The Barretts of Wimpole Street

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Audience Member "The Baretts of Wimpole Street" released in 1934, has the stamp of MGM's great production values. Norma Schearer wonderfully plays Elizabeth Barrett, the invalid poet. She is overly protected by her father, brilliantly played by Charles Laughton. We later learn Laughton is really a tyrant of a man who is incapable of really loving anyone or being loved. Elizabeth meets the fellow poet Robert Browning (Frederic March), and they fall in love. Maureen O'Sullivan give one of her finest performances as Elizabeth's sister, who also falls in love with a Captain. Her father finds out and forbids her to see him again, in a cruel and heartbreaking scene where he makes her swear on a bible. The interplay between Laughton and O'Sullivan and Schearer is fascinating, as the family dynamics are brought to the foreground. "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" was originally a stage play, but translates just fine to the screen. The supporting case is top notch, but this is Norma Schearer's show. It is difficult to take your eyes off her. Laughton is great, as is O'Sullivan. Frederic March at times seems a bit off as Robert Browning, although he is very handsome and the chemistry between he and Schearer is credible. It is a shame that Norma Schearer left the movies by the 1940's. But we are fortunate that this gifted actress left such an amazing legacy of films - "The Barrets of Wimpole Street" is certainly one of them. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Jared D Charles Laughton's performance is worth the price of admission here. As the overbearing tyrant, he is fabulous. While Shearer is miscast as a frail sickly daughter, she still holds her own -- and the rest of the cast and the story are first rate. While this story was remade in 1957, I think it would be prime material for another remake in the 2020s. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/02/20 Full Review steve d The great cast makes it worth your time. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member The best romance movie ever made! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review joe m Well done melodrama of the growing love between Elizabeth Barrett (Shearer) and Robert Browning (March) in the face of her tyrannical and cruel father (Laughton). Drags along but then really picks up when Elizabeth decides to rebel against the suffocating moral, then down right creepy, strictures of her father. Good performances with Shearer giving just the right degree of pathos and growing strength, while March is the least effective of the three leads. Laughton's Edward Barrett stands out as a menacing presence in his scenes as well as when he's not on the screen. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member The love story between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett is legendary, and her 'Sonnets from the Portuguese' contains some of the beautiful love poetry ever written. They were both already established poets when they began corresponding, but she was an invalid, and had doubts and insecurities that he helped overcome with steady, persistent, genuine love. What I had forgotten about their story was how poorly her father behaved towards her and the rest of his children, and this movie really shows us that, in what appears to be a pretty accurate way. Charles Laughton is brilliant as the overbearing, controlling, overprotective, borderline incestuous Mr. Barrett, father of 12, whose wife had passed away, and whose own frustrations in love had led him to forbid his children to marry. He's hard to watch at times, but certainly gives the best performance, and the movie is probably more about his inability to let his children go - indeed, he disinherited each one who married - than it is about the extraordinary love between Robert and Elizabeth, though Frederic March and Norma Shearer do have some tender scenes. I enjoyed watching it, but I suppose that's the reason I didn't give a higher rating. How much better would it have been had they incorporated even more of their relationship, and some of their letters and poetry. The movie would be remade 23 years later by the same director, Sidney Franklin, and would be a great choice to be remade (with script changes) again today. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

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