Set in pre Civil War Louisiana, a capricious coquette (Luise Rainer) marries a respected lawyer (Melvyn Douglas) at the urging of her sister (Barbara O'Neil), even though the sister is in love with him herself. Based on the play FROUFROU by Ludovic Halevy and Henri Meihac and directed by Richard Thorpe (IVANHOE). The first actor to win two Oscars (and back to back too), Rainer would seem to have a major film career ahead of her. But her star light quickly dimmed and her film career was pretty much over by 1940. I'm not all that familiar with her post Oscar career but if this tearjerker is any indication then I can see why her career stumbled. It's CAMILLE (as soon as Rainer coughs, you know she's done for) set in the deep South. The kind of fake Hollywood south where all the slaves are happy even though their owners threaten to sell them if they misbehave. Rainer is miscast as a Southern belle (they explain her accent by having her educated in France) but Bette Davis couldn't save this dud though she might have made it more fun. To the film's credit, it makes a point about men marrying women for their flighty charms but blame them when they don't mature into proper wives and mothers. With Robert Young, H.B. Warner, Alma Kruger and Theresa Harris.
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