Always Goodbye

Really enjoy Barbara Stanwyck and will watch any movie she's in. She can shore up even the most humdrum potboiler with her acting talent and make any picture better. Her mettle was tested in "Always Goodbye", a picture with nothing new to add to the romance genre, and she did the best she could. Alas, she was done in by a flat script and uninspired dialogue and despite an excellent support cast, featuring Herbert Marshall, Ian Hunter, Caesar Romero and Lynn Bari, among others. I'm not sure anything short of a rewrite could save this rehash of many other similarly themed pictures.

This picture was shown in error at Film Forum in NYC; The 1931 film with the same name was supposed to be shown but somehow this was substituted. Right now I would rather have seen the older one. Sight unseen, I'll bet it was better than this plodding trudge through the landscape.

This movie is clearly one you must suspend all sense of disbelief in order to enjoy it. This isn't saying it's a bad film....I actually liked it. But it has a plot that certainly is far-fetched!

When the film begins, Margot (Barbara Stanwyck) is waiting for her fiancé to arrive at the marriage license bureau. However, as she's waiting he's killed in a traffic accident right in front of her!!! To make things worse, she's pregnant*! So you next see her about to kill herself when she is caught by Jim (Herbert Marshall) and he takes her under his wing and gets her back on her feet. He also helps her find a nice adoptive couple when her baby arrives months later. But although Jim is marvelous, he has a real wandering spirit and is sometimes gone for years on his sea travels.

In the meantime, while Jim is off on one of his voyages, Margot gets a job with a fashion studio and her life is really going well. In fact, soon a crazy Count, Gino (Caesar Romero), is chasing her and proposing marriage. He's a nice guy...just a bit full of himself.

Soon after, she sees an adorable kid in a hotel and realizes this boy is her biological son she gave up years ago! So, when she learns he's going on a cruise, she arranges to go on the same ship and soon the two become inseparable. But there is a huge problem-- the boy's mother has died and the woman his father (Ian Hunter) wants to marry is just awful and cares nothing for the boy....Margot's baby! So what's she to do and who is she to marry when THREE guys all pop the question?!

Thi is an enjoyable film mostly because although far-fetched, the acting is quite good and the story engaging. Well worth seeing, though it is one of Stanwyck's lesser-known films.

A remake of the 1933 film Gallant Lady, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring Ann Harding and Clive Brook. Somebody must have thought that the work needed an upgrade, with bigger stars, such as Barbara Stanwick and Herbert Marshall. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, this new version has everything to be a success: a good cast, a trip to Paris, the glamour of American and Parisian fashion. But it continues to be a melodrama about maternal love and how a mother sacrifices everything to be with her child.

It is curious to see Barbara Stanwick, an actress who has forever been associated with femme fatale and male manipulator roles, playing a loving mother, fighting for her son's love.

Too melodramatic for my taste, it can nevertheless be enjoyed by many, for precisely the same reasons.

It's a touching tale that begins with a tragedy and the harsh realities of life in which Margo, played by Barbara Stanwyck, has to give up her child. Life goes on and she finds fulfilment in a career and a new love but there are some unexpected twists and turns ahead for her.

I'm so pleased to discover this movie; didn't know about it until today and it's a real treat to follow the careers of these stars. Ian Hunter was just out of his King Richard role in "The Adventures of Robin Hood," and shortly to make "The Sisters" and "The Little Princess." For a change he's been given a more prominent part to play here, which is nice as I considered him quite a good actor not given enough opportunities to 'shine' in dramatic roles.

One sees a younger Herbert Marshall before several great roles in the years ahead, always with that fine sounding, quality voice so memorable in many films, particularly in "The Razor's Edge." A very young Cesar Romero is amusing as the Count (not sure if he really is one though) and never hesitates to charm any woman within two feet of him! It keeps him rather busy, flitting from flower to flower, but such are his ways. He also has a chance to demonstrate his beautiful dancing skills as he was a professional early on in his career. Ms Stanwyck never seems to change much over the years in her beauty and acting talent.

This is a very human drama that time does not alter. I'd like to buy the video one day if ever it's available.

Barbara Stanwyck stars in this what was termed back in the day, a woman's picture. Always Goodbye is a remake of Ann Harding's Gallant Lady and it has Stanwyck giving up her infant son for adoption rather than trying to raise him as a single parent. That was simply not done back in the day of The Code.

Herbert Marshall arranges the adoption of the infant to his friend Ian Hunter and wife who have been childless for years. Marshall saved Stanwyck from doing herself in. He even arranges for her to get a job in the fashion industry working for Binnie Barnes. As you can imagine the latest in Thirties fashion is worn here. If this were done over at MGM Joan Crawford would have had this part for sure.

While on a buying trip to Paris, Barbara makes the acquaintance of Cesar Romero who provides a lot of the comedy in this film. He also gets a chance to show off his dancing ability which is considerable. Before films Romero was a dance instructor. She also runs into little Johnny Russell who turns out to be her son.

I think you can see where this is going and I will say while it's not the greatest of Stanwyck films it is certainly nicely done. Barbara's best scenes in the film are with little Master Russell. She doesn't let the kid steal them from her either.

In the end STanwyck has to make some critical choices. And finds out that you cannot always have your own way all the time.