OVP: That Forsyte Woman (1949)

Film: That Forsyte Woman (1949)
Stars: Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young, Janet Leigh
Director: Compton Bennett
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Costume Design)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

There are film twists that, currently, seem like obvious choices that years later actually lose a bit of their potency, and this is where I start on this rather dour and overstuffed movie.  The Forsyte Saga, for those familiar with the series of books by John Galsworthy or the Masterpiece Theater classic starring Gina McKee and Rupert Graves, is a terrific soap opera about an upper-middle class family in Britain, and truly great fodder for a film.  However, this particular movie has all of the mechanics of a soap opera, but none of the suspense and fun.

Perhaps I should go to the first, seemingly obvious choice that falls flat on its face, the casting of Errol Flynn as the brutish Soames Forsyte, a man who gets what he wants, especially when told he can't have it.  Flynn seems like an obvious choice for this, and if off-screen rumors are true, was fairly similar to Forsyte in multiple ways.  However, Flynn cannot seem to master any of the emotions that are required to play such a complicated character (Damien Lewis was much better years later), and only manages to be domineering without giving any indication as to the "why" behind his character's decisions.  Granted, this is Classical Hollywood, but Bogart, a similar leading man, was able to do this beautifully in most of his films in the 1940's.  With such a blank slate at the leading man, everyone else's fears and actions seem terribly out-of-balance.

Greer Garson, of course, is intensely watchable in tragic melodramas, and gives her all, but her leading men continue to be too dour and too dull to compare to her.  Walter Pidgeon has undeniable chemistry with her (they appeared in eight films together during her years at MGM), but he's so briefly onscreen, and quite frankly, casting him sort of ruins the suspense of the movie.  (Spoiler Alert, though if you've made it this far, you're probably already familiar) Throughout the film, there's actually a solid question of whether Garson will end up with Flynn or Pidgeon, but casting her opposite her favorite leading man sort of seals the deal.  And the less said about Robert Young, who is badly miscast and is the least appealing of the three leading men whatever Garson's Irene decides toward the end, the better. Garson has the most fun onscreen with Janet Leigh, who is a joy to see in her vivacious young glory.  Janet, like another woman who shares her last name, is eternally attached to a few classic films (in Janet's case, Touch of Evil, The Manchurian Candidate, and of course Psycho) and rarely does anyone notice the remainder of her long and impressive filmography.  As I continue working my way through the 1950's, I expect I shall.

The film received only one Costume Design, but there's little arguing with it.  The Costume Design in the film is beautiful and incredibly bold.  The designs seem to be borrowing as much from the 1940's as they do the 1880's (that remarkable black-and-white number that Garson wears seems far too modern for Victorian England), but it becomes the thing you most look forward to from scene to scene: what decadence will Garson and Leigh be wearing next?  Also of note, and if anyone can point this out to me, I'd appreciate it-this film, according to both IMDB and Wikipedia was released in the US in 1949, but was not nominated until the 1950 Oscars, putting it against the unstoppable Samson and Delilah (it may have had a better chance the year prior).  Anyone know why that is?  Did it really take that long to get the film to Los Angeles?

What about you-which version of the Forsyte Saga do you prefer?  Do you have a favorite Pidgeon/Garson matchup?  And what is truly Janet Leigh's finest hour?