Richard Chatten Four years after this film was made, Myrna Loy - then Queen to Clark Gable's King of Hollywood - played his wife in a glossy 'A' list trifle suggestively called 'Wife vs. Secretary' (1936). The wife of the title is a whiny mercenary shrew whose charm resides solely in the enormous charisma of the actress playing her; while the racy title is belied by making the newly 'brownette' Harlow brisk, efficient and wholly honorable in her intentions toward husband Clark Gable. When I saw it I thought it would have been a much more interesting film if it had been made pre-Code with Loy playing the secretary and Harlow at her sluttiest and most peroxided as the wife (as in 'Dinner at Eight'). The same thought occurred to me watching 'The Animal Kingdom'. Being pre-Code, it's able to be frank about the role that sex plays in the various characters' interrelations without being too flippant about it either, since it's really about relationships rather than sex (rather as Douglas Sirk's glossy melodramas of the fifties later tended to be) and views a husband leaving his lawful wedded for his on again-off again mistress with active approval.Loy's name isn't even included on the title card but she actually gets far more screen time than Ann Harding as the mistress and is obviously offering husband Leslie Howard (when she feels he's earned it) passion of an order he plainly hasn't known with Harding for some time. As in real life the characters have made exasperating life decisions (Loy herself in reality notoriously made four wholly unsuitable choices of husband). Loy is here charming but mercenary and manipulative, while Harding seems very prim for a supposedly "promiscuous" (and Yes, that's the word that Loy - no less - uses to describe her) bohemian who has allowed her physical relationship with Howard to wither on the vine, yet is still affronted that Howard should have the temerity to seek more... stimulating companionship elsewhere. (The fact that he nonchalantly leaves her apartment while she just carries on talking in the next room speaks volumes about the place their relationship has reached).Within minutes of primly branding Harding "a promiscuous little...!" Loy reveals herself to be not above finally stopping teasing poor Neil Hamilton and giving him a little of the "excitement" he's plainly been gagging for since the film began if he'll perform a professional service on her behalf. Having until now shown himself to be weak and easily manipulated, Howard at the film's conclusion draws upon hitherto unsuspected reserves of iron self-control - that would certainly have been well beyond me - to turn his back on a bedroom door on the other side of which the delectable Loy is undressed and waiting for him.All the acting is good - particularly William Gargan recreating his stage role - and Loy was always effusive in her praise for the guidance she received from the film's largely forgotten director Edward H. Griffith. I was also fascinated by the diorama of the Brooklyn Bridge visible through the window of the New York apartment occupied by the supposedly penniless Harding.

Michael Morrison Once I actually spoke to Ann Harding on the telephone, but, alas, I didn't really know who she was. Yes, it was late in her life and early in mine, but if I had had the slightest idea what an extraordinary actress she had been, I would have been more forward, would have tried to spend time talking with her in person.I knew the name. She had been a star. But now having seen her in "The Animal Kingdom," I am simply astonished at her ability.In fact the entire cast is compelling. Even other people of whom I knew nothing or very little were impossible to look away from.For example, "Franc," played by Leni Stengel, was such a strong, and well-written, character, she was never over-shadowed even by the major characters. "Joe," played by Don Dillaway, was another, and I had never heard of either actor before. Now I want to see everything they ever appeared in. The two actors were remarkable performers, contributing great talent to an already overwhelmingly talented cast.Myrna Loy played a strong and attractive "society lady," but her character was different from the kind she is known for and gave her a chance to demonstrate she too was one fine actress, capable of variety, and not just a pretty face.Leslie Howard played, as it seemed he so often did, a rather weak character, but one capable of greatness, or at least potentially of strength.William Gargan was wonderful as a supposed-to-be-servant who just didn't "know his place." I've never seen him in this type of role, and he was just captivating.But Ann Harding stole it all.She was, of course, beautiful, but her mannerisms and gestures, under played, just proved definitely that she was an actress, and an actress of power.Horace Jackson's script is based on a Philip Barry play so perhaps credit for the dialogue belongs mostly to Barry, but it's intelligent and entices an audience into sticking with everything happening on the screen, even though the actual story is rather sad. It's about misdirected desires, and sacrifices people really shouldn't make."The Animal Kingdom" is a good movie, one I recommend, and one I am grateful to Turner Classic Movies for presenting on 9 December 2016. It is and has much more than the one-sentence description found in TV listings. It is much more than a soap opera. It is a strong drama beautifully acted and written, and deserving of serious attention.

