February 2 movie: Smilin' Through. This was a fairly silly movie starring Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard. Howard plays a bitter old man whose true love was murdered by a jealous rival on their wedding day. Shearer plays the ghost of the murdered girl, who shows up now and then to tell Howard how happy they'll be when he dies too. Thanks, ghost, for keeping the poor guy chained to your memory for his whole life! Good to know you have his best interests at heart! Shearer also plays an orphaned niece living with Howard as his ward. She falls in love with the son of the man who killed Howard's fiance, and Howard is a total bastard about it. Until the very end when he finally sees the light and gives the young couple his blessing, then immediately drops dead and rejoins his ghost fiance.
I hate to say this, but the more Norma Shearer movies I see, the less I like her. She more or less plays the same character in every movie; she just doesn't have the range of someone like Bette Davis to keep bringing me back again and again. I do like Leslie Howard but he wasn't so convincing as an old man. Probably I judged him unfairly because of just having seen Kind Hearts and Coronets.
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