The Animal Kingdom (1932) starring Myrna Loy, Leslie Howard, Ann Harding
Synopsis of The Animal Kingdom
In The Animal Kingdom, Tom Collier has had a great relationship with his girlfriend Daisy. But when he decides to marry, he asks socialite Cecelia instead. After the marriage, Tom is bored with the social scene and the obligations of his life.
Product Description
Wanton, carefree playboy Tom (Leslie Howard) is the salaciously behaving heir to a publishing fortune. At his father’s insistence, Tom decides to become respectable and marry “good girl” socialite Cecelia (Myrna Loy). Ruefully, Tom discards his capricious, free-spirited mistress Daisy (Ann Harding) and tearfully bids farewell to the pleasure and follies of youth. However, Tom and Cecelia’s union is without love and Cecelia’s passion is corrupt, icy and calculated. Once married, it is Cecelia, ironically, who embarks on a series of wild carnal adventures, while Daisy, once an advocate of free love, pines away for Tom.
Produced by the legendary David O’Selznick and based on the play by Philip Barry (“The Philadelphia Story“), The Animal Kingdom is a tart and strikingly sophisticated martini-dry drawing room comedy of sexual intrigue and social observation reminiscent of Noel Coward and Henrik Ibsen. Featuring an all star cast at the top of their game, this pre-code shocker is a frank and explicit romance of the unspecified adult desires that throbbed beneath the surface of 1930’s high society.
Cast
- Ann Harding (Star of Midnight) … Daisy Sage
- Leslie Howard (Between Two Worlds) … Tom Collier
- Myrna Loy (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House) … Cecelia Henry Collier
- William Gargan (Swing Fever) … ‘Red’ Regan
- Neil Hamilton (Tarzan the Ape Man, Batman the Movie) … Owen Fiske
- Ilka Chase (Now Voyager) … Grace
- Henry Stephenson (Conquest) … Mr. Rufus Collier
- Leni Stengel (Cracked Nuts) … Franc Schmidt
- Don Dillaway (Pack Up Your Troubles) … Joe Fiske
Editorial review of The Animal Kingdom courtesy of Amazon.com
Though a bit stodgy, this 1932 film adaptation of a Philip Barry play features the star of the original Broadway production: Leslie Howard. While Barry had later, greater successes with film versions of his plays Holiday and The Philadelphia Story, The Animal Kingdom is something of a blueprint for those better-known comedies. Howard plays book publisher Tom Collier, a bohemian at heart and an enthusiast for great literature and artistic integrity. His lover, Daisy Sage (Ann Harding), is an equally open-minded artist. But while she’s off in Paris, Tom considers making a show of respectability, and marries socialite Cee Henry (Myrna Loy), who intends to groom Tom for polite society.
Cee’s ambition and Tom’s conflicts set the stage for one of Barry’s comedies of manners, as desire and responsibility square off. Unimaginatively directed by Edward H. Griffith, the production is anchored to its stage-bound origins, but Barry’s dialogue and the charming performances make it all worthwhile. –Tom Keogh
