In Our Time

IDA LUPINO is a British young woman visiting Poland and acting as a companion to MARY BOLAND, a wealthy woman fond of collecting antiques. At an antique shop, Ida runs into PAUL HENRIED, who thinks she works at the store. They meet and fall in love, and Ida discovers that he's a Polish count. He insists on showing her around Warsaw and in a few short days they fall in love and, although Ida has misgivings when she meets his family and fails to pass inspection, they do marry.

Then the Nazi invasion of Poland looms over the story for the second half of the film. The script is articulate and literate, dealing as it does with the aristocracy for the most part, but terribly slow-moving and Vincent Sherman's direction fails to give the script the pace it needs to maintain interest.

Ida plays a more rational and less intense creature than she usually does and gives an assured performance as the British girl who must adjust to her new husband and his family. NANCY COLEMAN is his regal, spoiled sister, NAZIMOVA is his party-loving mother, and VICTOR FRANCEN is Henried's wealthy uncle, a Count who keeps the family financially solvent.

But Poland is unable to avoid falling into Hitler's clutches and the story veers into more serious territory with the advent of war and the decision that Henried must make with regard to Poland under Nazi rule.

Summing up: A bit tedious at times, but interesting for the performances of Lupino, Henried, Coleman, Francen, Nazimova, Mary Boland and Franz Waxman's melodramatic score.