The Enchanted Cottage **** (1945, Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick) – Classic Movie Review 12,354

Its star Robert Young said the 1945 romantic fantasy film The Enchanted Cottage is ‘the best love story that’s ever been written. It was one of those films I hated to see end. It was such a joy to do.’ 

Director John Cromwell’s lovely 1945 RKO black and white American romantic fantasy film The Enchanted Cottage stars Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, and Herbert Marshall, along with Mildred Natwick, Spring Byington, Hillary Brooke, and Richard Gaines.

Plain girl Laura (McGuire) and disfigured pilot Oliver (Young) are two unhappy misfits who find each other beautiful and fall in love in a magical New England honeymooners’ cottage, in this touching, old-fashioned romantic drama taken from a 1923 play by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero.

The poignant, sentimental material (already filmed in 1924 in a silent version with Richard Barthelmass) is effectively modernised for 1945 to a wartime setting, attractively acted and sensitively directed.

McGuire and Young play with their customary charm and relish, and there is a magical glow to Ted Tetzlaff’s cinematography. But, despite all the loving care lavished on it, this dated material is perhaps now only semi-enchanting. Yet, still, it has something, a certain magic. Dated it may be, but faded it is not.

Roy Webb’s beautifully lush music was Oscar nominated.

Also in the cast are Alec Englander, Mary Worth, Robert Clarke, Eden Nicholas and Josephine Whittell.

The original play and film were set in England, but after producer Harriet Parsons acquired the rights for RKO, she wrote an outline of an updated story about a World War Two veteran set in New England. She engaged DeWitt Bodeen for the screenplay and John Cromwell as director. David O Selznick lent RKO Dorothy McGuire and MGM lent Robert Young, re-teaming after McGuire’s debut in the 1943 film Claudia.

The film was released on 28 April 1945.

The film was popular and made a profit of $881,000.

The Enchanted Cottage was first filmed in 1924, with Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy as the newlyweds. A print is preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. A third film adaptation appeared in 2016 as The Enchanted Cottage.

Robert Young said he considered The Enchanted Cottage to be ‘the best love story that’s ever been written. It was one of those films I hated to see end. I wanted it to go on and on and on. It was such a joy to do.’ He later named a home he built in California The Enchanted Cottage.

The play opened on Broadway at the Ritz Theatre on March 31, 1923, starring Herbert Bunston and Katharine Cornell and ran for 65 performances.

The cast are Dorothy McGuire as Laura Pennington, Robert Young as Oliver Bradford, Herbert Marshall as Major John Hillgrove, Mildred Natwick as Mrs Abigail Minnett, Spring Byington as Violet Price, Hillary Brooke as Beatrice Alexander, Richard Gaines as Frederick ‘Freddy’ Price, Alec Englander as Danny ‘Taxi’ Stanton, Robert Clarke as Marine Corporal, Eden Nicholas as Soldier, and Josephine Whittell.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,354

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