Though this movie lacks the menace and seediness of "A Free Soul," it nonetheless shares the blazing sensuality that we saw between Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in 1931 in Fernando Lamas and the impossibly gorgeous 22 yr old Taylor.
When contrasted with "A Free Soul" (which is hard not to, since the film was so sexy and frank, and Lionel Barrymore's performance won him an Oscar), the story in "The Girl Who Had Everything" is pretty slim. A few reviews mentioned this was MGM's kiss good-bye to 61 yr old William Powell, who'd been with the studio since 1934, and it looks it. The sets are pretty stripped down and simple, with minimal outdoor shots--but that's not to say the movie looks cheap, because even at programmer status, the MGM gloss remained.
Taylor is perfect as a willful, headstrong Jean Latimer, and her growth from spoiled, immature flirt to a sobered woman, is powerful. Though mores of the 1950s are ever present, the double standards when it comes to female sexuality remain--a man can be a "free soul" without suffering the consequences a woman will, and Jean and her father Steve are forced to realize that she cannot live life the way he has, despite his raising her to be independent and free.
Where this film falls short in comparison to its source material is the 1950s Code Era ending, where Lamas gets his comeuppance through his gangster associations, rather than the result of Jean's honor being defended by her fiancé.
Gig Young is woefully underused here (was the movie cut down?), and Fernando Lamas, for all his intensity, is a standard Latin lover.
However, this is an entertaining film, and if anyone manages to get a hold of this and "A Free Soul," watching both is an interesting study in changing mores as well as what was permissible in the Pre-Code era.
When contrasted with "A Free Soul" (which is hard not to, since the film was so sexy and frank, and Lionel Barrymore's performance won him an Oscar), the story in "The Girl Who Had Everything" is pretty slim. A few reviews mentioned this was MGM's kiss good-bye to 61 yr old William Powell, who'd been with the studio since 1934, and it looks it. The sets are pretty stripped down and simple, with minimal outdoor shots--but that's not to say the movie looks cheap, because even at programmer status, the MGM gloss remained.
Taylor is perfect as a willful, headstrong Jean Latimer, and her growth from spoiled, immature flirt to a sobered woman, is powerful. Though mores of the 1950s are ever present, the double standards when it comes to female sexuality remain--a man can be a "free soul" without suffering the consequences a woman will, and Jean and her father Steve are forced to realize that she cannot live life the way he has, despite his raising her to be independent and free.
Where this film falls short in comparison to its source material is the 1950s Code Era ending, where Lamas gets his comeuppance through his gangster associations, rather than the result of Jean's honor being defended by her fiancé.
Gig Young is woefully underused here (was the movie cut down?), and Fernando Lamas, for all his intensity, is a standard Latin lover.
However, this is an entertaining film, and if anyone manages to get a hold of this and "A Free Soul," watching both is an interesting study in changing mores as well as what was permissible in the Pre-Code era.