The Animal Kingdom (1932)

It's wife vs. ex-girlfriend. A look at the credits of "Animal Kingdom" will tell you who wins (Harding gets top billing; since it's pre-Code there's no obeisance to the sanctity of marriage). Like other Barry plays, this is under-written for the screen. The best assets of his other films are the actors, usually Katherine Hepburn (in this it's William Gargan as the butler). The only great film he produced is "High Society," and that needed music to elevate it. The under-development in "Animal" concerns the Myrna Loy character as the wife. We're supposed to sympathize with Tom's leaving her, but there's not enough objectionable in how she's written to motivate his abandonment. Nor is there enough bonding with Harding to make her a credible alternative. Real characters and adult conversation, then bogs down with tete-a-tetes in the last scenes and ends arbitrarily.

Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, and Myrna Loy are all members of "The Animal Kingdom" in this 1932 film based on the play by Phillip Barry. Barry in his way was a transitional playwright - he wrote about the upper class, usually negatively, but always gave a nod to the lower class - they were the ones that had more fun. Just a little bit later, plays about the upper class would go by the wayside for plays about the working class - Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing - as America moved through the depression.Leslie Howard plays a member of said upper class who has engaged in a Bohemian lifestyle, living with an intelligent artist (Harding). They have a no attachment, open relationship, and he takes her at her word and gets himself engaged to a gorgeous, wealthy young woman (Myrna Loy) just as Harding decides she wants to settle down and have a family. She accepts his decision, but not his offer of continuing friendship.There is a line about the "animal kingdom" in the film, but I prefer to think the title has to do with baser instincts. If Howard passionately desired Ann Harding, he wouldn't have wanted to be friends - and it's her desire of him that makes her reject his "just friends" suggestion. Let's face facts - Loy turns him on and knows it. In fact, she uses sex as a manipulative weapon, and he's putty in her hands. It's more blatant in this film than, say, "Harriet Craig" which was done under the code - but the power of sex is there.Of course, a relationship based on sexual desire and nothing else eventually grows tired, and Howard finds himself going back to talk with Harding and spend time with her. She smartly keeps running. Clearly, Howard is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.Harding was an interesting leading woman - she was attractive but not beautiful and had a very low, distinctive speaking voice. She came from the Broadway stage, and her heyday in films was through the mid-thirties, though she worked consistently in films and television until the mid-60s. As was the case back then, at 31 years of age, her time as a leading lady was drawing to a close, and soon would be turned over to people like the younger Loy. Her performance in "The Animal Kingdom" is a very honest one. Loy is absolutely ravishing and wears beautiful clothes. She essays the part of the glamorous wife beautifully, reminiscent of Gene Tierney later on with the ultra-feminine facade hiding the steel underneath. Howard is handsome and thoughtful in the lead, and one can see it slowly occurring to him that he made a mistake.Very good.

This is a plodding drama, devoid of the sparkle and cleverness that mark some of Philip Barry's work. In fact, Barry repeatedly utilizes not only the same social milieu, but an almost identical set of character types involved in familiar kinds of relationships. If you've seen one Barry play (or screen adaptation), you've pretty much seen them all. Try "The Philadelphia Story" or "Holiday" in place of "The Animal Kingdom." In those, you will not have to wonder why the characters are, or are, not drawn to one another. Leslie Howard does his level best with a less-than-fully-conceived character whose social and family obligations appear to be in conflict with his need to maintain his integrity, and his potential for achieving personal happiness. It is stolid Ann Harding who is all wrong, barely registering emotion as a supposedly free spirit who can rescue her lover from the dull existence that awaits him without her.For a far more effective handling of a similar story and characters (not created by Philip Barry), watch "H.M. Pulham, Esq." with Robert Young and Hedy Lamarr.

A film examining character and intelligence, motives and integrity, the artist's life versus the conventional life. It is a love story which depicts love and friendship on many levels. This film is one of those interesting ones where the viewer has to be able to listen to dialogue and interpret meaning. There are subtle interactions between the characters and a civilized, low-key ambiance.