I rented Smilin' Through because it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but I don't really know why it was. Basically, it's an earlier version of 1948's Enchantment, but not nearly as good. In both versions, a young actor plays an old man mourning the loss of his lover from decades earlier. His niece falls in love with a soldier, but others disapprove and threaten the match. But in Enchantment, David Niven is the lead, and in Smilin' Through, Leslie Howard is the lead. As Kevin Kline says in French Kiss, "Tough decision!"I can't stand Norma Shearer, and whenever she's cast as a romantic lead, I spend the entire movie cringing. Everyone in the film plays a dual role, which is actually the most interest part of the movie, so Norma plays the niece and her aunt. Leslie plays the young and old versions of himself, and Fredric March plays a father and his son. In the "modern" timeline, Norma falls in love with Freddie, but Uncle Leslie forbids the match because Fredric's father stood in the way of his own happiness decades ago. As proved by Enchantment, this story could be entertaining, if done properly. Maybe because this was made in 1932, and Hollywood barely had a handle on talking pictures, this version isn't very good. None of the characters are likable, and Norma acts ridiculously spastic in the love scenes with Freddie. If this story interests you, rent Enchantment instead.

I found this film unbearably corny and dated, even for the period. Norma Shearer never impressed me when she played any sort of a period or costume role, as she became too self-aware and phony. Some actresses, Garbo for one, could slip in and out of costume dramas and more modern roles with believability, but not Norma. The only times I found her to be natural were in her early roles as a young actress when she wasn't playing Mrs. Thalberg.This one was just a little too old-fashioned and sentimental for my tastes. I had hoped for more, for a pre-code film.Leslie Howard is generally good in anything he does, and he performs well enough here. But I don't feel a whole lot of chemistry between the pair. And maybe it is the black and white format, but in the portions where Norma is in the blond role, her hair looks more gray than blond, which ages her. I guess I am not a softy...sorry, I don't mean to be harsh, but just did not like this one very much.

This is a wonderful old-time romantic film, though sadly it's been pretty much forgotten today. It's a real shame, because this is one of the best romantic movies of the 1930s--one that should be remembered.The film begins with Sir John Carteret (Leslie Howard) living all alone in his British mansion. He's been alone there with his memories for decades, though why exactly he lives this life of seclusion isn't totally clear. You know that his lady love, Moonyeen (now THAT'S an odd name), had died many years earlier and that he's been pining for her all along. Well, into this morgue-like life appears an old friend, Dr. Owen. Owen is there to tell Carteret that the niece of his dead love is now an orphan and in need of a home--and he brings the child to Carteret to be raised.Years have passed and now this child is a vivacious 22 year-old, Kathleen (Norma Shearer). She and her adopted father are quite happy and fortunately Carteret is less melancholy. Having Kathleen to raise has obviously lifted his spirits. That is, until Kathleen meets Kenneth Wayne (Frederic March). They fall almost instantly in love and everything seems great until Carteret learns of this. Then he reluctantly tells her a sad tale that he's kept to himself all these years. You finally learn what happened to Moonyeen. It seems that on her wedding day with Carteret, a jealous suitor (Kenneth's father) stormed into the wedding and tried to kill Carteret--accidentally killing Moonyeen in the process!! His bitterness about this understandably demands that Kathleen break off her relationship with Kenneth once and for all.Unfortunately, while she and Kenneth tried to call it quits, they were just too much in love. Try as they might, they couldn't ignore that they were head over heels in love. However, Carteret was determined to destroy this relationship at all cost--as he NEVER could forgive Kenneth for his father's heinous act. Where the story goes from there, you'll just have to see for yourself. It becomes a lot more complicated--particularly when Kenneth goes off to war. See this wonderful film for yourself to see how it all unfolds.There are a few silly clichés that prevent it from earning a 10, though this is still an amazing film. Having Moonyeen and Kathleen as well as Kenneth and his father played by the same actors was a silly but accepted cliché back in 1932. While the idea of a son looking exactly like his father is silly, having Kathleen look almost exactly like her aunt is even more ridiculous. Plus, having no British accent whatsoever for Kenneth's dad was also pretty silly (you could understand this with Kenneth, as he was raised in America).As to what there is to like, where do I begin? The film has such a luminous and romantic quality about it start to finish, I just couldn't get over it. Only MGM could have done such a perfect looking film during this era. Shearer is magnificent--and it might just be her best film (even better than THE WOMEN) and Howard and March are also quite good. The characters are lovely--very complex and tender. You just can't help but find yourself sucked into the film--so be sure to have a box of Kleenex nearby. An amazing film.By the way, towards the end, you can sure see that one of the plot twists was later reused in the great love story LOVE AFFAIR (with Iren Dunne and Charles Boyer, 1939) as well as in LOVE AFFAIR's remake, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. Wow. Think about seeing LOVE AFFAIR followed by SMILIN' THROUGH--now that would be a terrific double-bill.

A big hit at the time of it's release, it was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture of that year. It still holds up, thanks to the timeless performance of Norma Shearer.