kidboots The unusual theme for this very intelligent and enjoyable film has the decent self sacrificing mistress (Ann Harding) pitted against the merciless, social climbing wife (Myrna Loy).In 1932 Ann Harding was at the peak of her career and this film has become her most popular. She was the epitome of style and class, with her silvery long blonde hair (done in a bun on the nape of her neck), natural beauty and low husky voice. She was a very unconventional beauty for the period. She was also RKO's most prestigious star - until Constance Bennett came along with a more down to earth appeal. So fans, going to see her in "The Animal Kingdom" knew exactly what to expect. Myrna Loy, also had not found her "Nora Charles" persona and was still being given roles that required her to be anything but nice. Karen Morley was producer Selznicks' first choice for Cecilia but Leslie Howard demanded Myrna Loy.After Tom's father (Henry Stephenson) finishes bemoaning the fact that Tom (Leslie Howard) has wasted his life, Cecilia (Myrna Loy, looking completely ravishing) confesses that she is going to marry Tom. Tom is in an "unconventional relationship" with Daisy Sage (Ann Harding), a free spirited artist, and the night of his engagement, he feels he must tell her. Daisy also has some news - she feels she has real talent as an artist, and she wants to marry Tom so she can have children!!! Once she realises Tom is about to marry Cecilia she finds she cannot continue their old relationship.Once they are married Cecilia tries desperately to mold Tom to fit in with her circle of boring friends. She convinces him to publish a potboiler, a book Tom is ashamed of - but it becomes a best seller among her friends. She then convinces him to fire Regan (William Gargan is just stunning in the role he originated on stage). Regan is an old friend of Tom's, an ex prize fighter who Tom keeps on as a butler. He is very funny - he gets drunk and mingles with the guests, much to Cecilia's disgust. The dialogue is pretty racy - "a foolish virgin me - well foolish anyway" says Daisy, when she learns of Tom's engagement. Rather than resume their old relationship Daisy flees to Canada. When she returns Cecilia rings her to invite her to a surprise party. Cecilia feels that by getting all his old friends together Tom will realise what a lot of riff raff they are. The party is not a success - Daisy spends her time reading a new novel that Tom is due to publish and realises how low he has fallen. Behind his back Cecilia convinces Owen (Neil Hamilton), an old flame and also a successful publisher to buy Tom out and take over the Bantam press. Daisy overhears and also sees Cecilia's behaviour towards Owen and realises that Cecilia is not good enough for Tom and is also the cause of his loss of high ideals and integrity.Cecilia believes that Tom has excepted a huge cheque from his father and shows herself as she really is. Tom is surprised at how much the room she has decorated resembles a London brothel he had visited. Even though it is only suggested, it is pretty racy dialogue even for pre- code times. He then realises that she is acting like a high class prostitute - promising him privileges that she had been withholding (the locked bedroom door, his desire for children etc) because of the money she thinks will be hers.I thought it was a super film, quite shocking in it's suggestions, even for the time. The ending was also in keeping with the pre-code code and I can heartily recommend this entertaining and intelligent movie.Highly Recommended.

mukava991 This dreary adaptation of Philip Barry's Broadway play has two things going for it: a stunning Myrna Loy and some interesting exchanges of dialogue that would have been censored if the film had been released a couple of years later when Production Code enforcement was strengthened. On the whole, however, this film stagnates as filmed stage plays often do. The camera just sits there focusing on people entering rooms and talking, talking, talking. The story is familiar to Barry aficionados: the conflict between the old northeastern Puritan establishment values and the new, modern Bohemian mindset. This conflict is played out by Leslie Howard, nonconformist publisher of arty books whose upper crust traditionalist father disapproves of his offbeat lifestyle. Howard chooses to marry rich girl Myrna Loy while his old friend, whom he really loves but doesn't realize it at the time, is abroad. The latter character is a Bohemian enacted by Ann Harding who at one point says, and I paraphrase, "I have no money but it doesn't bother me." What?! This supposed "Bohemian" lives in a large, spotless, finely appointed apartment with a picture-window view of the East River, is dressed and coiffed as elegantly as any wealthy blueblood and seems to travel the world at the drop of a hat. Anyone with an apartment, wardrobe and lifestyle like that in 1932 could hardly "have no money." *** POSSIBLE SPOILER*** Harding is way too stodgy for her part and we end up sympathizing with the ostensibly cruel, superficial Loy who is actually so sweet, alluring, sexy, gorgeous and youthful that it comes as a shock when she is revealed to be a nasty, hard soul at the end. In addition, although Harding gets top billing with Howard, it is Loy who occupies the most screen time and who rivets our attention. Howard is at first too humdrum to be convincing as an unconventional rebel, but his later actions during intimate scenes with Loy fire up the screen, abetted by suggestive conversation. This is about as far as Hollywood would go in the carnal direction until the 60s. William Gargan is also on hand as Howard's butler who treats his boss as an equal, drinks excessively and launches into talking jags that intrude tiresomely on the business at hand. A similar subsidiary character from a later and far superior Barry film adaptation (Holiday, 1938) serves the story better. The ideal cast for this film would have been Franchot Tone as the lead and Loy/Harding in reversed roles.