GeoPierpont Well it's certainly not a great woman with morals, but stupendous ambition! I could not believe the lower ratings from review sites and almost did not watch. This was fascinating cinema eclipsing the rare talents of Edward G. Even having our dear Uncle Teddy chasing down Trust scoundrels to boot! The capture of many decades and stock footage enriched many scenes and the sets were scrumptious.Perhaps "Home on the Range" will never sound the same and always in the wrong context. I was prepared for an onslaught but the final touch was sentimental. That good ol' Dementia is something to look forward to whilst obliterating memories of your miserable life and failures.A few plot twists and unpredictable moments made for a great showcase of 1933 talent. I am not a big Francis fan but she showed a lot more range in her role as a talented, beautiful, vampy, confident and energetic opera singer. Did I feel sorry for Hayden and his lost millions? Almost, he had such wonderful progressive intentions and deteriorated to dust in the end over a woman. How pitiful and he barely remembers her in his final moments.I definitely recommend this to all Robinson, Francis, and TR fans. There is substantial dramatic as well as romantic action. And of course....revenge!

utgard14 Bohemian Edward G. Robinson has to take over his late father's meatpacking business. He tries to run it honestly but eventually becomes corrupt. Meanwhile, he takes opera singer Kay Francis as his mistress, which doesn't sit well with wife Genevieve Tobin. Slow-moving melodrama with moments of unintended hilarity. The romantic scenes are especially bad. Kay Francis hams it up, as was her tendency. You either like her or you don't. I dare you not to laugh when she sings "Home on the Range." Eddie Robinson does fine, except for the aforementioned romantic scenes. He has zero chemistry with Francis. Genevieve Tobin is badly miscast as the villainous wife. She was better suited playing likable characters. It's a pretty boring effort. Final line of the movie sums it up best: "I'm sleepy."

audiemurph This film is a rollicking tour-de-force that has as its primary focus the incredible acting talents of the incomparable Edward G. Robinson. Robinson takes us on a roller-coaster of a ride, as he sails back and forth from joy and elation to depression and pathos and back again. It is sometimes dizzying trying to keep up with the swinging emotions of Robinson's multi-millionaire meat-packer John Hayden. Robinson carries it off beautifully, and I think this film really proves what a fine, fine actor he was.And how lucky we are that a film company like First National existed in the early 30's, pumping out films with stars like EG Robinson at a rate that would leave a current studio breathless. What an exciting time it must have been. We are the beneficiaries of this fascinating time, when studios had to release new films in a rapid succession, such was the hunger for new films."I Loved a Woman" takes place over a 40 year period, taking us from late Victorian Chicago of 1892 to industrial Chicago of just a few decades later. The fashions change subtly over the 90 minutes this film takes. While some of the romantic scenes with Kay Francis are a bit dated, and the lovers' dialogue a little stilted, Robinson never fails to captivate us when he is on screen. If anybody can carry this stuff off, it is him (Robinson even sings in this movie, though happily not too much).The supporting cast is strong and full of First National perennials, such as Robert Barrat, playing EGR's father-in-law. A special treat is the speaking appearance of one of John Ford's silent screen favorites, J. Farrel MacDonald.This movie also features a speaking role for Theodore Roosevelt, who personally threatens to destroy the meat packer Hayden for selling rotten meat to the soldiers of the Spanish-American War.Perhaps the only annoyance is having to put up with Kay Francis repeatedly singing Home on the Range in an opera voice while playing an upright piano. Once, maybe, but three times?....One funny thing to look for early in the film: Robinson returns home from abroad after hearing of his father's death. A painting of dad hangs on the office wall - looking exactly like EG Robinson with full whiskers! A very nice touch.This is a strong entry from First National Films, and a great way to get know the many sides of Edward G. Robinson. I highly recommend this one.

xerses13 Seldom seen even on TCM are a series of Edward G. Robinson (E.G.R.) films made at WARNER BROTHERS (W.B.) from 1931 too 1934, with loan-outs to other Major Studios. Many featured themes of rags to riches to rags, with I LOVED A WOMEN (1934) as one such effort.E.G.R, John Mansfield Hayden, scion of wealthy Chicago Meat-Packer returns from Greece to take over the business after his Father dies. Not really cut out for it he marries competitors daughter Martha Lane (Genevieve Tobin). Then meets his muse in aspiring opera singer Laura McDonald (Kay Francis). Now with confidence he builds a 'Empire of Meat' and if it means selling a defective product to the U.S. Army, so be it. In the end he is betrayed by his own ambition and lover. Living in exile in Greece (with his ill gotten gains) he escapes indictment, but his mind goes to the point he has no grasp of reality or his former love.This story is right out of one of Socialist Upton Sinclair's muck-raking novels. THE JUNGLE (1906) being a prime example of the type. E.G.R. gives it his usual effort and is quite convincing as a turn of Century (19th/20th) 'Robber Baron'! Giving a performance the equal of Warren William, who usually filled that slot at the W.B. of the ruthless 'Business Tycoon'. Fine supporting cast backs him up and film runs in a crisp 90" so will not tax the modern audience. Watch it and be entertained.