Three-Cornered Moon

Remember the depression? Of course not. That was long long ago. Well, back in the 1930's, and that's when this movie takes place. My wife and I fell in love with Claudette Colbert. Such a pretty name, Claudette. I won't go long into the story. You can look that up on Wiki. What I really like about this disk is its preservation of such a classic. This is a great copy! I bought a copy from a person on e-bay and it was shoddy compared. This is the real deal. I recommend this disk if you want to preserve a classic. My preference for watching movies now is through my Raspberry Pi. I convert such movies into an .mp4 and watch them on my big screen via the pi device. It works splendidly. If you want to get a copy of this movie, this is the disk to get. Great vintage.

A marvelous play adapted for the cinema! and written by my Grandma Gertrude.

I'm a huge fan of Claudette Colbert and was expecting great things from this film - I last saw it in the 1970s and then had liked it. This film is described as an early example of the "crazy rich family" of the 1930s screwball comedy genre. If it is a comedy then it is a muted/ somber one, variable in its appeal and it isn't helped by the screenplays depictions of the irritating /inept members of the "Rimplegar" family, excluding {of course} Ms. Colbert who is the moral center of the film.The Rimlegar's reside in a large Brooklyn townhouse unconcerned about money until the family matriarch - {Mary Boland not so much ditzy as criminally stupid} loses all the family’s money by investing in a phony mining scheme. Faced with the reality of being completely broke and saddled with an unsalable mansion {their only asset} the family now must find work and more pointedly learn to work and how to hold a job at the very depth of the Great Depression in 1933.The family inmates includes her 3 brothers - a wanna -be actor {William Blakewell}, a callow college boy {Tom Brown}, a struggling law student {Wallace Ford } and a really unpleasant, spoiled, selfish and self-centered unpublished writer {Hardie Albright} who is engaged to Claudette who spoils and mothers him like a "petulant child". She is the only sensible member of the clan {except for the fiance} and she has to fight to keep them on course to work and earn enough money despite their grand pretensions. Does any of this sound funny?Thank god that a sensible character makes an appearance - an attractive doctor {Richard Arlen} rents a room and falls for Claudette who improbably remains stuck on her "petulant child". The dreary screenplay takes us thru the various travails of the boys mostly failing in their undistinguished efforts to "make a buck". Some unpleasant/unfunny scenes include Tom Brown whining/crying because he is hungry, Arlen coming back from dinner and describing his meal to the family while their stomachs are rumbling and all the brothers taking Claudette to task for allowing her fiancé to remain unemployed and sponge off them because he is an sensitive author devoted to his art and above sordid money making, even though he eats like a horse!!!Gradually the brothers get their act together and make some progress in earning their keep, Claudette sees her fiancé for the worthless bum that he is BUT in a priceless twist he is picked up by a rich girl who will keep him in cosseted comfort while he struggles to write his “Great American Novel”. And of course Arlen and Colbert will finally get together and the film ends with the family facing the future with modest hopes and expectations. Does any of this sound funny?Ms. Colbert and Richard Arlen are an attractive couple and work well together and Hardie Albright is effectively unpleasant as the wanna -be writer. Elliot Nugent is pedestrian in his direction and the film is stage-bound with modest production values at best. I was very disappointed in the film, it is definitely not a comedy let alone a screwball comedy and I give it 2 stars – not recommended.

Great addition to my collection of old shows and movies!