Smilin’ Through

Directed by Sidney Franklin, Smilin’ Through follows a young woman (Norma Shearer’s Kathleen) as she finds herself falling for an American named Kenneth (Fredric March) – with complications ensuing after Kathleen’s uncle (Leslie Howard’s John) forbids her from seeing Kenneth for (initially) unknown reasons. Filmmaker Franklin, armed with a screenplay by Ernest Vajda and Claudine West, delivers a seriously erratic endeavor that fares quite poorly within its sluggish, uneventful opening half hour, and there’s little doubt, ultimately that Smilin’ Through doesn’t begin to improve until March’s character arrives on the scene and begins courting Shearer’s Kathleen – with the subsequent flashback explaining John’s seemingly inexplicable hatred of Kenneth paving the way for a midsection that grows more and more compelling. (It doesn’t hurt that Shearer offers up an increasingly ingratiating performance that effectively sustains one’s interest through the narrative’s less-than-commanding stretches.) The unabashedly melodramatic atmosphere ensures that the revelations and surprises within the third act pack a more engaging punch than one might’ve initially anticipated, which does, in the end, confirm Smilin’ Through‘s place as a decent-enough piece of work that feels way, way too long at more than an hour and a half (ie this should’ve topped out at 70 minutes, max).

**1/2 out of ****