Smilin' Through

Smilin' Through (1932)

Exquisite romance!

On the day of his wedding, Sir John Carteret's fiancée, Moonyeen, is killed by a jealous rival named Jeremy, leaving him emotionally devastated. Carteret spends three decades in seclusion, mostly communing with the spirit of Moonyeen, until he learns that her niece, Kathleen, has become an orphan. He adopts and raises the child as his own but is alarmed when, as a young woman, she falls in love with the son of Moonyeen's murderer.

Date of release
1932-09-24
TMDB
6.0 / 10 (29)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Sidney Franklin

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Smilin' Through is a 1932 American pre-Code MGM romantic drama film based on the 1919 play of the same name written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin under the pseudonym of Allan Langdon Martin. It was adapted from the play by James Bernard Fagan, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Vajda and Claudine West. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin and stars Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard and Ralph Forbes.

Production

Significant differences exist in the story in comparison with the 1922 silent film. The 1941 version, though not a shot-for-shot remake, does incorporate several key scenes from the 1932 film verbatim, while adding material that focuses more on World War II, including patriotic songs performed by Jeanette MacDonald.

The song "Smilin’ Through" was first published in 1919 at the time when the original play was written. The song is heard in the play and in all three film adaptions, including as musical accompaniment in the 1922 silent version. Norma Shearer's singing voice was dubbed by Georgia Stark.

Stewart said he got the job as "having acquired a reputation as a humorist because of my books" the film "wasn’t exactly a laugh riot. Irving Thalberg needed some help with the dialogue there; they had shot half of it, I think, and I rewrote some of the scenes. That was my first real introduction to Hollywood."

The film was rereleased in 1935. According to the MGM "Campaign Book”, it was brought back "by public demand."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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