Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

cbryce59 Leslie Howard is pompous and stiff, playing a character who is the same. Myrna Loy is beautiful, sometimes charming, but also a little stiff. She seems unused to the role of the woman who loses in the end. Ann Harding has always come across as mannered and stiff to me, and this movie is no exception.Being that it is a pre-code, the man is permitted to choose his mistress over his wife-very unusual indeed and you won't see that again after 1934 for many decades. But he knew what his wife was when he married her, yet he acts so affronted and disgusted when she lets him know that she really wants him to accept his father's offer to live in the city, as she is unhappy and bored in the country. She wants a more exciting life.Ann Harding's character seems anything but the footloose artist. She comes across as very priggish and upright to me. Yet we are to believe she is a "free soul". It is even less believable that Howard's character is such a person. They seem like two prigs, who probably do belong together after all.

kidboots The unusual theme for this very intelligent and enjoyable film has the decent self sacrificing mistress (Ann Harding) pitted against the merciless, social climbing wife (Myrna Loy).In 1932 Ann Harding was at the peak of her career and this film has become her most popular. She was the epitome of style and class, with her silvery long blonde hair (done in a bun on the nape of her neck), natural beauty and low husky voice. She was a very unconventional beauty for the period. She was also RKO's most prestigious star - until Constance Bennett came along with a more down to earth appeal. So fans, going to see her in "The Animal Kingdom" knew exactly what to expect. Myrna Loy, also had not found her "Nora Charles" persona and was still being given roles that required her to be anything but nice. Karen Morley was producer Selznicks' first choice for Cecilia but Leslie Howard demanded Myrna Loy.After Tom's father (Henry Stephenson) finishes bemoaning the fact that Tom (Leslie Howard) has wasted his life, Cecilia (Myrna Loy, looking completely ravishing) confesses that she is going to marry Tom. Tom is in an "unconventional relationship" with Daisy Sage (Ann Harding), a free spirited artist, and the night of his engagement, he feels he must tell her. Daisy also has some news - she feels she has real talent as an artist, and she wants to marry Tom so she can have children!!! Once she realises Tom is about to marry Cecilia she finds she cannot continue their old relationship.Once they are married Cecilia tries desperately to mold Tom to fit in with her circle of boring friends. She convinces him to publish a potboiler, a book Tom is ashamed of - but it becomes a best seller among her friends. She then convinces him to fire Regan (William Gargan is just stunning in the role he originated on stage). Regan is an old friend of Tom's, an ex prize fighter who Tom keeps on as a butler. He is very funny - he gets drunk and mingles with the guests, much to Cecilia's disgust. The dialogue is pretty racy - "a foolish virgin me - well foolish anyway" says Daisy, when she learns of Tom's engagement. Rather than resume their old relationship Daisy flees to Canada. When she returns Cecilia rings her to invite her to a surprise party. Cecilia feels that by getting all his old friends together Tom will realise what a lot of riff raff they are. The party is not a success - Daisy spends her time reading a new novel that Tom is due to publish and realises how low he has fallen. Behind his back Cecilia convinces Owen (Neil Hamilton), an old flame and also a successful publisher to buy Tom out and take over the Bantam press. Daisy overhears and also sees Cecilia's behaviour towards Owen and realises that Cecilia is not good enough for Tom and is also the cause of his loss of high ideals and integrity.Cecilia believes that Tom has excepted a huge cheque from his father and shows herself as she really is. Tom is surprised at how much the room she has decorated resembles a London brothel he had visited. Even though it is only suggested, it is pretty racy dialogue even for pre- code times. He then realises that she is acting like a high class prostitute - promising him privileges that she had been withholding (the locked bedroom door, his desire for children etc) because of the money she thinks will be hers.I thought it was a super film, quite shocking in it's suggestions, even for the time. The ending was also in keeping with the pre-code code and I can heartily recommend this entertaining and intelligent movie.Highly Recommended.

dwpollar 1st watched 12/7/2004 - 7 out of 10(Dir- Edward H. Griffith): Surprisingly honest and frank drama about a man who can't decide between two women in his life. One, ties him down to a commitment and is a solid person and the other doesn't ask for a commitment and is a great friend but doesn't have the stability of the first. I never did figure out why the movie was called "Animal Kingdom", but I believe it has to do with how we as humans tend to become survivalists like those in the animal kingdom do when things aren't going well. This is one of the most complex character studies that I've seen in awhile especially from a movie made so long ago. The acting is kind of up-and-down but the story is consistently intriguing as we try to figure out what Tom(the book publisher) is going to do in his life from one moment to the next. Every character in this story is interesting in one way or another and the movie works hard to follow these characters and not just make a happy-go-lucky movie experience. There is a uniqueness in this film's open attitude towards love and friendship and how to piece them together that I have not seen often.

jaykay-10 This is a plodding drama, devoid of the sparkle and cleverness that mark some of Philip Barry's work. In fact, Barry repeatedly utilizes not only the same social milieu, but an almost identical set of character types involved in familiar kinds of relationships. If you've seen one Barry play (or screen adaptation), you've pretty much seen them all. Try "The Philadelphia Story" or "Holiday" in place of "The Animal Kingdom." In those, you will not have to wonder why the characters are, or are, not drawn to one another. Leslie Howard does his level best with a less-than-fully-conceived character whose social and family obligations appear to be in conflict with his need to maintain his integrity, and his potential for achieving personal happiness. It is stolid Ann Harding who is all wrong, barely registering emotion as a supposedly free spirit who can rescue her lover from the dull existence that awaits him without her.For a far more effective handling of a similar story and characters (not created by Philip Barry), watch "H.M. Pulham, Esq." with Robert Young and Hedy Lamarr.