My Romance with Movies: From the 1940s: The Constant Nymph

1943 Romance Drama

From Warner Bros

Directed by Edmund Goulding

Starring

Charles Boyer

Joan Fontaine

Alexis Smith

Brenda Marshall

Charles Coburn

Dame May Whitty

Peter Lorre

Joyce Reynolds

Jean Muir

Boy, those requests are mounting. This posting was requested by a friend and the one coming up on the 30th has been requested by a faithful reader, Mimi. Then the Christmas offering is a request from another friend. I think, by and large, films requested by others are ones they like and therefore, it's a little nerve-racking thinking of the possibility of saying unpleasant things. But hey, we soldier on...

In 1942 Joan Fontaine and her then-husband, actor Brian Aherne, popped into Romanoff's for dinner. She was in the duds she wore when they were in their plane, her hair in pigtails. Director Edmund Goulding approached them and Aherne asked him to sit down. The director said he was about to start a production of The Constant Nymph, a film Aherne had appeared in in 1933. (It had also been filmed in 1928.) Aherne introduced him to Fontaine, whom the director hadn't recognized.

Goulding, excited about the project, said Charles Boyer and Alexis Smith and countless others had already been signed but they had no leading lady. He said that Jack Warner wanted a star name but that she had to be consumptive, flat-chested, anemic and 14 years old.

How about me, Fontaine chimed in. After looking her over and realizing who she was, he said you're perfect.

Perfect? Well, yes and no. When filming was done, there was a lot of yes and one hell of a big NO. Fontaine, at 25, did not for one moment look 14. She tried like hell to act it and succeeded admirably in some ways but that age difference required an enormous stretch and I suspect very few audience members were ever convinced of it. I had to shut my mind off to it or the film was not going to work for me.

The actress was thrilled to be signed. She would come to say it was the happiest working experience she ever had. She would capture an Oscar nomination for her performance and said Boyer was her favorite leading man of all-time. She was thrilled to be working with him because she and Aherne were good friends with the Boyers.

The story opens with the flop of a Belgian composer's latest symphony. He (Boyer) seeks refuge and inspiration at the Swiss chalet (as un-chalet as they come and poorly done on the WB soundstages) of his mentor, Albert Sanger and Sanger's unhappy third wife and four daughters... a combination of sisters and half sisters (Fontaine, Brenda Marshall, Joyce Reynolds and Jean Muir).

3 of 4 sisters: Fontaine, Marshall, Reynolds

All four girls have crushes of one sort or another on Boyer but the 14-year old's is the most serious. She believes that someday, when she is old enough, he will recognize just how over the moon she is for him. He cares a great deal for her but only as a child in the larger family with whom he's close.

Sanger feels Boyer hasn't lived enough... suffered enough... to have an emotional reservoir deep enough to produce truly great music.

Boyer hauls out his newest composition, a symphonic poem he's titled Tomorrow. His aging mentor likes the work but before he can offer much of his expertise, he dies. Boyer decides to stay with the Sangers and help them through their bereavement, at the same time knowing the sisters will help him in whatever way they can with his work.

Boyer becomes acquainted with Smith, a beautiful, sophisticated, wealthy cousin of the Sangers, and her feisty father (Charles Coburn). In a short time, Boyer and Smith marry and Fontaine collapses at the news. Smith has some obvious contempt for her raucous, rebellious cousins. Boyer is most uncomfortable in England in the stifling world of wealth and breeding that his wife represents. The music he tries to write becomes impossible. Smith's mistake is that she doesn't understand her husband's music or appear to want to. She, of course, becomes increasingly aware that Fontaine does understand it.

When Fontaine and sister Joyce Reynolds come to live with Boyer and Smith, the latter quickly ships them off to boarding school. Given her suspicious and jealous nature, it doesn't take Smith long to realize Fontaine has a passion for her husband. And sure enough, after the girls run away from school and return to Boyer and Smith's home, Boyer himself realizes his feelings for Fontaine have added dimensions.

