MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

mark.waltz The very same year that this romantic drama concerning the private life of a troubled plastic surgeon was made, Eddie Cantor got to sing that famous standard in the musical classic "Roman Scandals". This film starts off with the profile of surgeon Ann Harding's career, going through the insecure arrival of an aging society matron (Helen Freeman) who has lost a recent lover and wants to get him back along with her youth. The opening segment follows her surgery and the revelation of how she looks, and what is sad is that while she does come back to see Harding and rave about how Harding's work did exactly what she wanted it to, she's still insecure on the inside knowing that ultimately, the looks regained from that surgery will soon fade away anyway. The shallowness of this situation causes Harding, while still young, to look at her own life which has her working long hours to make other women happy while she herself is miserable. She takes a vacation where she meets playboy pilot Robert Young who has the maturity of a teenager and in spite of her common sense telling her that he's no good for him, agrees to marry him on the spur of the moment anyway. But he's about as ready for a serious commitment as she is for retirement, and no amount of patience on her part (while not dealing with patients) will make him grow up.One of the most popular leading ladies of the pre-code era of Hollywood, Ann Harding faded out of the spotlight (mostly by her own choice) in the late 1930's, returning as a character actress and always playing ladies of nobility whose platinum blonde bun was always neatly tucked in the back of her head and indicated that her characters were rather rigid. Harding here starts off in a different fashion of rigid, rather cold in her business dealings, but coming to life as she finds love with a most likely younger man. But is it really love or just infatuation on both parts? Young's reckless lifestyle gets him into messes one right after another, and Harding tries too hard to get him to see the error of his ways, often acting more like a mother than a lover to him. She doesn't realize that the perfect man for her (Nils Asther) is right in reach, having loved her all along, but too aware of the fact that she sees him only as her best friend and not in a romantic sense. The exotic Sari Maritza is the other woman, looking on Harding with silent contempt when they first meet at a party where Young in daredevil mode has allowed Maritza to take over the controls of the two seater plane he's flying, scaring everybody on the ground beneath them. This is an enjoyable pre-code drama that leaves a very worthwhile message for the women who want to marry and tame bad boys: It doesn't always work and will ultimately leave them with nothing but heartache.

blanche-2 For some reason, the name Ann Harding today doesn't have the cache of some of her "strong woman" type contemporaries, such as Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, and their ilk. It's unclear why. She was a very good actress, but I think in the end she didn't have the studio attention that some other actresses did.Thanks to TCM, film buffs have a chance to see her. Here she is in "The Right to Romance" from 1933, also starring Robert Young and Nils Asther. Harding plays Peggy Simmons, a dedicated plastic surgeon (though I swear it said Peggy Simmons, D.D.S. - isn't that some sort of dentist?) who is also generous and good-hearted. But she doesn't feel much like a woman, working all of the time and seeing the years fly by.She decides to go on a break, where she dresses beautifully, does her hair, and heads for a resort area. There, she meets one of her patient's sons, whom she has met before, Bobby (Robert Young). He is suddenly very flirtatious and wanting to spend time with her. Peggy returns to her old life and patients, but Bobby shows up and proposes. She accepts, seemingly unaware that her colleague (Nils Asther) is in love with her.The marriage isn't happy - Bobby isn't ready to settle down, and Peggy finds that she is miserable. Short, very absorbing film thanks to the actors. It's interesting - in '40s films, a woman had a career or a marriage, not both, and if she had a career, she was WITHOUT A MAN TO CALL HER OWN and therefore miserable.The '30s films were different - go figure. Peggy is burned out initially but, without giving the ending away, we're not given the impression that she's chucking her career entirely.Harding was theater-trained, so she had the mid-American (i.e. fake British) speech spoken by Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and others. She was a strong actress, and her striking looks matched. Entertaining.

wes-connors Beautiful cosmetic surgeon Ann Harding (as Margaret "Peggy" Simmons) feels her biological clock ticking away. "The years are going so fast," she tells her somber nun, "Am I, after all, just a giddy woman at heart?" Ms. Harding takes a leave of absence from work and goes from staid Manhattan doctor to fun-loving Los Angeles sophisticate. She cuts down on smoking and has a whirlwind romance with wealthy playboy Robert Young (as Bobby Preble). You should expect their chance for happiness will be threatened... This Harding vehicle always leaves you wondering why she is so infatuated with Mr. Young while ignoring magnetic Nils Asther (as Helmuth "Heppie" Heppling), which may be the point.**** The Right to Romance (11/17/33) Alfred Santell ~ Ann Harding, Robert Young, Nils Asther, Sari Maritza

MartinHafer This film stars Ann Harding--an actress pretty much forgotten today, though in the early to mid-1930s, she was rather popular. She plays a super-dedicated surgeon that forgot to establish a life for herself outside the hospital where she works. Eventually, she comes to realize what she's missing and decides to take some time off to experience life. In the process she meets playboy Robert Young and she is captivated by his wild and carefree style--the exact opposite of hers. After a whirlwind romance they are married and soon Ann realizes she might have been a bit too impulsive! She is neither happy with him nor is he especially faithful, so in the end she appears poised to leave Young for her long-time friend, Heppie.The film is unusual and a true product of the "Pre-Code" era--before production standards were enforced. Had the film been made just a couple years later, the couple never would have taken such a casual attitude towards marriage or at least this would have been somehow punished. Instead, being adults, they just called it quits and went their own way. This helps to make the movie interesting from a historical standpoint, but otherwise the film really isn't all that special or interesting. A decent time-passer is about all it is down deep.By the way, Ms. Harding is a plastic surgeon but later in the film she'd doing back or orthopedic surgery! Even then, I doubt if any surgeon would have done such divergent types of operations.