THE FOUNTAIN

US, 1934, 82 minutes, Black-and-white.
Ann Harding, Brian Aherne, Paul Lukas, Jean Hersholt, Ralph Forbes, Sara Haden.
Directed by John Cromwell.

The Fountain is a story of World War I, with a setting in Holland in 1916. Which means that this treatment of the war was made only 18 years from the time of the action.

The film is not so watchable these days. It is heavy with dialogue, some philosophical reflections about the nature of goodness and the fountain of righteousness from within a person. It is also rather stilted in some of the performances, especially Brian Aherne, as a writer captured during the war, involved in an attempt to escape from a prisoner of war camp in Holland, taking refuge in a Dutch family mansion, in love with the wife of a German officer (Paul Lukas), having met her in Oxford days. Ann Harding is the wife, tormented by her love for the writer and her duty towards her husband who has been wounded on the German front.

The treatment is somewhat melodramatic, highly romantic in the scenes between the couple in love, strong pathos in the scenes between the wife and her invalid husband. But there is also some jealous intrigue, instigated by Sarah Hayden, later to be the sweetness and light aren’t of Andy Hardy.

The film was directed by veteran John Cromwell, a celebrated director, especially during the 1930s and 40s, films including The Prisoner of Zenda, Anna and the King of Siam, The Goddess.