Fontaine giving one of her best performances

The girls arrive at the home just as Boyer is giving a private performance of Tomorrow which is found wanting because he has buried his beautiful melody in some harsh claptrap. He sees the disappointment on the faces of his guests and realizes that much more work needs to be done before a scheduled public concert. He asks Fontaine to stay and help him re-capture the Romanticist version that her father so liked. Of course she agrees to do so. The longing she feels for Boyer is by now apparent to everyone and she admits it.

On the day of the concert Fontaine, while dressing, passes out, a result of a history of cardiac problems. Audiences witness other episodes throughout the story. Smith, at the height of her jealous machinations, convinces Fontaine to stay home and listen to the concert on radio rather than risk another episode at the concert hall.

The performance is met with a thunderous ovation. As Boyer arrives home first, he goes looking for Fontaine in her upstairs bedroom. Coming down the stairs and about to go into the study, Boyer encounters Smith who tells him that she has finally understood her husband's needs and his love for Fontaine and because she, Smith, loves her husband she will divorce him so he can be with Fontaine.

It might be assumed that Smith had bad feelings about her own behavior and realized through his musical performance that Fontaine was the key part to his success but I found the transition too jarring.

Regardless, Boyer dashes into the study and finds Fontaine asleep. But when a servant begins sobbing, Boyer has another look and realizes she has died... a sad ending indeed.

I must share with my friend that I had some doubts along the way that I could sing this film's praises. It felt dated... maybe even a little corny. And was there, in fact, something even a little creepy about it? And of course there was all that age business.

I decided I needed to give the movie another chance so 24 hours later I watched it again and was more relaxed in doing so. Hey, this was my friend here. I was glad I did it. I found it so nuanced, layers stacked on top of layers. The relationship was never sexual. Perhaps it was simply teenage infatuation. Perhaps it was true love. Maybe it was a look at soul mates.

From left: Boyer, Smith, Lorre, Fontaine

Again, while I never quite got over Fontaine trying to pull off being a 14-year old I eventually had to admit that she somehow captures the youthful exuberance that she sustains throughout the movie. It is startling and rather fascinating to watch this famously elegant actress running and skipping everywhere, jumping up and down, climbing over rocks, throwing her arms all over the place and bounding up stairs two at a time.

While she was never a particular favorite of mine, she did win me over here on the sheer guts of her physical performance. She could have lapsed into cutesy which she never did. I have to say it's now one of my favorite Fontaine performances.

Smith, who was a favorite, gives her signature performance... the haughty, mean-spirited sophisticate in the big shoulder pads, hair piled high on her head and at her imposing height, looking down with contempt at the little people. Her work usually excited me as it did here.

Boyer with his understated acting displays a sense of loss, torment and bitterness of an unhappy musician and husband that, it seems to me, is right on the mark. Like Fontaine, he was not someone whose work I went running to see but he impressed me here.

Coburn, in a far smaller role, is also impressive as the voice of reason. His character must have messed up somewhere along the way to have a daughter like that. The acting of the lesser characters also shines.

There were three scenes at the end of the movie, almost back-to-back-to-back... one between Fontaine and Smith, one with Fontaine and Boyer and one with Smith and Boyer... that completely sold me. No more doubt. The dialogue in each was a treasure and the acting of these three principals just so damned good.

Goulding was well-known for his tasteful, cultured, elegant comedies and dramas. He was an excellent choice to steer this film.

Looking happy when Olivia visits set

Yes, my friend loved this film. She was perplexed that I was somewhat foggy about it. But she cracks me up when she refers to it as a classy version of Lolita. Nothing could be further from the truth but she likes to make me laugh.

The Constant Nymph was based on a popular 1925 novel by Margaret Kennedy and a play by Basil Dean. The screenplay was adapted by Kathryn Scola. Apparently Kennedy's will stipulated the film could only be shown at universities and museums after its initial theatrical run ended. As a result it was unavailable for exhibition for nearly 70 years until matters were resolved and it was shown on TCM in 2011.

Here... director Goulding wants your attention: