Review of The Animal Kingdom

Previous reviewers have summarized the plot well. Likewise its pre-code frankness. But what makes this movie most interesting is the unusual context the various stars find themselves in. Think playwright Phillip Barry. What comes to mind: "The Philadelphia Story." Think Leslie Howard: "Pygmalion" and "Gone with the Wind." Think Myrna Loy: the "Thin Man" series. Think William Gargan: many later movies. Notice that Myrna Loy, later such an important star, has to take third billing after Ann Harding. That certainly wouldn't have been the case just a few years later. Good to see Ilka Chase in a screen role. I thought Howard and Loy superb in their acting, probably among the best work they ever did. Under the banal everyday polite surface of the dialogue and events little by little the characters expose themselves: Loy as the manipulative femme fatal and Howard as the man for whom the light begins slowly to turn on. For those whom the title puzzled, I caught Howard saying at one point, "We're just members of the animal kingdom."

Compare this film to Platinum Blonde of 1931 starring Jean Harlow. My IMDb review summarizes the parallels between these two films.