JohnHowardReid Producer: Harriet Parsons. Executive producer: Jack J. Gross. Copyright 9 March 1945 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Astor: 27 April 1945. U.S. release: 15 February 1945. U.K. release: 23 July 1945. Australian release: 20 September 1945. 8,472 feet. 94 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Homely girl and disfigured veteran fall in love.NOTES: Remake of the 1924 film starring Richard Barthelmess, May McAvoy and Florence Short (in the roles now played by Young, McGuire and Byington), directed by John S. Robertson for Inspiration Pictures. For this new version, Roy Webb's beautiful music score was nominated for Hollywood's most prestigious award in this category, but lost out to Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound. COMMENT: A charming, moving and entrancing motion picture with just one important drawback: Dorothy McGuire is just too pretty a girl to ever convince this viewer that she's an ugly duckling. True, Dorothy gives the role a good college try, but her own innate beauty defeats her attempts. Ted Tetzlaff's flatteringly glossy photography doesn't help either. But who cares? Robert Young, assisted by clever make-up, is very credible, and the rest of the players are likewise excellent. John Cromwell's stylish direction takes care to avoid any mawkish elements and as a result the old-fashioned drama comes across with surprising effectiveness, despite its awkward updating from 1922 to 1943. Roy Webb's romantic music score provides another big plus.

jarrodmcdonald-1 For most of THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE, it seems as if being beautiful is the main theme-- that it's the most meaningful thing in the world. Then we realize the theme is actually about how it exists in the eye of the beholder and is very real for the beholder.When we get to the end of the film and understand the real message, we are in a state of shock. We suddenly realize we have been manipulated and have been betrayed by vanity.I like this movie, because I think it achieves what so many other trite productions fail to do. It gives us a true sense of magic-- the masks come off and it's very enchanting in a strange sort of way. Film is a visual medium, and this production effectively exploits the images of "beauty" on screen.

dougdoepke I suspect the movie is mostly a matter of taste. It does get pretty sticky toward the end. Nonetheless, it's a slick production even if RKO's idea of uglyfying the lovely McGuire is to thicken the eyebrows and leave off the makeup. I wish they would have really made her homely; that way the story would be even more poignant. But Hollywood being Hollywood, there's no way they would have chanced the audience sticking with a truly homely female lead, in make-up or not.The moral, however, is a strong one—the transformative power of love. Oliver (Young) senses Laura's (McGuire) inner beauty, such that in his eyes her inner beauty is transformed magically by the enchanted cottage into an outer beauty, as well. At the same time, Laura transforms his crippled arm into a body made whole by the power of her love inside the enchanted cottage. Of course, the changes only exist in the eyes of the lovers, and once others reveal this to the lovers, they must deal with their true physical appearance, which they are able to do thanks to the love they now share. This is all brought off in fairly effective fashion, thanks to McGuire's compelling performance and RKO's outstanding art and set departments, respectively. The exterior sets, in particular, complement the overall special mood. Then too, McGuire was always able to project a soulful quality when needed. I darn near cried when Laura, liberated from her duties as a kitchen drudge, is snubbed at the dance. Catch her fleeting expressions of hope as they pass into defeat as the young soldiers, one by one, withdraw from her physical plainness. It's heart-breaking. For me, it was a compelling performance. Also, Herbert Marshall's pivotal role as the blind pianist shouldn't be overlooked. He, of course, is able to sense the inner worthiness of the disfigured lovers before they themselves do. And Marshall brings it off in typically persuasive fashion.The movie's basically a romantic parable, sticking to that theme throughout. In short, the results are certainly not a Rambo or The Terminator, and thus, not everyone's cup of tea. But the movie (despite the few flaws) certainly works for me, hauntingly, since I first saw it many, many years ago.

bkoganbing The Enchanted Cottage is about two emotionally wounded people who find themselves and find love in the cottage where the man was supposed to honeymoon with his intended bride and the woman worked as a maid to the lady who owned the place.Robert Young who is a Boston Brahmin has plans to marry the beautiful Hillary Brooke and they've got a beautiful seaside cottage owned by Mildred Natwick in which to honeymoon. They're about to close the deal when it's announced that Pearl Harbor has been attacked. Like so many others the war puts a hold on personal plans and Young goes off to enlist. But Young comes back from the war facially disfigured, no longer the charming and self assured to the manor born type he was before. He takes the cottage not for a honeymoon, but for solitude as he wants to shut the world out.Dorothy McGuire plays the rather plain Jane maid who Natwick employs and who crushes out big time on Young at first sight. He doesn't notice her back then, but he notices her now and the two when they start to open up and communicate discover love. Is it them or is it the cottage they're in who some say does cast an enchantment over folks.The Enchanted Cottage is a Madame X style weepy woman's picture made enjoyable by the sincere performances of its stars. McGuire is truly touching why she did not get an Oscar nomination is really ridiculous. The film did get one nomination for Best Musical Scoring.On hand also is Herbert Marshall as a blind veteran from the first World War who is a pianist. Marshall was in fact a wounded veteran, he lost a leg in combat there and understood his character very well. He guides the younger generation to some self realization. Spring Byington plays Young's mother and her usual flighty character takes on a bit of an edge to it as she can't see what kind of angst Young is going through.The Enchanted Cottage holds up very well for today's audiences, it could probably be remade with very few changes made and then only to place and time because the message about love is timeless.