You Belong to Me (1941)

I love Barbara Stanwick so I thought I would check it out. So outdated. Too bad that things were ever this way. Do not bother to watch it unless you just want to be grateful for how most situations are better today.

...if you don't mind taking 84 minutes to tell one joke -- the husband in insanely and stupidly jealous. That's the plot. The whole plot. As the cop says when a crowd gathers, "Nothing to see here folks. Move along." I think both Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck are absolutely top-notch actors. But this film stinks. It's a total waste of 84 minutes. I kept thinking that with a cast like this, it has to get better. It didn't. It even starts out bad with the worse fake skiing I've ever seen in movie.Now I mentioned 84 minutes, but the film lasts 94 minutes. That last 10 minutes is okay, since all we really need is a happy ending. Right? You know what the most interesting part of the film was? Seeing character actor Edgar Buchanan in a subdued role. Ruth Donnelly, another great character actor, has a nice supporting role here, as well.I rarely give a rating as low as a "5", but here I considered going lower.

Man this was a painful watch. This one was almost as irritating as the original Out-of-Towners.I can't say it enough, Peter Fonda can't do comedy. He is just dreadful in this. His character is so irritating and nauseating I just can't believe they let this one in theaters. As great as Barbara Stanwyck is she can't save this irritating mess. Know way in the world would a sane female/wife stay married to an over-jealous wreck like this character. I know this is suppose to be a romantic comedy but this one isn't even close to being credible.Skip this one and be grateful that you did.

Despite having an absolutely horrid script (more about that later), this film is still vaguely watchable just because it stars two excellent actors, Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. Aside from one or two REAL stinkers, I'd probably watch just about anything with them in the film, as I am a huge fan of Hollywood's golden age of the 1930s and 40s. However, no matter how much I love their films, I just can't recommend this film.The movie begins with Fonda and Stanwyck on vacation at some ski resort. The two haven't yet met, but the film begins loudly and obnoxiously with a scene in which Fonda horribly yodels while skiing. It was done so unsubtly and made my teeth grind but I stuck it out--especially when Fonda fell into a snow bank and this stopped the yodeling!! In hindsight, perhaps I should have just turned it off then! Fonda is knocked out in the fall and Barbara goes for help. Back at the ski lodge, he seems okay but fortunately she is ALSO a doctor and has him x-rayed and nurses him back to health. He, in turn, becomes infatuated with her and proposes to her. Despite hardly knowing each other, they marry and so far the film seems like a sweet but very slight romantic comedy.Once home, however, all isn't rosy as she jumps right back into her job as a family doctor and he begins exhibiting signs that he is a controlling and potentially dangerous man due to his jealousy. The film plays it all for laughs, but frankly Fonda's behaviors were really creepy--spying on her and her male patients, attacking or threatening ANY man she treats, tripping a patient who already has a back injury and stomping into a surprise party and insisting that everyone there (men and women) are out to steal away his wife. He comes off as a combination of a sociopath and paranoid schizophrenic, but it's all supposed to be for laughs. Considering that he seems like a dangerous nut, you would think that Stanwyck would file for an annulment along with a restraining order! But, oddly, she gets mad but just can't stay mad at Fonda because he's so........? I can't think of the right word--'creepy' is all that comes to mind!!! Later, out of the blue, multi-millionaire Fonda gets a job working the counter at a department store. Then, through magical thinking, he and Babs seem to assume his hostility and violent jealousy is all a thing of the past--so a job apparently cures anger and suspicions. When this job falls through, the film ends with Fonda buying his own hospital, giving Barbara a job there and they live happily ever after. They don't go any further with the story, but I assume based on Fonda's character that he then spent most of his time as hospital administrator beating up all the male patients.The first portion at the ski lodge and the next did NOT fit well together, nor did the final "Horatio Alger" inspired section where the rich boy made good in the business world. They were like three separate plots but despite this, the most serious problem with the film was its seeming to excuse away domestic violence and delusional jealousy! What a creepy little film! Thank goodness neither Fonda nor Stanwyck are known for this yechy film but for all their other lovely films.