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Biography of a Bachelor Girl:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
January 4, 1935
New York Times, March 2, 1935
The Screen Version of S. N.
Behrman's Play 'Biography,' at the Capitol -- 'While
the Patient Slept.'
By ANDRE SENNWALD
In the cinema edition of S. N. Behrman's play
"Biography" Miss Ann Harding encounters some
difficulty in pretending to be the wise and joyous
artist whom Ina Claire interpreted so agreeably on
the stage three seasons ago. Mr. Behrman, you may
remember, defined his heroine as a "big
laissez-faire girl," and Miss Claire made her a
generous, witty and gallant lady who dissolved the
conflicting hates of her various friends in the warm
sunshine of her own personality. Unhappily Miss
Harding, as she reveals herself on the screen, is
not temperamentally of that breed, tending on the
contrary to be a coolly intelligent, iron-willed and
slightly superior lady who causes the male of the
species to shiver with foolish embarrassment under
her chill and capable stare. Nor is Robert
Montgomery, whose talent is for pleasant exterior
comedy, any more at home as the venomous radical
editor whom Eagle Larimore played with such
belligerent skill on the stage.
No doubt it is performing a grave injustice on these
distinguished screen players to measure their work
against that of their predecessors. But it happens
that Mr. Behrman was writing a scalpel-edged comedy
of character much more than he was writing the story
of the lady artist who threatened to mortify some of
her famous lovers by penning an emotional biography.
The dismal truth is that the film at the Capitol
contains a vast spiritual gulf between the leading
players and the parts they are supposed to be
interpreting. The superficial nature of the
photoplay is best indicated by the change of title
to the titillant "Biography of a Bachelor Girl,"
which tells all you need to know of the talkative
and rather terribly meaningless work which traces
its ancestry dubiously to Mr. Behrman's play.
On the surface, to be sure, this is still the tale
of Marion Froude, the gay bohemian who is better
known for her amours than for her paintings. Richard
Kurt, although he hates everything she represents,
realizes the value of her memoirs as a circulation
builder. Then there is Leander, her girlhood
sweetheart, who fears that Marion's revelation, will
ruin his chances of becoming a United States
Senator. Gradually, as Marion comes to understand
the thwarted impulses beneath the editor's irascible
exterior, she falls in love with him. But Kurt does
not lose his intolerance for the kind of pompous
mediocrity represented by Leander, the Senatorial
candidate, and he insists on the publication of the
memoirs long after Marion, out of her natural
tolerance, has decided to abandon the project.
The play ended brilliantly on Marion's decision to
escape her bitter and impetuous lover by fleeing the
city. In the film, though, the camera fades out on
the touching spectacle of Mr. Montgomery racing
through the crowded office bawling his devotion to
the vanishing Miss Harding. The only stabilizing
influence in the picture is Charles Richman, from
the original company, who repeats his excellent
performance as Leander's political sponsor.
Biography of a Bachelor Girl:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
January 4, 1935 |
