I Loved a Woman

This film is a rollicking tour-de-force that has as its primary focus the incredible acting talents of the incomparable Edward G. Robinson. Robinson takes us on a roller-coaster of a ride, as he sails back and forth from joy and elation to depression and pathos and back again. It is sometimes dizzying trying to keep up with the swinging emotions of Robinson's multi-millionaire meat-packer John Hayden. Robinson carries it off beautifully, and I think this film really proves what a fine, fine actor he was.

And how lucky we are that a film company like First National existed in the early 30's, pumping out films with stars like EG Robinson at a rate that would leave a current studio breathless. What an exciting time it must have been. We are the beneficiaries of this fascinating time, when studios had to release new films in a rapid succession, such was the hunger for new films.

"I Loved a Woman" takes place over a 40 year period, taking us from late Victorian Chicago of 1892 to industrial Chicago of just a few decades later. The fashions change subtly over the 90 minutes this film takes. While some of the romantic scenes with Kay Francis are a bit dated, and the lovers' dialogue a little stilted, Robinson never fails to captivate us when he is on screen. If anybody can carry this stuff off, it is him (Robinson even sings in this movie, though happily not too much).

The supporting cast is strong and full of First National perennials, such as Robert Barrat, playing EGR's father-in-law. A special treat is the speaking appearance of one of John Ford's silent screen favorites, J. Farrel MacDonald.

This movie also features a speaking role for Theodore Roosevelt, who personally threatens to destroy the meat packer Hayden for selling rotten meat to the soldiers of the Spanish-American War.

Perhaps the only annoyance is having to put up with Kay Francis repeatedly singing Home on the Range in an opera voice while playing an upright piano. Once, maybe, but three times?....

One funny thing to look for early in the film: Robinson returns home from abroad after hearing of his father's death. A painting of dad hangs on the office wall - looking exactly like EG Robinson with full whiskers! A very nice touch.

This is a strong entry from First National Films, and a great way to get know the many sides of Edward G. Robinson. I highly recommend this one.

Bohemian Edward G. Robinson has to take over his late father's meatpacking business. He tries to run it honestly but eventually becomes corrupt. Meanwhile, he takes opera singer Kay Francis as his mistress, which doesn't sit well with wife Genevieve Tobin.

Slow-moving melodrama with moments of unintended hilarity. The romantic scenes are especially bad. Kay Francis hams it up, as was her tendency. You either like her or you don't. I dare you not to laugh when she sings "Home on the Range." Eddie Robinson does fine, except for the aforementioned romantic scenes. He has zero chemistry with Francis. Genevieve Tobin is badly miscast as the villainous wife. She was better suited playing likable characters. It's a pretty boring effort. Final line of the movie sums it up best: "I'm sleepy."

Here is yet another of the films from early in Edward G. Robinson's career that has inexplicably and unfortunately been forgotten. A tale which anticipates "Citizen Kane" in an astonishing number of ways, it tells the moving story of a multi-dimensional character transformed from an idealistic and impetuous young man into a ruthless, demanding, ultimately abandoned force in business and politics. Robinson's character, John Hayden, knows how to get what he wants, but is never sure what that really is. Solid performances by a first-rate cast complement a scenario able to cover decades with crisp efficiency.

There are some unfortunate sequences in which the dialog becomes florid, stilted, and too much in the manner of a lesser Victorian romance. And the use of "Home On The Range" as a Rosebud motif comes across as ludicrous, to put it charitably. Such flaws, however, do not seriously lessen the impact and entertainment value of this undeservedly obscure picture.

"I Loved a Woman" is a 1933 film starring Edward G. Robinson and Kaye Francis. It's the story of an art-lover in the Victorian era whose family is in the meat-packing business in Chicago.

With his father's death, John Hayden (Robinson) cuts his trip to Greece short to go home and take over the company. A humanitarian, he is interested in making life better for the employees by cleaning up the packing house district where the employees live, and he is not interested in the cut-rate practices of his competitors.

John meets and falls in love with the pretty Martha Lane, whose father is just such a competitor and in need of money. Martha, too, is interested in causes. She and John marry, but they grow apart as she becomes more practical.

John is approached by an aspiring opera singer Laura McDonald (Francis) who wants him to back her studies; he agrees, and he falls in love with her. Laura, however, is ruthless and convinces John that he must be, too. He goes against everything he ever believed in to put his company back on top with disastrous results.

I have to admit I was less impressed with this film than the first person who commented. First of all, with all of the beautiful operatic music in the world, why is the only song Laura sings "Home on the Range" - many times? Okay, I get the cattle theme but it was too much.

And I didn't understand John suddenly becoming this ruthless man willing to send to soldiers overseas bad meat with fillers and other substances. Laura gives him one little lecture, and he turns into a third world dictator.

Robinson is very good, though he and Francis wear a lot of makeup. The characters, however, weren't especially likable or sympathetic. John does have the audience's sympathy at the beginning and at the very end, where Robinson's acting really stood out.

During the so-called 'Pre-Code Era', Hollywood was essentially in charge of policing themselves. Considering that there was no rating system AND Hollywood was really pushing the boundaries of morality in many of their films, there was an uproar and in July, 1934, a new, tougher Production Code was adopted...thus heavily sanitizing films for the next three decades. Gone were the old Pre-Code plots and occasional nudity...in now it was a squeaky clean era. "I Loved a Woman" was a Pre-Code film that certainly could NOT have been made just a year later, as its plot glamorizes and seems to excuse adultery...something specifically outlawed in the new Code, as adultery was either NOT to be in films or was to be heavily condemned.

John Hayden (Edward G. Robinson) is the heir to a meatpacking fortune and has just learned that his father has died. Despite claiming to being the champion of improved working conditions, wages and cleanliness, he spends the next few years leaving the company to essentially run itself while he devotes his energy towards raising a family. However, he slowly realizes that his company is going bankrupt AND his wife couldn't care less, as her father is the head of a group of meatpackers who are opposed to Hayden's STATED ideals. I say stated because during his absence from the company, he pretty much ignored his fine talk of running a progressive company.

Now with a company in trouble and a marriage a bit rocky, Hayden decides to run the company like the rest....or worse. Cleanliness and safe hygience mean nothing to him. In addition, he's got a new sweetie (Kay Francis) and his energies are focused on her and making millions...his wife, well, she's expendable. When war breaks out, he's more than happy to sell the government tainted meat for the soldiers! Nice guy, huh? If you haven't guessed, he's essentially a jerk!

So what did I like and not like about this film? What I didn't like was that Hayden changed so dramatically...too dramatically to make any sense. One minute he's a champion of the little people and a good husband, the next he's the opposite. His change was just too abrupt to be believable. On the positive side, the acting is very nice and the film has all the polish you'd expect from a Warner Brothers epic...though I could have done without all the times the film used "Home on the Range". Overall, decent but hardly among Robinson's best...and much of it is because no one in this film is likable and so you lose interest along the way. Plus, it never seems to know when to quit...so it's overlong to boot.