Today We Live feels like a silent movie, with the lack of music past the opening credits, the slow pacing of dialogue, and the overacted close-ups by Joan Crawford. Most of the movie is unenjoyable and slow, but there is a pretty impressive special effects sequence in the last third of the movie that will please the men in the audience. The film takes place in England during WWI, and while no one in the cast is English, all three of the men fight in the war.
Joan Crawford stars as the object of everyone's affection, and while she has a close friendship with her childhood friend Robert Young, she feels a love-at-first-sight spark with Gary Cooper. Gary isn't very nice, and as the movie continues, he shows himself to be a truly terrible person. Not only is Bob nicer, but he's been best friends to her and her brother Franchot Tone, all her life, and it's always been understood that when they were old enough, they'd be married. Joan agrees to marry him, because he's going off to war, but behind his back, she falls for Gary. Then, when an extremely unrealistic misunderstanding makes everyone think Gary's been killed in action, she and Bob live in sin together. When Gary comes back from the dead, he's not happy about what he finds.
The synopsis of this movie sounds like Gary Cooper is the lead, but even though he gets second billing, the entire movie is about Robert Young. Poor Franchot Tone has the most forgettable part, as the bland brother who gives his sister too many lingering kisses. Bob is the one who has an unrequited love that guilts Joan into promising to marry him. He's the one who gets drunk and cries on Joan's doorstep. He gets duped and wronged cruelly by Gary, and in the last portion of the movie, he has to endure something really terrible. What a break for someone who'd only been making movies for two years! And, for someone so new to the screen, he does a great job, fulfilling every emotion required of him. It's no wonder he was given the far meatier and larger role; Gary Cooper's appalling lack of talent wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Joan Crawford stars as the object of everyone's affection, and while she has a close friendship with her childhood friend Robert Young, she feels a love-at-first-sight spark with Gary Cooper. Gary isn't very nice, and as the movie continues, he shows himself to be a truly terrible person. Not only is Bob nicer, but he's been best friends to her and her brother Franchot Tone, all her life, and it's always been understood that when they were old enough, they'd be married. Joan agrees to marry him, because he's going off to war, but behind his back, she falls for Gary. Then, when an extremely unrealistic misunderstanding makes everyone think Gary's been killed in action, she and Bob live in sin together. When Gary comes back from the dead, he's not happy about what he finds.
The synopsis of this movie sounds like Gary Cooper is the lead, but even though he gets second billing, the entire movie is about Robert Young. Poor Franchot Tone has the most forgettable part, as the bland brother who gives his sister too many lingering kisses. Bob is the one who has an unrequited love that guilts Joan into promising to marry him. He's the one who gets drunk and cries on Joan's doorstep. He gets duped and wronged cruelly by Gary, and in the last portion of the movie, he has to endure something really terrible. What a break for someone who'd only been making movies for two years! And, for someone so new to the screen, he does a great job, fulfilling every emotion required of him. It's no wonder he was given the far meatier and larger role; Gary Cooper's appalling lack of talent wouldn't have been able to handle it.