentimental or sordid sagas appealing. But by the mid-1930s, she was being typecast, and the public was tiring of her self-sacrificing heroines. Harding, too, was tiring of those roles, and she and the studio were at odds about the course of her career. The dignified Harding seems miscast as the flaky Lotty in Enchanted April, although her performance is charming as usual.
The standout performances in Enchanted April are by two comic veterans. As the formidable Mrs. Fisher, Jessie Ralph steals every scene she's in and Reginald Owen turns his every scene into a comic aria as the barrister with delusions of grandeur. Nobody played foolish husbands as well as Frank Morgan, and he did so again in Enchanted April. Ralph Forbes, who plays the artist-landlord, was usually cast as stalwart heroes, but has fun with a more flamboyant character. Katharine Alexander, who plays Rose, was primarily a stage actress who was somewhat colorless in films. Enchanted April was one of only two American films British actress Jane Baxter made - she was better known as a film, theater, and television actress in England.
With little more than an hour running time, Enchanted April seemed rushed and superficial to some critics. And the beauty and transformative power of the location are only talked about, but never seen. The film was a box-office flop, and apparently hastened the demise of Harding's film career. She left films in 1937, after her marriage to a composer, although she returned to the screen occasionally. Harding continued to work frequently on stage, and later in television. Her final film appearance was in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), opposite Fredric March, who had been her co-star in her film debut, Paris Bound (1929).
Enchanted April was remade more successfully in 1992, directed by Mike Newell and shot in the castle where Elizabeth von Arnim had written the novel. This time, the beauty of Italy glowed in the color cinematography, and worked its seductive magic on audiences as well as on the four unhappy heroines. The film was a worldwide hit, and earned three Academy Award nominations.
Director: Harry Beaumont
Producer: Kenneth Macgowan
Screenplay: Samuel Hoffenstein & Ray Harris, based on the play by Kane Campbell and the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim
Cinematography: Edward Cronjager
Editor: George Hively
Art Direction: Carroll Clark, Van Nest Polglase
Principal Cast: Ann Harding (Mrs. Lotty Wilkins), Frank Morgan (Mellersh Wilkins), Katharine Alexander (Mrs. Rose Arbuthnot), Reginald Owen (Henry Arbuthnot), Jane Baxter (Lady Caroline Dester), Ralph Forbes (Peppo Briggs), Jessie Ralph (Mrs. Phoebe Fisher), Charles Judels (Domenico), Rafaela Ottiano (Francesca).
BW-66m. Closed captioning.
by Margarita Landazuri
