THE SHINING HOUR
US, 1938, 76 minutes. Black and white.
Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas, Fay Bainter, Allyn Joslyn, Melville Cooper.
Directed by Frank Borzage.
The Shining Hour is a melodrama, late 1930s MGM soap opera, finely done.
The film is a star vehicle for Joan Crawford, a celebrity at MGM at this period. She portrays a singer in a nightclub in New York, managed by Allyn Joslyn. She encounters a rich man from Wisconsin, falls in love with him, Melvyn Douglas. She decides to marry him against the wishes of the nightclub owner, warning her that she will be out of place in wealthy society. She also encounters the younger brother of her fiancé, played by Robert Young. He is quite hostile to the marriage. He is married to Margaret Sullavan.
When Olivia arrives in Wisconsin, she experiences the patent hostility of the sister of the two brothers. She is played by Fay Bainter (the year that she won the best supporting actress award for Jezebel). Complications ensue, Olivia makes friends with Judy, Robert Young’s wife. Robert Young changes his attitude and starts making advances on Olivia. Olivia and her husband decide to build a new house, away from the family home. However, the tensions become more complicated, especially with the interventions of the bitter sister-in-law. Hattie McDaniel?, a year before her Oscar-winning performance in Gone With The Wind, plays a maid – with something of a sharp tongue.
1. The impact of this melodrama? Entertaining? Issues? The cast?
2. Black and white photography, the New York clubs? The contrast with Wisconsin? The family homes, the countryside? The musical score?
3. The title, with reference to whom? Which shining hour?
4. A Joan Crawford vehicle? Her performance as Olivia, singing in the nightclub, her background, not easy with wealthy people? Her relationship to the nightclub owner, his hopes for marrying her? His warning against the marriage? Her relationship with Henry, his charm, her deciding to marry him? Her encounter with David, his hostility? Her poise? Their travelling to Wisconsin, the encounter with Hannah, Hannah and her hostility, her language? Her bringing her maid with her? The maid giving advice?
5. Henry, a good man, meeting Olivia, wanting to marry her? The proposal, the preparations, the ceremony? Bringing her to Wisconsin? His calmness, not appreciating Hannah’s bitterness? His relationship with Hannah?
6. David, hostility? His place in the home? Relationship with Hannah? Advice for Henry? His marriage to Judy, the surface respectability and love? His making advances on Olivia? Olivia attracted to him? His double-dealings?
7. Judy, growing up with Hannah and the family? Marrying David? Their life together? A charming woman, friendly with Olivia? Listening to Hannah’s bitterness? Trying to be a companion to Olivia? Her gradual realisation of what was happening? Her self-sacrificing attitudes? Her shining hour?
8. Hannah, older, her relationship with the brothers? The implications of something more perverse? Her love, her bitterness, possessiveness? Her language to Olivia? The seeming civility? The insinuations, the sarcasm? Her being confronted by her two brothers? By Judy? Olivia confronting her?
9. The decision to build the house? A haven for Henry and Olivia? The destruction? The danger, David and intervention? Hannah and her responsibility?
10. The resolution of the difficulties – with the motion picture code in 1930s style? Marriage, separation, Olivia thinking she was out of place? Judy and the reassurance? Hannah and acceptance or not?
