jfarms1956 This is a movie for the over 45 crowd. Only us 'oldies' would appreciate these actors-- Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young, Janet Leigh, and Harry Davenport. This is one movie whereby Errol Flynn does not play a swashbuckling hero is well known for in many of his other movies. However, although the storyline is typical and plot predictable, I found the movie to be entertaining. It is not a highly memorable movie, but for its block of time was pleasant and enjoyable -- just what a movie should be. I enjoyed the movie for its actors, not for their performances, but just for them being in this film. This movie is for a quiet, relaxing movie night for us "oldies." It brings back memories of many of our favorite actors and why we love them so.

ScenicRoute Notable is the absence of children. If this were real life, the hot Errol Flynn and the still fecund (albiet long-in-the-tooth) Greer Garson would have generated children. Is Flynn supposed to be gay? Who knows - he does pick out his wife's outfits and directs her attire, so that's pretty flouncy, but he plays the role super straight, so it is all a bit nutty.The movie's a 7 because of the costuming and the sheer lush absurdity of it all. Walter Pidgeon as an English artist? He's got this super-corporate mid-Atlantic American voice going - again, beyond lunacy.And of course, Janet Leigh - that wild, untamed mid-century Californian, as a stuffy late Victorian Brit? This movie doesn't work on so many levels that it becomes an animal house of conflicting cultures, accents (Harry Davenport - the archetypal midwesterner, plays the patriarch), and appearances (Robert Taylor would make a good grinch who stole Christmas), that it remains irresistible.I think every technicolor movie made in the 1940s is worth watching, so I have a natural bias here. Those of you with less liberal allowances may want to take a pass here, unless you have an insatiable appetite for watching Greer Garson (the reigning "Most Glorious Missus" (i.e, MGM)of the eponymous studio during this period) achieve the amazing combination of (1) suffering, while (2) being so above it all, which she again does very well here, and this time in technicolor.And if you buy into the Ivy League world view, you'll like the movie too: creative artists are the higher order, and the mercenary middle class (i.e., those of who don't have tenure and have to hustle for a living) is scum.Finally, don't come here for any insights into the human condition. Everyone is infantile here ~

pninson I originally saw this in the early 70s, after having seen THE FORSYTE SAGA on TV, and reading the first three books. Shoehorning two books' worth of story into a two-hour movie makes mincemeat out of the plot, but the essential details are preserved.It was a crackup for me to see Robert Young, then widely known as Marcus Welby M.D. I was used to seeing him as an old man; but then he looks old for the part anyway, and overacts to compensate for it.However, Errol Flynn is excellent as Soames, and Walter Pidgeon brings the necessary gravitas to the role of Jolyon. Harry Davenport is fine as Old Jolyon, although I can't quite erase the image of Dr. Meade from Gone With the Wind.It's not a very good adaptation of Galsworthy's story, but on its own merits, it's well acted and edited, with handsome production design and nice pacing. It's fun to watch just to compare it with the more successful TV version.

bkoganbing According to the Citadel Film Series book, The Films Of Errol Flynn, MGM and Warner Brothers did a swapping of stars for the services of the other. Errol Flynn went to MGM for a picture in return for Warner Brothers getting the services of William Powell for Life With Father. I think Powell made out far better in the deal than Flynn did with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his film.Not that Errol Flynn was bad in That Forsyte Woman, in fact his casting as the proper and stuffy Soames Forsyte was quite a revelation. But the movie-going public simply wouldn't buy it. Errol, not the dashing hero with sword in hand and cape over the other shoulder was not accepted. If That Forsyte Woman had been made a decade earlier and for Warner Brothers, Flynn would have been perfect to play Robert Young's role of Philip Bossiney.Flynn is married to Greer Garson and is guardian of niece Janet Leigh. Leigh is the daughter of black sheep brother in this proper Victorian family, Walter Pidgeon. Pidgeon years ago ran away with his niece's governess after the family did not permit the recently widowed Pidgeon to marry her. Back in those days proper English families did things like that.Anyway the rather staid marriage of Flynn and Garson gets a jolt when opportunistic Robert Young who Leigh has been keeping company with, falls for Garson and she, him. In modern times it would be a no fault divorce, but things aren't done that way in Victorian England.If there is a weakness in casting it's that of Robert Young. I'm surprised that MGM did not use someone like Peter Lawford whom they had under contract and was British besides. Greer was British, but the rest of the cast had two Americans in Young and Leigh, a Canadian in Pidgeon and Flynn was Australian. Young was older than Errol Flynn and just doesn't come over as the young opportunistic lover.Garson of course is the perfect English lady who usually wan't allowed dalliances by MGM, but she's fine here. Greer wrote the introduction to the Films Of Errol Flynn and she says that she found Flynn to be a perfect gentleman and anxious to prove himself a serious actor.He did in many ways in That Forsyte Saga. He was a prisoner of his own legend at this point.