The Enchanted Cottage (1945)

[MissGoddess]

Airing at 4:30 p.m. (EST) today on TCM, The Enchanted Cottage
is a very lovely and moving film starring Robert Young and Dorothy
MacGuire as a couple who come together not initially out of love,
but because of their mutual isolation and pain. They make their home in
an old cottage that has a long history of happy lovers living there, and a
mysterious "enchantment" is rumored to haunt it. This couple are the first
unhappy ones to live under its roof, will they break its spell?

Sensitively directed by John Cromwell and released in 1945, war-torn
audiences responded to the movie's gentle, redemptive theme. If you
are in the mood for something unusual and beautiful, don't miss it!

[mrsl]

Miss Goddess:

You're so right. Such a good little movie! Towards the end, did you get the impression that Mildred Natwick lived in the cottage herself at one time and that they were in some way repeating her story?

Anne

[MissGoddess]

Towards the end, did you get the impression that Mildred Natwick lived in the cottage herself at one time and that they were in some way repeating her story?

Hi Anne,

Yes, I did---so much so I thought she said as much! Now I'll be sure
to watch again to clarify that.

I also, just before I checked my messages and saw you replied here, looked up the writing credits on this picture and saw Dewitt Bodeen's name---who's quoted comments I had just previously read (he was describing the trial scenes in John Ford's Young Mr Lincoln). All these coinkydinks made me look up his writing credits and the features are all remarkable (some are adaptations of existing works):

Mrs. Mike (1949) (writer)
The Miracle of the Bells (1948) (additional dialogue) (uncredited)
I Remember Mama (1948) (screenplay)
Night Song (1948) (adaptation)
The Enchanted Cottage (1945) (writer)
The Curse of the Cat People (1944) (screenplay)
Yellow Canary (1943) (screenplay) (as De Witt Bodeen)
The Seventh Victim (1943) (story and screenplay)
Cat People

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I loved "The Enchanted Cottage." I was looking for the information that Moira wrote about it on SSO some time back, but couldn't remember where it was or what thread it was on.

It is such a great film, and one of Dorothy McGuire's best roles.

Miss G, I can remember watching The Miracle of the Bells on television late at night with my mom.

[molo]

I watched this for the first time a few nights ago and thought it a very unique and moving film. I have always liked McGuire, Marshall and Natwick and Robert Young was fine here as well.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the film and the mood that was set as soon as Hillgrove began to tell the story of the cottage. I love the idea of enchanted places and that there is more than just the physical world. The use of light and shadow added to the surreal feeling. The haunting scenery, the romantic score, the etchings on the window, it all works so well. Natwick and Marshall seem particularly suited to this type of dreamlike world. There is a lost quality to their characters and a stoic acceptance that let's them understand and feel on a different level. I love the scene where she senses that things are not to be as planned as she looks out the cottage window and the wind stirs ominously. The way she never changes the calender and how she knows that McGuire's Laura needs to stay.

McGuire gives a very touching portrayal and my one quibble would only be that I wished we could have explored the relationship between her and Young a little deeper. I guess that, as it is really a fable, it isn't necessary to get the point across.

While this may be considered a "women's picture" and that might explain my tardiness in getting around to it. I found it's theme very appealing. It's an exceptional film with a wonderful message of hope. I'm glad I finally took the time to view it. Thanks for reminding be about it.