Susan and God (1940)

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Rachel Crothers (play)
Anita Loos (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 June 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Saint...or Screwball?

Plot:

Susan Trexel is a wealthy socialite, who while vacationing in Europe undergoes a religious transformation...

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Socialite | Transformation | Horseback Riding | Marriage Proposal

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Susan Trexel
Fredric March	...	Barrie Trexel
Ruth Hussey	...	Charlotte
John Carroll	...	Clyde Rochester
Rita Hayworth	...	Leonora Stubbs
Nigel Bruce	...	Hutchins Stubbs
Bruce Cabot	...	Michael O'Hara
Rose Hobart	...	Irene Burroughs
Constance Collier	...	Lady Millicent Wigstaff
Rita Quigley	...	Blossom Trexel
Gloria DeHaven	...	Enid
Richard Crane	...	Bob Kent (as Richard O. Crane)
Norma Mitchell	...	Hazel Paige
Marjorie Main	...	Mary Maloney
Aldrich Bowker	...	Patrick Maloney

Also Known As:

The Gay Mrs. Trexel (UK)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Germany:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #6246) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The play originally opened on 10 April 1937 in Princeton, New Jersey, and moved to New York City, New York on 7 October 1937 where it ran for 288 performances. Gertrude Lawrence played the role of Susan.

Quotes:

Barrie Trexel: If Susan's lying in a ditch, you can be sure it's a perfectly good ditch, with hot and cold running water.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Goodnight, Sweetheart

Crawford near her peak

This film is an odd one in Joan Crawford's MGM films, but entertaining and well worth viewing for one of Crawford's better, more carefully thought-out performances. Originally purchased for Norma Shearer (who balked at playing the mother of a teenager), this dramatic comedy provides a fine framework for one of Crawford's few successful comedy portrayals. Widely faulted at the time for too closely copying Gertrude Lawrence's stage performance (in the same role), today it is apparent how much originality and commitment Crawford brought to the part of Susan, a flighty upper-crust socialite hell bent on bringing her newfound religious enlightenment to her family and friends, with disastrous results.

Frederick March turns in a fine, delicately shaded performance as Susan's long suffering husband who is driven to drink by her fecklessness. Majorie Main, as Susan's down-to-earth housekeeper, almost steals the film and Rose Hobart gives a brilliant, tense performance as Susan's unhappy best friend.

This is a first rate MGM production of its day, with stunning costumes and brilliant supporting players. This film has often been overlooked by fans and critics alike, but it offers many delights and highlights excellent contributions by George Cukor, the director, and the rest of the MGM production team. The subject (born again religious mania) is, as more than one film critic has noted, rather an odd one for Golden Age Hollywood to have touched on at all, but it is handled with care and Susan, in the end, emerges a wiser, happier woman. No Joan Crawford fan should miss it!