That Forsyte Woman

"That Forsyte Woman" was a potentially great film because there are few women in contemporary literature who would make as fascinating subjects to characterize as the Irene of John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga." An adequate portryal of this subtle, beautiful woman in her relations with one of England's nouveau riche dynasties would require consummate skill and perception. Unfortunately neither Greer Garson nor her lovers (Errol Flynn, Robert Young, and Walter Pidgeon) showed this; but they were not entirely to blame.

The casting of Flynn in the role of Soames and of Young in the part of Bossiney hurt this film before the first reel was shot. Flynn is not equipped to portray a stodgy, meticulous Englishman; and Young was hopelessly awkward as the eccentric, dynamic architect. Little wonder that Miss Garson couldn't warm up to her task opposite two such misfits. Only Pidgeon, who played Young Jolyon, carried out his assignment satisfactorily. But he appeared too seldom to redeem the incongruity of the other characters.

For some curious reason, the director started the story with the death of Bosinney and used a flashback to recount the central action of the picture. For those who had not read the book, this must have taken much of the punch out of the plot. If this wasn't enough to do so, then the astonishingly dull seript was. Some of the lines were so trite, that I felt the way an English A teacher must when his pupils read their early themes.