The Toy Wife

This is a seldom seen film. We caught it on TCM, the best source for some of the best classic films of all times. The main attraction in watching this 1938 movie was a curiosity for watching Luise Ranier at the height of her Hollywood days.

As directed by Richard Thorpe, the film has its merits. This movie, based on a play, seems artificial, but that was the taste of those days and it will not disappoint, although it is a typical melodrama. The art direction of Cedric Gibbons is evident in the lush interiors of the elegant New Orleans mansions and the antebellum plantation owned by the Vallaire family.

This is a story about two sisters who loved each other dearly, but their relationship suffers a blow as George Sartoris will ask the flighty Gilberte "Frou Frou" Brigard to marry him instead of the woman who really loved him, her sister Louise. Frou Frou, a frivolous girl, only wanted the glamor of the social life in New Orleans. She liked George, but she never felt anything for her husband. Dashing Andre Vallaire awakens a fatal passion in her. In fact, that is her downfall and she lives to pay for her indiscretion.

Luise Ranier plays the young girl well. Her acting reminded us of another star of the day, Greta Garbo, although Ms. Ranier was not a product of the silent era. Both believed in the large gestures as a way to emphasize the lines they were reciting and both played to the camera in similar fashion. In fact, she sticks out from the rest of the cast, which obviously had another approach to acting.

The dashing Melvyn Douglas was good as George. Barbara O'Neil is perfect as the Louise, the noble sister that gives up her own happiness to make George happy. Robert Young cuts quite a figure as the handsome Andre. Alma Kruger, H.B. Warner, are seen in minor roles.

The film is a curiosity, and it should be seen as such because it probably will resonate with admirers of the classic films of that era.

I have watched television over the last forty years and this is one of the few black and white movies that I missed. It was great to see one of the greats again. This movie invokes a wide set of emotions that doesn't require explicit sex, explosions or fast plots. The photography is outstanding and every close up is a prefect portrait of expression and lighting. Luise Rainer gives an incredible performance. After reading her biography, I understand that she is known for her emotional dramatic acting and hand postures, but in this film, I don't see how any one could have pretended to be as beautiful and flighty. The character was "almost" mentally ill, that is nearly detached from reality. Flighty and beautiful...a prefect performance. I'd have to say that she stole the show. *S* Thank you Luise.

This film is a period piece set in Louisiana before the Civil War. In this Hollywood version of the Old South, the rich plantation owners are good to their slaves and the slaves are happy people! I can't even repeat (due to IMDb standards) some of the ways these human beings are referred to in the film and I can't see this film earning a perfect 10 simply because of its whitewashing of slavery.

The story is about a very shallow, child-like and destructive woman nicknamed "Frou Frou" (Luise Rainer). She bounces about like a happy bunny--captivating men in the process. Yet, because of her selfishness and lack of depth, she is destined to screw up the lives of men who get close to her. Frankly, I think they overdid her character a bit in the first half of the film--you'd think that smart men would see right through her and know exactly what she is (I know I hated her almost as soon as I saw her on the screen).

The first man she becomes involved with is George (Melvin Douglas). George is competent, decent and a very good catch--and her sister, Louise (Barbara O'Neil)is already in love with him. After marrying him, Frou Frou has a child and everything seems fine. However, George becomes frustrated with Frou Frou. She's very simple-minded and too self-absorbed to be much of a mother (as he describes her "she's more like a playmate than a mother to the boy"), she spends money with abandon and offers no intellectual stimulation for her husband. When he is offered an important assignment from the government to the new territories of Texas and New Mexico, she refuses to go, as she finds these places boring (though she's never even seen them)! He stays but is quite unhappy about this and it's obvious that something bad is brewing in this marriage! I actually liked this next part of the film. I had incorrectly assumed that Frou Frou would cheat on George and was too selfish to even try to be a proper wife. This would have been the easy next step for the film. Fortunately, the writers chose a different and much more interesting path.

