I recently denigrated Ruth Chatterton's performance in another film and became beset with the malaise that attends the negative mindset. Asked myself, "how could I be so hardened?" I set about researching her films I was familiar with. Happily, I started with "Anybody's Woman." As the film began, [and I HAD to watch the whole thing , again] it was clear that this was the performance by which I had judged all of Chatterton's. Indeed, it is the standard to which I hold Paul Lukas and Clive Brook.
While the plot of a society gentleman-marries-chorus-girl-on-bender has been done ad nauseum, this film achieves complete veracity. Ruth Chatterton's Pansy Grey is a natural, decent sort, who recognizes her own faults and refuses to let them drag her down. She is loyal to the point of self-sacrifice and tough when she needs to be. Chatterton displays acting talents from A to Z, from soft spoken to shouting, and so effective that volumes are spoken when she just leans her head against Clive Brook's chest. Brook benefits from superb lines, and he'll deliver some with uncommon fire. Paul Lukas, here, is cast in an outgoing and straightforward part which showcases him better than anywhere else.
All three vertices of this romantic triangle play a taut script right to the hilt. The intense sincerity these three bring to their roles makes every scene memorable. Structurally, the film is deliberately broken into stand alone blocks of time, each labeled silent movie style: "A Month Later", "The Next Day" and so on. Elsewhere, this device is used as a crutch, here, you are allowed to savor what you've just experienced. It is as though the film makers are saying, "if you thought that was good, watch this!"
I'm sure much credit must go to the director, Dorothy Arzner. Close ups are judiciously used and there is a natural quality pervading each set piece. She's blocked her actors and composed camera frame according to the relationship of the onscreen principles. Early in the film, Brook's and Chatterton's heads are in opposite corners of the frame. Later, during a confrontation, the three leads are almost huddled, lost in the room. While this could play onstage, only cinema can manipulate the viewer in this fashion.
Please, please Paramount, take a look at this picture and release it to home video. There is gold in your vaults.
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