Marie Dressler was a fine actress who deserves to be better known today, one of the few actors/actresses that had a career in silents that transitioned quite well into sound. 'Min and Bill' being a strong example of what was so great about her. Clarence Brown was a gifted director in my view, but was a director that had a very uneven filmography (with some very good films like 'Anna Karenina' and also some average at best ones). Love classic film and certainly have no bias against sentimental films.
1932's 'Emma' is certainly one of those sentimental films and is a pretty good one. It is an example of the lead performance being a good deal better than the film itself, but there is actually in my view a lot more to 'Emma' than just Dressler (although she is the best thing about it). It is not one of Brown's best pictures and there are better representations of the rest of the cast, but it is worth seeing to see one of the best performances of Dressler and deserves more credit.
'Emma' isn't perfect by all means. The pacing isn't always great, with some dull stretches from having some extraneous scenes that go on for too long without developing or progressing enough. It would have helped if the story wasn't as slight as it was.
Would have liked a lot more development to the characters, only Dressler's and Myrna Loy's are properly developed, the others are too one-dimensional and Richard Cromwell's is especially underwritten. Cromwell also seemed rather bland in his role, being just there with not enough feeling.
Dressler however is superb, she shows off sparkling comic timing, radiates class, has such an expressive nuanced face that always tells so much and also really touched my heart. Her character is interesting, worth relating to and develops beautifully. There is more to the film than just her in terms of merits, Jean Hersholt brings a good deal of colour to his too short screen time and a very young Loy is at her most hateable (was very surprised to see her in this way). Brown also directs with enough control and ease.
It looks good, with some lovely atmospheric photography and sumptuous art direction. The script avoids sinking into melodramatic and has humorous and poignant lines. The story has enough parts where it is charming and moving, with the standout being the real tear-jerker that is the ending (more like the last 10-15 minutes).
Concluding, worth seeing particularly for Dressler, but falls short of being a must see. 7/10.
