Victorian era Katherine Hepburn doesn't like cruel father Donald Crisp. In no particular order, she has a baby out of wedlock, is courted by Herbert Marshall for twenty years, becomes a leading figure in the women's rights movement, and goes through more than twenty costume changes in this uninvolving and poorly conceived movie.
It's certainly true that the issues discussed here were and remain real problems, but showing them in newspaper headlines in this movie is no way to discuss them. Neither is Miss Hepburn particularly convincing playing the long-suffering woman. Despite the obvious care with which producer Pandro Berman shepherded this movie into being, the fabulous set design, the gracefully moving cameras, the presence of newcomers Doris Dudley and Van Heflin, this one cannot claim to have simply aged poorly. It was a flop when it came out. And quite rightly so.
It seems to take little to raise a player to the status of star. Sometimes two successes in a row will do it, and then, especially in the Studio era, theyy bent their efforts towards producing vehicles that would profit from and sustain that stardom. The contrary takes a little longer, but this was Miss Hepburn's third money-losing picture in a row, and the failures just kept coming.
It's certainly true that the issues discussed here were and remain real problems, but showing them in newspaper headlines in this movie is no way to discuss them. Neither is Miss Hepburn particularly convincing playing the long-suffering woman. Despite the obvious care with which producer Pandro Berman shepherded this movie into being, the fabulous set design, the gracefully moving cameras, the presence of newcomers Doris Dudley and Van Heflin, this one cannot claim to have simply aged poorly. It was a flop when it came out. And quite rightly so.
It seems to take little to raise a player to the status of star. Sometimes two successes in a row will do it, and then, especially in the Studio era, theyy bent their efforts towards producing vehicles that would profit from and sustain that stardom. The contrary takes a little longer, but this was Miss Hepburn's third money-losing picture in a row, and the failures just kept coming.