James Stewart plays a naive hick soldier who falls for Margaret Sullavan and wants to marry her before going off to war. She is a selfish actress who undergoes a remarkable character transformation in his presence and, in a ridiculous plot turn, agrees to marry him, even though she is in love with Walter Pigeon (who's the best part of this movie) the whole time. It has something to do with keeping his spirit alive while he's off fighting. Or something like that. Stupid plot aside, the unsettling part of this is Stewart, who yet again plays a character so selfish and obsessive that he comes across as creepy and unappealing, despite (or perhaps because of)the outward singular innocence he's supposed to represent. His obsessiveness in Anthony Mann westerns and in movies like "Vertigo" were fascinating because his characters were supposed to be flawed and difficult. But in this movie and other early films like "Of Human Hearts" and "Come Live With Me" (the way he flips out in childish rage at Hedy Lamarr near the film's end, for example)I find him completely off-putting and have to remember his later films in order to remind myself that, yes, I actually do like him.
Review of The Shopworn Angel
