I Take This Woman ** (1931, Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Helen Ware) – Classic Movie Review 7378

Director Marion Gering’s 1931 I Take This Woman stars the alluring team of Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard in this shaky romantic drama, based on Mary Roberts Rinehart’s novel Lost Ecstasy.

Cooper stars as a cowboy called Tom McNair, who takes this wealthy city socialite named Kay Dowling (Lombard) on the remote Wyoming ranch where she has been banished by her father Mr Dowling (Charles Trowbridge).

They marry, but she cannot stand home on the range as the culture clash is too strong, so they agree to divorce and she runs back to rich daddy in New York. But, of course, she has a change of heart and decides to get her husband back.

I Take This Woman is rather disappointing, thanks to a low-laugh count in the screenplay, and to Paramount Pictures’ low production values too. But it is worth a try for the stars, even though they do not show the needed sexual chemistry, and Lombard’s capricious character is unsympathetic. Cooper and Lombard are always worth anybody’s time, separately or together. The theme is that love conquers all, especially if the lovers are very desirable and attractive, as these are.

Also in the cast are Helen Ware as Aunt Bessie, Lester Vail as Herbert Forrest, Clara Blandick as Sue Barnes, Gerald Fielding as Bill Wentworth, Albert [Al] Hart as Jake Mallory, Guy Oliver as Sid, Syd Saylor as Shorty, Frank Darien as station agent, Lew Kelly as foreman, David Landau as circus boss, Mildred Van Dorn as Clara Hammell, Leslie Palmer as Phillips, Ara Haswell as Nora, Flora Finch, Robert Parrish and Lon Poff.

I Take This Woman is directed by Marion Gering, runs 72 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Vincent Lawrence, based on Mary Roberts Rinehart’s novel Lost Ecstasy, is shot in black and white by Victor Milner and is produced by Hector Turnbull.

It survived by the skin of its teeth. When the rights reverted to author Rinehart, the 35mm negative and all supporting materials were shipped back to her, but she could not store them and they were apparently lost. However, a restoration of the film was funded by the Louis B Mayer Foundation from a single surviving nitrate print from the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The restored print was screened in March 2017 at the Festival of Preservation at UCLA.

There is another, totally unconnected film of this title, the 1940 I Take This Woman starring Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7378

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com