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Strong and Moving!

Admirable film.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Those describing this as an early screwball comedy are telling only half the story--it's also a romantic drama, and, more surprisingly, an existential meditation. The theme is, as noted, quite reminiscent of "Holiday" and the later "The Philadelphia Story"--love among the privileged, with interlopers from the less privileged, and the ability or lack thereof to have a sense of humor in high society. But it's quite sad, too -- Glenn Anders' character meets a sorry end, and that ruins Diane Ellis's life. What's really moving is watching Nancy Carroll, never more radiant, having to choose between security and her true self, and her interaction with Fredric March, unusually loose and spontaneous; their scene in the cab actually moved me to tears, both for its content and their playing of it. This is how it's done, folks. For a screwball prototype it has unusual depth of feeling. Add to that sumptuous Deco trimmings, technical prowess that belie its Astoria Studios origins, and some exciting location New York filming. Hard to catch a copy of this one, but it's worth the search.

Nancy Carroll was the first girl to reach stardom in the talkies, she was the first girl to sing a song into a movie microphone, she was the first girl to do a tap dance on a studio sound stage and she was the star of arguably the first sophisticated "screwball" comedy. "Laughter' was the first Nancy Carroll movie I ever saw (over 35 years ago) and I was disappointed - where was the Nancy I knew from photos in books about the early musicals, the dancing Nancy in feathers and silky costumes. Now, after seeing quite a few of her films, I realise she can do anything. Whether the part called for a chorus cutie ("Close Harmony", "Sweetie") emotional drama ("Dance of Life", "The Devil's Holiday") or scintilating comedy ("Laughter", "Springtime for Henry") she could do it all.Peggy (Nancy Carroll), a Follies beauty forsakes all her old suitors to marry an affable old millionaire, C. Mortimer Gibson (Frank Morgan) who, while he lavishes every luxury on her, is obsessed with making money. One of her rejected suitors, Ralph La Sainte (Glenn Anders), a sculptor, has taken it very hard and when Peggy visits him, she finds him suicidal, but manages to jolly him around.When Paul (Fredric March), yet another suitor, returns from Paris, where he went to forget, he is just as riotous and madcap as ever and Peggy finds it hard to resist his infectious good humor. She realises she is bored with a life of idle luxury and needs love and laughter but she now has an added responsibility, keeping her step daughter, Marjorie (Diane Ellis) on the straight and narrow as she is fresh off the boat from finishing school and wants to kick up her heels. In an effort to help her discover laughter again, Paul takes Peggy on a drive. This sequence with it's zany humor and quirky oneliners that ends in their dressing up in bear skins and chasing each other around an empty house shows the beginnings of the "screwball" genre. The day ends unhappily as police arrest them for housebreaking and Peggy has to put up with a heated lecture from her irate husband.During a costume party, Peggy finds Marjorie missing and realising she may be running away with Ralph, who she is infatuated with, goes to his rooms to try and stop her. To bring Marjorie to her senses, she tells her that Ralph is only marrying her on the rebound and when Ralph stays silent, Marjorie flees from his rooms in tears. Peggy then realises her future is with Paul and that she needs love and laughter rather than luxuries. The very end scene has you wondering whether Paul's wit and charm will be enough to sustain Peggy as she looks longingly at a diamond bracelet.It is great to see Fredric March in these early roles, he was very versatile. "Laughter" was Diane Ellis' last movie. She had been a sweet ingenue who may well have developed into a competent actress - who knows? she died mysteriously in India on her honeymoon.Highly, Highly Recommended.

