The Marriage Playground (1929)

I am eager to see all of Fredric March's pre-1940 films. Some of them are brilliant. Others are just OK, but his performance is always top-notch, regardless of the material. Or so I thought. If this were the first time someone was seeing March, they would never know he was a professional actor.Mary Brian plays March's college friend's daughter. A series of marriages and divorces has left a large collection of children in her primary care. She is only seventeen. After a whacky meeting on the beach, the young girl and the kids are all smitten with March. However, March's character is engaged to a widow he has allegedly loved for a long time. You see where this is going. The age difference is supposed to seem acceptable, though March initially protests, and viewers are left to see which woman he finally chooses to marry.If you want to see young Mitzi Green, with her loud mouth, or young Anita Louise, you might enjoy this film. Lilyan Tashman always turned in a good performance when playing a villain. The delightful Kay Francis is less than enjoyable here though. Mary Brian is probably the best performer in the cast, but I didn't like her character. March's devotion to the children seems unnatural, and I couldn't see him as a believable husband to either woman. I came in wanting to like this film, but after viewing it, I don't understand the good reviews it got at the time.

The other three reviews thus far seem to be addressing a different film altogether. The pacing here is funereal, the actors don't act their lines, they speak them, slowly and haltingly, as if we were at a first rehearsal of a high school drama performance. There is no talent to speak of, even Kay Francis is subdued. Fredric March is embarrassingly bad. Some of the facial expressions are truly laughable.I have not yet read the novel, THE CHILDREN, from which this is derived, but I doubt it was a comedy. Irresponsible playboy/girl rich adults behaving like children and leaving a wake of seven stepchildren in their entourage, constantly being torn apart, as the adults switch marriage partners, yearning to remain together as siblings - hardly stuff of comedy - perhaps it was a further indication of the distorted times during which the film was made that it was adapted in this fashion.This was remade in France in 1990 under its original title, but the film is not available on DVD for comparison.A real chore to sit through and a colossal bore to boot.

With her constantly battling father Huntley Gordon and stepmother Lilyan Tashman too busy traveling around to take care of her six younger siblings (by various other women), 17-year old innocent Mary Brian must raise them. A chance encounter with an old family acquaintance (Fredric March) makes Brian take a look at her family situation. This early talkie seems actually a few years younger thanks to witty dialog, a camera that does more than sit there, and some nice outdoor scenes (mostly at the beach) as well. Anita Louise and Mitzi Green are the most familiar of the cute actors playing the kids, while some amusing lines are given to Maude Turner Gordon (as the aunt of March's love interest) who cracks after receiving a telegram, "Who's dead? I hope its someone I don't like". The 23-year old Brian, already a veteran from silent films, is an absolute doll. Tashman and Gordon are amusingly uppity as the neglectful parents who can barely stand each other (yet travel all over the world together). To add to the hilarious confusion, one of the step-mothers (Kay Francis) shows up with an ultra effeminate husband (William Austin) with her. "You may not believe it, but I make the funniest face", he says to Francis' daughter, Green. I half expected Green to retort, "Without really trying, I'm sure." Green turns step daddy into her own personal horsey, while March does all he can to prevent Francis and Tashman from ripping each others hair out when they encounter the other (in the same dress!). Seena Owen plays the cold-hearted Rose, Brian's rival for March's affections. Yes, the plot is a bit convoluted, and it takes some sorting out to remember whose child is whose, but it is all so funny. The romance between Brian and March develops slowly (as he is in love with someone else), but it helps the viewer deal with the obvious age difference between the two characters. There were few comedies of the early sound era that manage to hold up today, and this is one of them.

I have read many of Edith Wharton's novels and I have found "The Children" to be the one I liked least. It told the story of a group of children, products of the marriages of a group of wealthy jet setters who party their way across Europe. The children, under the guidance of the eldest, Judith Wheater, are being raised, trying to keep them all together. The narrator, Martin Boyne, finds himself falling in love with Judith, and I thought it a bit too much - Boyne was in his 40s and Judith, at the start of the novel was 14!! I just wondered how a film would work but with Kay Francis, Mary Brian, Lilyan Tashman and Mitzi Green I was intrigued and I have to say it worked very well.After a run-in with a group of unruly children Martin Boyne (Frederic March) makes the acquaintance of the eldest, Judy (Mary Brian) and finds her father, Cliff Wheater, was an old school friend. He also finds out that all the children are the offspring of his friend's different marriages - boy is he "reeling"!!! Judy is determined to keep all the children together, she even gives them lessons, she wants to give them a real home. The children are boisterous and gorgeous there's Blanca (Anita Louise) who is in such a hurry to grow up, precocious Zinny (Mitzi Green) and sickly Terry (Phillipe De Lacy) among them. "Are you forgetting I'm the mother of your children" says saucy Lilyan Tashman, when she is accused of flirting. "No" replies Wheeler "but I guess they have"!!! Martin promises Judy he will stay longer than planned and help her parents patch things up for the sake of the children - so they will not have the constant fear of being separated. A disruption is caused by the arrival of Zinnia DeCross (Kay Francis) mother of Zinnie, who wants to take her away. By the time Zinnie gets through "befriending" her new stepfather (William Austin) he will be happy if he never sees her again!!This movie is such a lot of fun, helped along by Mary Brian, who outshines everyone with her portrayal of Judy, going up so fast yet still enough of a kid to be put out when Zinnia gives her present to Blanca instead. Brian proved she had more in her than her title of "the sweetest girl in movies" seemed to indicate. This was the first film of Mitzi Green who became very popular as one of the first "movie brats" of the thirties, she often co-starred with Jackie Searl. Anita Louise was an exquisite child star who portrayed Greta Garbo as a child in "A Woman of Affairs". She never really went through an "awkward" age and was popular right through the 30s in films like "Marie Antoinette" and "The Sisters". Phillipe De Lacy was popular in the 20s, he played in 2 Garbo films - "Flesh and the Devil" and "Love". Seena Owen was obviously typical of the silent stars who with a huge career behind them found they just couldn't handle dialogue. As Martin's mercenary fiancée Rose, she sounded stilted and recited her part with no feeling.