The Animal Kingdom (1932)

Director:

Edward H. Griffith

Writers:

Philip Barry (play)
Horace Jackson (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 December 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Tom Collier has had a great relationship with Daisy, but when he decides to marry, it is not Daisy whom he asks...

Plot Keywords:

Butler | Idealism | Infidelity | Love Affair | New York City

Cast

Ann Harding	...	Daisy Sage
Leslie Howard	...	Tom Collier
Myrna Loy	...	Cecilia 'Cee' Henry Collier
William Gargan	...	'Red' Regan, Tom's Butler
Neil Hamilton	...	Owen
Ilka Chase	...	Grace
Henry Stephenson	...	Rufus Collier
Leni Stengel	...	Franc Schmidt
Don Dillaway	...	Joe Fiske
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Curtis Benton	...	Radio Announcer (voice)

Also Known As:

The Woman in His House (UK)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Approved

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The film flopped with the Depression-era audience as a whole. The movie ended up $110,000 in the red.

Quotes:

Tom Collier: [Explaining his relationship with Daisy to his fiancée, Cecilia] Cee, we've... Well, we've been everything possible to each other, of course, but...
Cecilia 'Cee' Henry Collier: Yes, Tom.
Tom Collier: ...at the same time free as air. I mean, there has never been a feeling of conventional responsibility towards each other's involvement.
Cecilia 'Cee' Henry Collier: I can understand that.
Tom Collier: Can you, Cee? 'Cause I never could.

Movie Connections:

Version of One More Tomorrow (1946)

Good pre-code

Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, and Myrna Loy are all members of "The Animal Kingdom" in this 1932 film based on the play by Phillip Barry. Barry in his way was a transitional playwright - he wrote about the upper class, usually negatively, but always gave a nod to the lower class - they were the ones that had more fun. Just a little bit later, plays about the upper class would go by the wayside for plays about the working class - Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing - as America moved through the depression.

Leslie Howard plays a member of said upper class who has engaged in a Bohemian lifestyle, living with an intelligent artist (Harding). They have a no attachment, open relationship, and he takes her at her word and gets himself engaged to a gorgeous, wealthy young woman (Myrna Loy) just as Harding decides she wants to settle down and have a family. She accepts his decision, but not his offer of continuing friendship.

There is a line about the "animal kingdom" in the film, but I prefer to think the title has to do with baser instincts. If Howard passionately desired Ann Harding, he wouldn't have wanted to be friends - and it's her desire of him that makes her reject his "just friends" suggestion. Let's face facts - Loy turns him on and knows it. In fact, she uses sex as a manipulative weapon, and he's putty in her hands. It's more blatant in this film than, say, "Harriet Craig" which was done under the code - but the power of sex is there.

Of course, a relationship based on sexual desire and nothing else eventually grows tired, and Howard finds himself going back to talk with Harding and spend time with her. She smartly keeps running. Clearly, Howard is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

Harding was an interesting leading woman - she was attractive but not beautiful and had a very low, distinctive speaking voice. She came from the Broadway stage, and her heyday in films was through the mid-thirties, though she worked consistently in films and television until the mid-60s. As was the case back then, at 31 years of age, her time as a leading lady was drawing to a close, and soon would be turned over to people like the younger Loy. Her performance in "The Animal Kingdom" is a very honest one. Loy is absolutely ravishing and wears beautiful clothes. She essays the part of the glamorous wife beautifully, reminiscent of Gene Tierney later on with the ultra-feminine facade hiding the steel underneath. Howard is handsome and thoughtful in the lead, and one can see it slowly occurring to him that he made a mistake.

Very good.