Come and Get It

Rating:
Summary: The best of Frances Farmer
Review: "Come and get it," directed by Howard Hawks until Samuel Goldwyn fired him and replaced him with William Wyler, is hokey and I find the overinsistent music grating. Offsetting it are the cinematography of Greg Toland (making it look like a Wyler film), the anti-clearcutting message (any message being famously anethema to Goldwyn!) and two fine performances by Frances Farmer. She appears to have been put forward (by Hawks who replaced the star he had been given with her) as an American boondock Marlene Dietrich. Sometimes she looks like Jessica Lange (yeah, I know the chronology!). She is somewhat too innocent for her first part and too old and knowing for her second, but the camera likes her, and the two parts (one the mother of the other) are very different.

Howard Hawks obviously liked Walter Brennan. Here, in his first (of three) Oscared part and first (I think) Hawks part, Brennan early on is a stereotype Swede, but probably earned his Oscar for the scene in which he has to tell Frances Farmer that Edward Arnold has left by marrying her. He's fine in the latter half of the film, too. Knowing how he would age, it's somewhat disconcerting seeing him skinny and old.

I don't find Edward Arnold at all convincing as one of the boys (even as the dominant one, ruthlessly using them). He _is_ convincing as a magnate and in wooing the daughter of the love of his life, who looks strikingly like her mother, being played by the same actress (Ms. Farmer). His deflation when she tells Joel McCrea he shouldn't strangle his father both because of paternity and because he's an old man is also effective. It seems a Wylerian moment, but Hawks's "Red River" when Montgomery Clift knocks down John Wayne also springs to mind. Hawks alleged that Wyler argued against Hawks being credited, Goldwyn wanted to credit only Wyler, but decided to list both directors (who went on to become more famous than they were in 1936).

The main reason to see this is to see Frances Farmer before her real-life tortures began.

Rating:
Summary: Come and get this
Review: Hollywood in the thirties was more interested in fluff and pretty faces than dramatics, but eternal outsider Frances Farmer broke the mold by being both beautiful and an exceptionally talented actress, as evidenced by her performance here in two different roles. For the first half of the movie she plays a depressed hellraising "loose woman" down on her luck, with dark hair, a low raspy voice and a sultry manner. In the second half of the movie she plays her own daughter, raised by respectable Swedish immigrants, obedient, innocent, prim and proper, with lighter hair and a softer voice and manner. She also plays against costar Arnold differently, showing a hopeless unrequited love for him as the mother and being disgusted with his brazen advances as the daughter. This is a difficult thing to do, but Farmer manages to pull it off, creating distinct performances so effectively that it appears she is actually two actresses. The rest of the cast appears wooden in comparison. The destruction of Frances Farmer by the psychiatric establishment several years after this movie was made is one of the great real-life Hollywood tradgedies, not only because of the damage done to her, but also because it robbed the public of a star with subline talent and exquisite beauty. The title of this movie has nothing to do with "Badfinger". Remember kids, Frances Farmer got arrested, beaten, raped, drugged, tortured, chewed on by rats, frozen, zapped, and lobotomized for your sins.

Rating:
Summary: A SHOWCASE FOR FRANCES FARMER
Review: Howard Hawks, who directed this film stated that Frances Farmer was, without a doubt, the finest actress he ever worked with. In a dual role in which she excellently plays both a mother and daughter with honest conviction, Farmer is perhaps even more natural than say Barbara Stanwyck in her playing: she emerges, almost without emphasis, from out of the crowd at Arnold's elbow. He's at one of the gaming tables a lumberman who's just struck it rich and he naturally draws a crowd. When Arnold eyes Farmer, she says in her low voice "Hullo" her mouth crooked while chewing gum - she's an assured dame who doesn't take any baloney. Not a typical Hollywood beauty, the large - boned Farmer was an intellectual individualist who eventually ruined her career because of her egotistical independence which was deemed as mental illness. She was actually committed to institutions for the insane in the forties and her real life became a horror story. Alcoholic and lonely (after being released) she got a job in Eureka, California working as a secretary by day as Frances Anderson. She got away with her anonymity for about a year when a man approached her coming out of a liquor store. He said to her "You're Frances Farmer aren't you?" for reasons unknown to her she blurted out "Yes, I am - how did you know?" he replied "I remember you" and thusly encouraged her to revive her career somewhat. Farmer died of cancer of the throat in 1970. The excellent performance of look - alike Jessica Lange is worth seeing in the 1982 movie biography FRANCES.

Rating:
Summary: Why so expensive?
Review: I feel like the sellers are holding this movie for ransom. WHO is going to pay that much money for a movie (DVD) that no one remembers? It would be better for a Frances Farmer fan to have and enjoy rather than sit and collect dust on the shelf. I guess I'll instead be ordering the VHS copy for cheap.

Rating:
Summary: An Overlooked Classic
Review: I first saw this movie at a Frances Farmer film festival at UCLA back in the 1980's. Although I considered myself a classic film buff, I had never heard of her. I was awed by Ms. Farmer's breath-taking dual-role performance. They don't make 'em like that anymore. The supporting cast, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, and Joel McCrea, were also instrumental in making this movie the true classic it is. As noted by other reviewers, unfortunately for Ms. Farmer, apparent mental illness cut short a brilliant film career. A bio-pic of her life, starring Jessica Lange, showed Ms. Farmer's rocky life -- short as it was. For those who have no idea what this movie is about, Ms. Farmer plays a bar girl in a logging town in the late 1800's. She meets Edward Arnold ("Barney"), a brash and savvy logger, with plans to become the boss's partner and marry his daughter (why not -- it would help the plan along). This plan is upset when he meets this tough, yet, angelic bar girl, Lotta. The "throwing the trays" scene is unforgettable after Lotta tells Barney, who has just won a large amount of money on a game of chance at the bar, that the owner plans to have him mugged in order to get the money back. They have a whirlwind romance and plan to marry. He receives a telegram from his boss, who reminds him of his plans. Now Barney must make a difficult decision. Should he marry this girl he's madly in love with and perhaps throw away the opportunity to make partner or marry the boss's daughter for a chance at becoming the richest man in Wisconsin? He decides, leaving his best friend to break the news to her as she is getting dressed for their wedding. Fast forward 20 years. His best friend has married her, they have a daughter, and, after a few years, Lotta dies. The friend persuades Barney to come visit him. When Barney sees the daughter, who is the image of her mother, he falls for her, too. He persuades her to come with him to the big city (with her aunt as chaperon), and tries to seduce her. She understands what he intends all along, yet, she tries to get as much out of him as she can without giving anything in return. After all, this could be her ticket out of the small lumber town she's stuck in. Eventually, she falls in love with his son, Joel McCrea. After a few months, the son realizes what a fool his father has been making of himself, not to mention a nuisance (today we'd call it sexual harrassment), and they almost come to blows at Barney's company's annual picnic. Barney's dream is shattered when Lotta's daughter shouts to his son, "You can't hit him -- he's your father! He's an old man!" The ending of the movie still gives me goosebumps -- I have them now just remembering it -- as we see a sobbing Barney banging the triangle outside to call everyone over for dinner, who now realizes what an old fool he's been and what he's lost: his old love, his wife, the love and respect of his son, and his best friend.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Unusual and Effective Star Performance
Review: This film resurfaced briefly about 15 years ago when the movie "Frances", detailing the fall of actress Frances Farmer, was released and did so much for the career of Jessica Lange. I saw "Come and Get It" around that time, and while I appreciated the double role played by Farmer, the performance that impressed me most from this excellent movie was that of Edward Arnold. Why so? Because Arnold is a stout middleaged man, but so powerful that he rivets your attention to himself. Arnold plays Barney Glasgow, an ambitious logger who schemes to become the richest man in Wisconsin through the lumber business--partly by planning to marry the boss's daughter. He is almost derailed by a barroom singer, dark wigged Lotta/Frances Farmer. He stays around long enough to earn and throw away her love before setting off to achieve his object and leaving her to marry his sidekick, Walter Brennan in an Oscar-winning role. All Barney's plans come to pass, except that he's not happy in his marriage and has a rocky relationship with his handsome son, Joel McCrea. A trip back to logging country brings him in contact with Lotta's daughter and namesake, blond wigged Frances Farmer. He becomes obsessed with trying to recapture the love he spurned years ago by pursuing the young girl, with serious ramifications for all involved. I'm glad that Edward Arnold, usually seen only in supporting roles as in "The Hucksters", gets the chance to display his full range here in "Come and Get It". He really runs the gamut from bare-knucked fighter to tender lover to distant father to passionate old fool. Few roles offer so much variety to an actor in one movie, and Arnold rings true in every scene. The expression on his face in the final confrontation he has with his son as Lotta makes a crushing remark about his age is dynamite. In my opinion, Edward Arnold really ought to have won an Oscar himself for this superlative performance. I also thought they had a really good idea for this "through the generations" movie: Rather than cast a young man to play a young man at the beginning and then wear old makeup for the rest of the movie, they opted for the opposite approach. Edward Arnold has a little shoe polish in his hair for the first part, and then a title card announces that 20 years have passed and he's now 50. He then proceeds to perform a part that is written for his own age. (This same trick was used a few years ago in "The Mask of Zorro" with Anthony Hopkins to great effect.) Take my advice about this movie and "Come and Get It' as soon as you can.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Unusual and Effective Star Performance
Review: This film resurfaced briefly about 15 years ago when the movie "Frances", detailing the fall of actress Frances Farmer, was released and did so much for the career of Jessica Lange. I saw "Come and Get It" around that time, and while I appreciated the double role played by Farmer, the performance that impressed me most from this excellent movie was that of Edward Arnold. Why so? Because Arnold is a stout middleaged man, but so powerful that he rivets your attention to himself. Arnold plays Barney Glasgow, an ambitious logger who schemes to become the richest man in Wisconsin through the lumber business--partly by planning to marry the boss's daughter. He is almost derailed by a barroom singer, dark wigged Lotta/Frances Farmer. He stays around long enough to earn and throw away her love before setting off to achieve his object and leaving her to marry his sidekick, Walter Brennan in an Oscar-winning role. All Barney's plans come to pass, except that he's not happy in his marriage and has a rocky relationship with his handsome son, Joel McCrea. A trip back to logging country brings him in contact with Lotta's daughter and namesake, blond wigged Frances Farmer. He becomes obsessed with trying to recapture the love he spurned years ago by pursuing the young girl, with serious ramifications for all involved. I'm glad that Edward Arnold, usually seen only in supporting roles as in "The Hucksters", gets the chance to display his full range here in "Come and Get It". He really runs the gamut from bare-knucked fighter to tender lover to distant father to passionate old fool. Few roles offer so much variety to an actor in one movie, and Arnold rings true in every scene. The expression on his face in the final confrontation he has with his son as Lotta makes a crushing remark about his age is dynamite. In my opinion, Edward Arnold really ought to have won an Oscar himself for this superlative performance. I also thought they had a really good idea for this "through the generations" movie: Rather than cast a young man to play a young man at the beginning and then wear old makeup for the rest of the movie, they opted for the opposite approach. Edward Arnold has a little shoe polish in his hair for the first part, and then a title card announces that 20 years have passed and he's now 50. He then proceeds to perform a part that is written for his own age. (This same trick was used a few years ago in "The Mask of Zorro" with Anthony Hopkins to great effect.) Take my advice about this movie and "Come and Get It' as soon as you can.

Rating:
Summary: LOVE HER TENDER.......
Review: Yeah? So, where IS the FRANCES FARMER Award or Scholarship?
Everyone's profited from her - so? [Then again, there were/are so many ...... since then.]

This rather staid adaptation of the Ferber novel [and here's another lady who should be canonized! Brilliant novelist- should be mandatory reading for any immigrant] hit the screen with Greats, Edward Arnold [that final close-up!]; Walter Brennan [unfulfilled career - Award winning here]; FRANCES FARMER [it's that John Wayne/Mae West swagger that gets you in the first incarnation - two roles here - mother and daughter - very subtle/economic] - THEN devastating as the daughter - just imagine what Frances would have done to 'Basic Instinct' or "Klute"?

As we now know - A RARE talent way ahead of her time.

The DVD is excellent - try watching it in German - with English subtitles - now that's an experience, and it brings a freshness to this quirky work.

The title? Frances pre-dates Mr. Presley with this song .......... very authentic, but then we do have an artist at work.