Eternally Yours (1939)

The title song played over the credits is very pretty, and Werner Janssen's score was nominated for Best Music in 1940. However, after the opening credits are done, the movie goes downhill. Eternally Yours belongs to the group of films that tells wives in the audience to support their husbands no matter how mean, selfish, and inattentive they are. If you don't like that message, you won't like this movie.Loretta Young starts the movie engaged to Broderick Crawford, but when she goes with her girlfriends to see David Niven, a famous magician, it's love at first sight. So far so good. But is there a secret twist to their love-was he hypnotizing her or using a magic trick to win her love? No, there's neither imagination nor secret twists in Gene Towne's and C. Graham Baker's script. Countless times I thought the story would turn in a different, clever direction but it never did. Loose ends aren't tied, and inventive plot lines aren't explored. As much as I love David Niven, this isn't one of his good movies.

The first half of the film is generally feel good, with much kissing, hugging and "Darling" talk between stars David Niven and Loretta Young, both of whom come across as charming. They are immediately attracted to each other, and before we know it, they're married and she is serving as his assistant in his magic shows.But, as we begin the second half, things begin to get rocky, generally less interesting, and more contrived. Niven refuses to take seriously Loretta's hints that she is weary of living out of a suitcase. She wants him to slow down and not accept every offer of a global tour. She's also weary of worrying that he will soon die from his solo act where he jumps from 15,000 feet with a parachute, but with his hands behind his back, handcuffed. She reveals that she has financed the building of a charming country house, and strongly hints that she wants to spend some time with him there in the near future. But, he ignores this hint, having recently received an offer for a world tour with his airplane jump stunt. Thus, without consulting Niven, Loretta goes off to Reno with her aunt(Billie Burke)to file for a quickie divorce, complaining that she doesn't feel needed any more. After the divorce, she immediately takes a cruise. Low and behold, her old boyfriend Don(Broderick Crawford)is aboard. Loretta soon convinces him to marry her, and they have the ship captain perform the ceremony. Meanwhile , Niven continues to perform his magic tricks, now with Lola(Virginia Fields) as his assistant.Niven arranges that he keeps bumping into Don and Loretta, so that he can recapture her, if he can talk to her. It's not hard to see that she still loves him as a person. They have a romantic ride on an ice skiff with sail, where they talk things over, and kiss. I'll leave the rather rushed finale for you to see.Unfortunately, the various 'name' secondary players don't add much interest to the film. Billie Burke, of course, played the good witch in "The Wizard of Oz".Loretta and Niven were major characters in several other films: "Four Men and a Prayer", "Three Bind Mice" and, later, "The Bishop's Wife", with Cary Grant.See it at YouTube.

David Niven and Loretta Young pledge to be "Eternally Yours" in this 1939 film also featuring Hugh Herbert, C. Aubrey Smith, Broderick Crawford, Eve Arden, Zasu Pitts, and Billie Burke.Young plays Anita, who is engaged to Don (Crawford); however, she attends a performance by The Great Arturo (Niven), a Houdini-type who also reads minds and palms, and it's love at first sight for both of them. They marry, and she becomes part of his act, traveling full time all over the world.Anita is hoping to settle down with Arturo and have a home and family. With the help of her grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) she secretly builds her dream home. When she shows it to Arturo, he dismisses it. She leaves him, divorces him, and marries Don.Light comedy with a charming cast. Young is beautiful, 26 at the time, and she and Niven work well together, as they did in one of my favorite movies, The Bishop's Wife.People commented that this is a horrible plot, bad script, etc. It seemed pretty typical to me of the type of comedy done back then, no better, no worse.David Niven was a remarkable man who died an awful death from ALS. An accomplished writer as well as actor, he was a gentleman through and through. When he died, the porters at Heathrow sent a wreath that said, 'To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king'.

Loretta Young, years before becoming David Niven's spouse as "The Bishop's Wife", was "The Bishop's Daughter", an ironic detail about her career. She's the lively daughter of feisty C. Aubrey Smith, a hands-on bishop who at one point is seen teaching his juvenile charges how to box. Young goes to a magic show where she meets magician David Niven and before she can get the chance to express her cynicism, she is totally entranced by his charm, and very shortly his assistant and wife. But he's consumed with his career, and when he makes a drunken promise to jump out of a plane while handcuffed, she knows she could loose him, either to a fatal accident if he can't get freed, or to the love of his popularity, which explodes as the date of this stunt arises. So it is no shock that as he becomes a major star, she becomes disgruntled with being second fiddle and decides to take a powder, literally disappearing from his life altogether.There's a charming little romantic comedy with light humor inside this slow moving bore that only gets a few minor laughs here and there. It certainly doesn't come from its cast of comical supporting actors which includes brief appearances by Eve Arden (as Young's pal in the beginning; She gets her own magic by disappearing from the film altogether after two nice scenes), Billie Burke (as Young's aunt who seems to be there only to get her name in the credits) and Zasu Pitts (as a social acquaintance who only briefly gets fluttery in her traditional standard). Hugh Herbert, the "woo woo" king of Warner Brothers comedies and musicals of the 30's, plays mostly straight here, only briefly going down familiar territory as Niven's valet.Then, there's Broderick Crawford who becomes the next man in Young's life as she moves on from Niven. It's obvious that he's the Ralph Bellamy character in this missed opportunity directed by Tay Garnett. A cute little finale involving Niven's magic prop rabbit brings on one of the only real laughs in the film.