jbt76
I saw this film at the Egyptian Theater in Sioux Falls, SD when I was 7 yrs. old. I can still remember the shooting scene. I cried all the way home. I just watched it today and cried all over again! I didn't realize 'til today what a wonderful actress Norma Shearer was. The photography was great, better than I remember 30's movies being. The chemistry between Norma and Frederic was superb. And ,of course, Leslie Howard always gives a stellar performance. I haven't seen the re-makes, but can't imagine that they could improve upon it. I'm saving this movie for my daughter to see so she can appreciate a fine film from the past, one with an everlasting theme and a great story.
badgersdrift
I can't add much to the raves already posted. The first song I remember my mother singing to me was "Smiling Through" ("But through all the long years, when the clouds brought their tears, those two eyes of blue came smiling through at me"), and she'd tell me the movie's story. I taught the song to my children and grandchildren, but until recent years there was no way to get a copy of the movie.I thought I wanted the Jeannette MacDonald version because of her beautiful voice, but it was back ordered and only this one was available--lucky for me. It seems to be everyone's favorite of the three.The wedding scene is a masterpiece--understated and heartbreaking, but I'm finally able to handle it. It's that very last scene that gets me every time. Best kind of tears, though: the kind you're "smiling through".Norma Shearer, like Irene Dunne, is not only beautiful to look at but irresistibly likable.
jfields-7
This Is by far the best of the three versions of the story. Shearer, March and Howard are all Magnificent. There are really two unforgettably touching parts of the film. The first is the flashback sequence on the eve of the wedding where Howard and Shearer behave like children in love and when she dies at their wedding it almost seems like Shearer has better chemistry as Moonyean with Howard than she dose as Kathleen with March either way she is a brilliant and underrated actress. The other and most moving part of the film is the unforgettable and tear jerking end when Howard and Shearer reunite in death. If one can sit through this movie and not be even a little choked up by the end, then they must be pretty cold. This is yet another example of the days gone by but not forgotten and the fact that they don't make them like this anymore. A definite 10
ecaulfield
I cannot imagine a movie being classier than this one. The lilting mood of the story is felt all the way through the film until its closing moments. The swell of music followed by the appearance of a 'The End' card, like a surrendered afterthought on the screen, make Smilin' Through seem as if MGM meant to deliver a movie on a cloud in 1932. Fredric March and Norma Shearer's conversations have a sense of 'sway' or dance about them. From her refusal to see his soldier off at the train station then following him there in the very next scene to his simple but imploring, "There's a war on, and I'm in it!", the well-drawn characters demonstrate nobility, humor, and attachment to each other that are poetic in their simplicity. Even an elderly man, as painted by Leslie Howard's portrayal, commits his loving then selfish then last surprising acts with grace. Director, Sidney Franklin motions us into the fold to experience the drama alongside the characters with his special touches: distant gunfire rattling windows, doors shutting on a church shooting while we wait for them to be reopened to discover how the characters are reacting. No leotards or shades of pink are glimpsed here, but surely we have been to a ballet of sorts.
AD
