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NR | 1h 53m | Drama, Romance | 1949
MGM’s “That Forsyte Woman” opens the opulent doors to a wealthy family in Victorian London, where guests arrive at their swanky gatherings with social ranks attached.
Irene (Greer Garson) is a piano teacher who marries Soames Forsyte (Errol Flynn), a member of an affluent family. While the silver shines and the rooms are grand, Irene has plenty to learn about her new relations.
The film comes from John Galsworthy’s “The Man of Property,” the first novel in “The Forsyte Saga,” published in 1906. Its subject is a family that treats money, marriage, and reputation as matters needing supervision. Even simple birthday parties can feel like inspections, as relatives check on who belongs and who might prove inconvenient.
MGM gives this Victorian world the full Technicolor treatment, complete with formal clothes and carefully arranged rooms. The settings have a theatrical finish, which suits a family that spends so much time performing.
British audiences saw it as “The Forsyte Saga,” while the American title came from a survey that found many moviegoers were unfamiliar with the word “saga.”
Family Matters
Old Jolyon Forsyte (Harry Davenport) is celebrating his 80th birthday when his nephew Soames tells the family that he plans to marry Irene, even though she’s already told him she doesn’t love him.
Irene comes from outside and beneath their wealthy social circle, but Soames pays little attention to the objections of his relatives. He’s already made up his mind and expects Irene to settle into the marriage in time.
When Irene tries to end the engagement, Soames buys a large house for them and carries on as if the wedding is settled. He expects her to grow accustomed to the home and the marriage; however, Irene sees that her life is being arranged around her without much concern for what she wants.
Meanwhile, June Forsyte (Janet Leigh), the daughter of Soames’s cousin Young Jolyon Forsyte (Walter Pidgeon), has fallen for Philip Bosinney (Robert Young), an architect with plenty of great ideas but little money.
She asks Irene to chaperone them. Soames soon hires Philip to design a country house, keeping a close eye on the budget as the plans develop. Philip brings his sketches to the Forsyte home, where Irene plays piano for him, and they talk about music and art. June confides in Irene about her hopes for Philip, unaware that Irene is starting to fall for him as well.
Drama and Melodrama
The costumes bring their own personalities to the proceedings. Walter Plunkett designed the women’s costumes, and Valles (yes, he had just a single name) handled the men’s; their work deservedly received an Academy Award nomination.
Garson wears her formal gowns with composure, while Leigh wears her character’s frocks in a youthful, open manner. The men’s tight collars and tailored suits help Flynn make Soames look buttoned up from head to toe.
Garson gives Irene a steady presence as the family closes in around her. She doesn’t play every insult as a cue for reactive dialogue; small shifts in her facial expression often tell us how much she’s already decided to keep to herself.
Flynn makes Soames difficult company, though his stiff delivery can also make the man seem faintly ridiculous. It’s sort of silly to see him treat disagreements as if they were breaches of contract. Pidgeon offers a more relaxed presence as Young Jolyon, who knows what it feels like to be shut out of his own family.
Young and Leigh carry the younger courtship plot, which becomes more painful once June realizes that she’s been kept in the dark.
The film’s opening, with Philip’s death followed by Young Jolyon’s recollections, tells the audience where the romantic story will end before it revisits the decisions that brought everyone there. That structure gives the plot a clear frame, though the flashback asks viewers to follow several relatives and two overlapping romances.
Some of the movie’s best material comes when Irene’s choices begin colliding with Soames’s sense of ownership.
The performances and lavish rooms make the family’s manners enjoyable to watch, even as the story turns a bit grim.
“That Forsyte Woman” is well-produced, if sometimes overformal and melodramatic, with Flynn’s uneasy Soames and Garson’s composed Irene giving it enough life to carry the evening.
“That Forsyte Woman” is available on ok.ru.
‘That Forsyte Woman’
Director: Compton Bennett
Starring: Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Not Rated
Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Release Date: Nov. 3, 1949
Rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
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