Because Frou Frou is so irresponsible and daffy, her sister Louise comes to live with them. Over time, the boy looks more to Louise for guidance and love and it's clear to the audience that she is slowly taking Frou Frou's place. In the meantime, Andre returns and begins to make the moves on Frou Frou. He can see that she is unhappy but Frou Frou refuses--she is determined to keep her home intact. She seems to realize that her marriage is slipping away from her and she makes some efforts to work on it...but it appears to possibly be too late. In desperation, Frou Frou tries to arrange a marriage for Louise to get her out of the house but Louise refuses the offer! Eventually, however, Frou Frou realizes that the marriage is beyond her ability to save it. Then, and only then, she runs to Andre. At this point, her life and the lives of those around her are in ruins--her family is aghast and she and Andre are now outcasts. As the film nears the end, George and Andre are about to kill each other in a duel--and Frou Frou realizes that this is her doing. How this all ends is something you'll just have to see for yourself.

Overall, not a great film but there is a lot to be admired. Several times during the film, I anticipated what would happen next and was wrong. Being a huge fan of classic Hollywood, my 'batting average' is pretty good in anticipating plots and I am glad the the writers didn't take the easy way or rely on clichés. I also like how late in the film George's responsibility for marrying a woman like this and then being unjustly angry because she lacked depth was brought to light--it wasn't just a 'one-way street'. As long as the way they portray slavery doesn't completely alienate you (and it easily might), the film is well acted and original.

If you liked films like CAMILLE or JEZEBEL, then you will most likely enjoy seeing THE TOY WIFE.

I rarely review these old movies, but in the case of THE TOY WIFE not only do I feel the film is underrated, but also misrepresented.

The basic plot concerns a successful lawyer (Melvyn Douglas) in 19th century Louisiana, who chooses to marry Frou Frou, the spirited and lively sister of more wholesome, reasonable Louise. Although Louise is in love with Douglas, she advises her sister to marry him. Their marriage starts off well, but soon Douglas resents his wife for not being an adequate homemaker, as Louise would have been (Frou Frou is 'too nice, and not strict enough with the slaves'). He soon has Louise coming to live with them and taking over the normal duties of his wife.

Frou Frou gradually realizes her place in the home is nothing more than as a 'Toy Wife,' someone for her husband to make love to while Louise takes her place in the home as mother. This causes her to look for true love elsewhere, and finding it in another suitor (Robert Young). This has disastrous repercussions for everyone involved.

It would be unfair to label Frou Frou a femme fatale. She is too kind, too loving, and much too wise. The true villain of the piece is Melvyn Douglas, who wants it both ways. He wants a reasonable, hardworking woman like Louise to take care of the house and Frou Frou to take care of the sex. At one point in the film, Louise confronts him and says so, and thus he is finally able to question the kind of husband he has been.

The acting in the film is variable. Douglas is good as the fickle husband, who only finds error in his wife instead of looking within himself. Rainer has moments of brilliance but her acting style is difficult to get used to, and is glaringly different from the more restrained performances from the other actors.

The production, however, is a first class star vehicle for Rainer, who was usually not given the attention two Oscars warranted. Overall, an interesting and, at times, moving melodrama with a central character who was basically good and should not be dismissed as a femme fatale.

Based on a French play from the nineteenth century (1869) ,"Frou Frou" is virtually forgotten in its native country .Only a waltz which has little (or nothing ) to do with the character is still played for Thé-Dansant for old generations .

Thorpe partially succeeding in giving a French aristocratic touch to the film.There are some lines in that language ,and the classic old folk tune "Au Clair De La Lune" is heard again and again and again ,a good choice,for it is primarily a children's song and the heroine (check the title) has never grown up whereas her sister was born an adult.You cannot blame Frou Frou for what she's done because she is in a world she does not understand;Whatever she does, she is out of steps with what the others do :her sister (why shouldn't be jealous of her?) , her son (Isn't she a good mother?) , her husband (isn't she a good wife at least in her mind?) and even her lover (isn't it only a stopgap solution?)

Sainte Catherine is the heroine's model.This character has been part of the French culture for a long time and plays a prominent part in Frou Frou's life :she often says a prayer to her and when everything turns to gray ,her last resort is to go and implore her idol.The Catherinettes were girls of 25 still unmarried by the Feast of Sainte Catherine (25th November);the tradition is slowly fading nowadays.

"The toy woman" (which was retitled "Frou Frou " in the French version,although the American title is much more relevant) is a good melodrama which would deserve a better rating than the mediocre 5,8 it's got at my time of writing