American pre-Code drama film directed by Archie Mayo directed Ever in My Heart is a Pre-Code melodrama of the lower order, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, and Ralph Bellamy.
Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
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One of five films Stanwyck made under contract to Warner, it is a mediocre propaganda “woman’s programmer” or “weeper,” about the tragic impact of virulent propaganda that stigmatized anything German during the Great War.
Set in 1909 in the town of Archedale, tale centers on Mary Archer, a prominent American, meets Hugo Wilbrandt, a German chemist who knows her cousin and childhood sweetheart Jeff. Mary falls in love with Hugo, and they marry and start a family.
Hugo becomes an American citizen, but Allied propaganda promotes anti-German sentiment, which costs Hugo his university professorship. Hard times fall, the Wilbrandts’ young son Teddy dies, and their German Dachshund killed. Hugo convinces Mary to return to her parents’ home, promising to soon follow her.
Later on, when he returns to Europe to fight for his people, the devastated Mary divorces Hugo. Mary volunteers her time in a USO-like organization supporting the American war effort.
Torn between her love for Hugo and her duty to protect American soldiers, she asks Hugo to delay his departure. In the end, Mary drops poison pills in their drinks, while troops march off to battle.
Beulah Marie Dix, who co-wrote the source story of Ever in My Heart, founded the screenplay department of the Famous Players–Lasky studio with Cecil B. DeMille’s brother William DeMille.
Cast
Barbara Stanwyck as Mary Archer Wilbrandt
Otto Kruger as Hugo Wilbrandt
Ralph Bellamy as Jeff
Ruth Donnelly as Lizzie
Laura Hope Crews as Grandma Caroline Archer
Frank Albertson as Sam Archer
Ronnie Cosby as Teddy Wilbrandt
Clara Blandick as Anna
Elizabeth Patterson as Clara Tuttle, canteen worker
Credits:
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Directed by Archie Mayo
Screenplay by Bertram Millhauser, story by Beulah Marie Dix, Bertram Millhauser
Cinematography Arthur L. Todd
Edited by Owen Marks
Music by Bernhard Kaun
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date: October 28, 1933
Running time: 68 minutes
Budget $243,000
