mark.waltz It's easy to see why Joan Crawford was one of the top box office draws of the mid 1930's. She was simply one of the most exquisitely beautiful and natural movie stars, not a superb actress, but purely ravishing in looks, poise and personality. She sang and danced, clowned and cried with conviction, and audiences adored her. The masculine 1940's and 50's look was far off, so here she is at her most appealing.This romantic comedy has Crawford as a madcap socialite traveling aboard her father's (Frank Morgan) private yacht around the Greek isles where she meets a struggling archaeologist (Brian Aherne) who thinks she's a secretary. Fate reveals the truth in New York when he meets her father, and once all is revealed, the sparks continue to fly. Aherne is one of Crawford's better romantic leads, not a he-man like Gable or dull like real-life hubby Franchot Tone, but a likable masculine male who will not tolerate her nonsense, yet would never bore her, either.This isn't all champagne corks and society shindigs, however. This delves into visions of the lives of the idle rich and how a working man could never tolerate such an existence, particularly in the depression. When Aherne is made a vice president in the company run by Crawford's hard-as-nails granny (the fabulous Jessie Ralph), he goes ballistic as he realizes the pointlessness of it all and his title in name only position. Eric Blore and Arthur Treacher exchange some great "sissy" dialog as butlers of the different households, and the always wonderful Aline MacMahon is fun as Aherne's assistant. There is also a fabulous Christmas sequence where the guest at the unseen Ralph's annual shindig sing one of the funniest versions of "Silent Night" ever heard on film.This has one of the wittiest screenplays of MGM's golden age (outside a "Thin Man" movie), with gems such as Morgan's retort to Aherne, "After all, Rome wasn't burnt in a day!" and Ralph's acceptance of Aherne when he fibs by telling her that his ancestors were horse thieves and pirates. "Good Stock", she says, as she could in that truly inimitable vinegary way.

bkoganbing Joan Crawford gets a change from being a taxi dancer or a shop girl and is a full fledged heiress in I Live My Life. She's living it pretty good too, far better than most in her Depression era audience were. She's on a nice holiday in Europe and comes upon an archaeological dig in Greece. A rare statue is unearthed, but the debonair Irish archaeologist doing the digging played by Brian Aherne interests Ms. Crawford far more.Our heiress is quite the flirt, movie heiresses back then always were, but she sure hooks Aherne. The problem is she's already engaged to the wealthy and snooty Fred Keating back in New York. And she may have to marry him. Her dad is Frank Morgan and he's got a few bucks, but the real money is with her tyrannical grandma Jessie Ralph. There's reason personal and financial to marry Keating. And as the popular song of the day went, all Aherne has to give is love. And Keating is such a drip.Although Crawford is one sly little minx in this film, Aherne's charm and sincerity really get to her. In fact they got to me as he gives the film's best performance. Frank Morgan is always good and he's his usual befuddled self. He actually married into the money, Joan's mother is deceased and he lives to a lesser degree on the largess of his mother-in-law.I wish Aline McMahon and Sterling Holloway as Aherne's assistants had more to do in I Live My Life. They always add to any film they're in.I Live My Life is not one of Joan's better films, but entertaining enough. The question is will Aherne live Joan's life or will Joan start living Aherne's? Back then there was only one way to go.

raskimono TCM, the old movies channel tends to give us the best of the old school movie stars but at times I think they show too much of them in dispensation of the movies of lesser known stars who have better movies, idest this Joan Crawford movie which is only being shown because it's a Joan Crawford movie. Trash is trash no matter the star. Crawford is a rich spoiled lass. Brian Aherne has one of those archaelogical jobs with a name nobody can remember or pronounce without sounding either ulta-intelligent or extremely foolish. Their love will not work because of the class differences. Will it? Have you heard of schizrophenic movie?, that movie that cannot decide what it wants to be, a comedy or a drama and as a joan of all movies, it tries many but masters none. It's funny for 10 minutes, then suddenly comedic with people changing attitudes and tone unconvincingly, especially at the matriarch's house. Ending seems rushed and even Joan falls short in this one. Obviously an A-production with the usually sharp craftsman Woody Van Dyke behind the camera, the whole buffoonery is a poor disappointment.

TOML-4 Crawford is very funny in this follow up to the trend started by It Happened One Night. Brian Aherne is miscast, but the are a good looking couple and there is some chemistry there, although not as much as there would be with Tracy or Gable. None-the-less, Crawford added a nice comedy to her dossier and it wears well even today.