We Live Again (1934)

[moira finnie]

I hadn't seen We Live Again in a long time before the other night. In We Live Again I thought that Anna Sten was at her best in the scenes when she was alone, though she was most credible in the scenes set in prison. Her bitterness and anguish when she meets Fredric March again--causing her to remember all the painful emotions she experienced when she first loved him was quite moving. I'm not sure about the ending, though as I recall when reading Resurrection years ago--I wasn't sure if I bought it then either. After the film was over, I kept imagining Anna Sten in Siberia starving herself in order to give some scrap of food to March--largely out of love, and just a little out of inbred loyalty to a Prince.

Her emotions in that film were not superficial, but seemed much easier to connect to, in part because they seem so simple and straight forward initially. Sten seemed to try to communicate more through her expression and gestures than she did in her relatively few lines throughout the film. After she entered the courtroom, her intelligence, not just her still sweet-faced beauty began to shine, allowing some glimpses of her nuanced understanding of the world, which was far deeper than that of anyone else in the movie at that point.

In contrast, even March's Prince Alexi seemed genuinely fed up with his well-dressed ideals and worldly decadence. As I often am with Fredric March, I admire the guy's audacity. Youthful idealism, lust, rapturous, transcendent spirituality, and love--the actor tackled every emotion as it came along headfirst. Even when it didn't work, (and it didn't), his conviction to follow his character's journey in movies, especially in the '30s when I think he was still polishing its roughness down, has always impressed me. I wish I knew more about the man's technique and his attitude toward his work, because his style was not really American--yet it was absolutely over the top gung-ho, star-spangled Middle America--even when he was playing a Russian Prince here, a Renaissance genius (The Affairs of Cellini, which was a weird sort of comedy) or Death itself (Death Takes a Holiday, my favorite March movie of the thirties). Sometimes I wonder if he made a fool of himself in public regularly taking on some parts that he could never put across (the Roman patrician in The Sign of the Cross and Bothwell in Mary of Scotland), just so that he could learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of his talent. The guy had guts, even when he was wrong for a part (Vronsky in Anna Karenina) or well cast (Norman Maine in A Star is Born).

Btw, I don't understand how Goldwyn could think that Anna Sten was anything like Garbo or Dietrich. She was much more down-to-earth, could look very glamorous in still shots (if not so convincingly vampish on film) and may not have been a star, but she was a good actress, especially in The Wedding Night (1935) with King Vidor at the helm. I've seen Nana directed by Dorothy Arzner, which sounded great, on paper, but was turgid and hard to stay with instead. So Ends Our Night (1941) allowed Sten to show a raffish sexiness in a very brief role, (almost a cameo). I've tried to watch one of her other movies, Chetniks! aka The Fighting Guerillas (1943) a couple of times on youtube but it is the worst upload of all time and those who've commented on the film always seem to be about to break out into a race war, so I've finally given up--though I usually enjoy movies showing Nazis get the stuffing knocked out of them.

She seemed to deserve better, but I believe that I've read that her husband, a producer named Eugene Frenke, who guided a few of John Huston's lesser vehicles, such as Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, and The Barbarian and the Geisha. He might have been a little controlling, at least from the point of view of a Sam Goldwyn.

As Cole Porter wrote "If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes."

[charliechaplinfan]

I liked We Live Again when I saw it and was pleasantly surprised by Anna Sten, seeing as she's been confined by the history books as being a folly of Sam Goldwyn's she was very moving. I'd love to see Nana.

I agree with everything you say about Fredric March, Moira, I can't help liking him in everything he does but he's balefully miscast in Anna Karenina. I find him far better in contemporary roles, Death Takes a Holiday, Design For Living, a Star is Born and Nothing Sacred. He's awfully good at comedy, I'd never thought that he might be honing his craft, taking on more challenging roles and sometimes falling short. Even in his early period in films he gave some great performances in precodes and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but as he got older he gave some of his best performances. I'm not sure about Inherit the Wind, he might have overplayed that a little.

[JackFavell]

I wish they'd show Death Takes a Holiday sometime. sigh.

How is March miscast as Vronsky? I'm not arguing, just simply want to get some info. It never occurred to me before...

[charliechaplinfan]

He has scant chemistry with Garbo, they just don't ignite as lovers, compare it to John Gilbert and Garbo in Love, which he looks like and it doesn't work, even though it's truer to the novel. I don't think he's convinced himself he's a young Russian officer so he doesn't convince me. He's not bad, he doesn't ruin the movie, he's just not as good as I know March can be. It's still worth watching, Garbo didn't often get actors of a similar calibre playing opposite her, she workedwell with Boyer but not with March. Still, March did say about her that' working with Garbo did not constitute an introduction'

[JackFavell]

Thanks for giving me those points, Alison! You know, I think I must be blinded by Anna K.

I have found out recently that the Vivian Leigh version was not well thought of. Yet, all I see is Vivian's amazing portrayal, (and Ralph Richardson). It never occurred to me that the movie wasn't great, though Kieran is really terrible when I think hard about it. I feel the same way about the Garbo version, I think she is so spectacular, that I never thought about anything other part of the film.

[charliechaplinfan]

John Gilbert was the best film Vronsky.

I love Vivien's Anna Karenina, I think she is perfectly cast in the role and Ralph Richardson is pretty perfect as Karenin, Duvivier is a good director, Kieron Moore just lets the side down. I started a thread a while ago devoted to Anna Karenina. I do like Garbo's portrayal but I think Vivien's fragility and beauty are more suited to the part.

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =23&t=3479

[JackFavell]

I always like the one I've seen most recently, but if I had to choose, I guess it would be Viv's. Thanks for the link.

[charliechaplinfan]

Me too.