This 1932 movie is about a housekeeper who is most responsible for raising a family of four kids after their mother dies. It's a good drama that portrays a kind woman who sacrifices her own personal life for the children of a widower. It has some good twists as the father becomes wealthy from inventions and the family moves into a mansion. The woman likes all of the children, but has special affection for the youngest son who was born when Mrs. Smith, died.
When the children are adults, all but the youngest are snobbish and condescending of Emma. Mr. Smith has been in poor health and finally marries Emma. Shortly thereafter, he dies and the three oldest children accuse Emma of killing their father to get his inheritance, which she knew nothing about. She is found innocent in a murder trial, but the youngest child, her favorite Ronnie, is killed in a plane crash trying to get back to help her defense.
Emma, with her attorney, finally gives all of the inheritance to the three remaining children. They have some sort of repentance for their treatment of her, and beg her to stay. But, she moves on to another family that needs her help. The movie seems to portray Emma as an unselfish person who sacrificed herself for others, especially children. And, it shows the conversion of the three adult children.
But, reading between the lines in this story, is a shortcoming of Emma. She was in charge of raising those children, and could discipline and train and educate them. She failed in that area, because the oldest three grew up to be selfish and spoiled. So, while she may have had a good heart and love for kids, her weakness in not disciplining them led to their rotten characters. She even defended any strong words against them in the course of her trial. So, this was the story of a well-meaning woman who wound up doing more harm than good by her overly lenient supervision in raising children.
This movie is not based on the famous novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Austen's "Emma" was later made into a number of movies. But this earliest "Emma" is from an original story by Frances Marion. Marion is little known in the 21st century, but she was one of the best and most productive screenwriters of the 20th century. She did some acting and directing but became known as one of the greatest screenwriters of her time. She has nearly 200 writing credits for movies, many during the silent era, and nearly 50 for sound pictures.
Marion won two Oscars for her writing - for "The Big House" in 1930 and for "The Champ" in 1932. She was also nominated for "The Prizefighter and the Lady" of 1933. Besides the story for this film, Marion also worked on the 1931 screenplay that won Marie Dressler her best actress Oscar for "Min and Bill." Marion began her writing career as a journalist and was one of the few female war correspondents of World War I.
After winning her best actress Oscar in 1931, Marie Dressler was again nominated in 1932. That was for her role in this film. Dressler was a grand lady of cinema, but her career was not that long. She was 46 when she got her first silent role in 1914. She made only 31 films, but is most well-known for the last half of her films that were in sound.
Dressler was a large, heavy-set woman with a distinct voice and much talent. Audiences of her day enjoyed her acting. She played diverse roles. This "Emma" is a good movie that shows Dressler's film persona and abilities. Here, a trait from her silent film days stands out. In doing double takes, she suddenly becomes very wide-eyed as though astonished. Marie Dressler died of cancer two years after this film came out.
This is also a good film for a look at Jean Hersholt who plays Frederick Smith. Hersholt was born in Copenhagen in 1886 and trained for acting on the Denmark stage. He emigrated to the U.S. at age 27 in 1913, but bypassed Broadway for the movies in Hollywood. Hersholt was in more than 140 films, and though a very good actor, he never was nominated for acting awards. However, he achieved fame and popularity for his work and promotion of the film industry and performers, and for his humanitarian efforts. The motion picture academy later created and named its honorary humanitarian award after Hersholt. He was 69 when he died of cancer in 1956.
One other performer who would later reach stardom appears here as well. Myrna Loy was 27 when this film was made, and she already had 62 films to her credit - many in the silent era. Her 1934 pairing with Clark Gable and William Powell in "Manhattan Melodrama" began her climb to fame with audiences. She and Powell would make 14 films together, mostly comedies and comedy-mysteries after that. She would also star with other leading men in films of various genres through the 1940s. And, she would continue to play leads and major supporting roles in movies well into the 1970s. Loy died at in 1993 at age 88.
8 out of 9 found this helpful