It hasn't received much critical attention, but Harry d'Arrast's comedy-drama Laughter is more than just an interesting and entertaining movie: it's a milestone in Hollywood's treatment of romantic comedy, a prototype for the "screwball" style produced several years before the term was in popular use. That's not to say that this film is as funny or wild as, for instance, Bringing Up Baby or Twentieth Century; despite its title, Laughter includes a lot of serious and surprisingly downbeat material, but it does point the way to the screwball genre in subject matter (i.e. the interplay of love and money) and tone, especially in one key sequence. It's also very well made for its time, and looks all the more impressive compared to other movies released in 1930, when the new technology of sound was still an impediment to smooth filmmaking technique for so many directors.The story is focused on a young woman named Peggy (Nancy Carroll), a former Follies girl who has been married for a year to wealthy broker C. Morton Gibson (Frank Morgan). For a broker he seems like a fairly decent chap, but unfortunately he lacks any trace of humor or spontaneity. Morton never laughs and seldom even cracks a smile. The couple, who live in a fabulous Deco mansion filled with servants, never display any genuine warmth for each other, and barely seem to be acquainted. It's clear that in marrying this man Peggy made a calculated financial deal, trading her youth and vitality for the security of this man's wealth. It's also apparent that Peggy is still struggling to clean up some messy situations left over from her earlier life; in the opening sequence an emotionally unstable artist named Ralph (Glenn Anders) who believes he's in love with Peggy threatens to kill himself over her. Throughout the film there are several scenes set in Ralph's grungy studio, where low-down bluesy music always blares, and the contrast with Gibson's spotless, quiet mansion is striking.Peggy's situation hits a crisis when a former suitor named Paul Lockridge (Fredric March) returns from Europe. Paul is a breezy, fun-loving composer who disapproves of Peggy's marriage and is determined to shake up her life, which he quickly succeeds in doing. March is terrific in this role. Viewers familiar with his later, more stately performances may be surprised at how energetic and loose he is here, like Cary Grant in his heyday. He makes himself at home in the Gibson mansion, rummaging around in the fridge, gnawing a chicken leg and washing it down with beer, and playing his tunes on the piano. (His rowdy playing is pointedly contrasted with Mr. Gibson's fussy plink-plink-plinking at the keyboard.) In the film's "screwball" highpoint, Peggy and Paul go for an afternoon ride out on Long Island. They run out of gas, get caught in the rain, and accommodate themselves by breaking into a house whose owners are away. What's notable about this sequence is the pair's playful attitude: they treat the whole thing as a lark. They decide that the place belongs to a couple named Smith and portray them, only Peggy is Mr. Smith and Paul is the Missus. They wrap themselves in bearskin rugs, and that's how we find them at breakfast the next morning. Unfortunately the runaway couple can't sustain the antic mood when reality crashes in on them. They're arrested, but when the identity of Peggy's husband is revealed they're quickly released and given a police escort home. That's when Paul informs Peggy that, for all her riches, what she lacks is laughter, and the lack of it is smothering her. "You were born for laughter," he tells her. "Nothing in this life of yours now is as important as that."The attitude towards wealth is striking, considering that the Great Depression was the inescapable calamity of the era. Here we encounter an attitude that would be reiterated and refined in later screwball comedies, that is, Depression or no Depression, money is worthless if you're not happy with your life. (Of course, money comes in handy if you're starving, but that's a different debate for another time.) Peggy comes to realize that she'd rather gamble on uncertainty and "laughter" than settle for an embalmed existence under C. Morton Gibson's roof, and Nancy Carroll is so lively and convincing in the role we choose to believe her. Whenever I see one of Carroll's films I wonder why her career didn't flourish; in addition to being very pretty she was an actress of nuance and versatility. She and March are first-rate in Laughter, and so is Frank Morgan, in a sympathetic portrayal of an emotionally stunted man. Morgan gives a restrained, carefully calibrated performance entirely free of the blustery shtick that became his trademark later on. His C. Morton Gibson seems fully aware of his shallowness but unable to develop as a person, frustrated and angry but essentially masochistic in his unwillingness to take charge as events in his household spin out of control. We identify with Peggy & Paul and want to see them break away, but Gibson is a surprisingly poignant figure.Laughter is a well-written, polished film that deserves to be better known. It's not in the same league as the later screwball classics when it comes to humor, but taken on its own terms it's an intelligent piece of work that deserves credit for its groundbreaking approach to romantic comedy.

I was expecting this movie to be much more than it was. I read that it was one of Fredric March's personal favorites, his others being A Star is Born, Death Takes a Holiday, and Best Years of Our Lives, and so since he liked it I thought it was going to be really good. I must say I was really bored with it. The story seemed boring and not really well written. I think it could have been a much better story if the script was better. As is, there were too many loose ends. Sure, there were some funny moments (it was enjoyable to see Fred draped in a white bearskin rug!), and Fred gave a few kisses, and you got to see him in his undershirt. But I have seen him in MUCH better roles, more romantic, more funny...everyone's opinion is different. This is mine...It is one of the few Fred movies I didn't really like.