A sick day home from school today resulted in Wicked, and, in search of something just
as I awesome, I then decided to watch You Belong to Me. This marks my fifteenth Barbara Stanwyck film
and the official addition of Henry Fonda to my Favorite Actors list. Directed by Wesley Ruggles and released in
1941, this romantic comedy marked the third and final installment of
Stanwyck/Fonda movie pairings. This
movie includes everything a romantic comedy from the Golden Age should: lots of
kissing, lots of humor, some pain, some jealousy, and a happy ending (with a
nicely covered suggestive last line).
The movie has a simple plot:
On a ski trip, rich, idle Peter Kirk pursues and falls
(literally) for Helen Hunt, M.D. After a courtship of hypochondria, she agrees
to marry him on the condition that she continue to practice medicine. But will
jealous Peter be able to reconcile himself to his wife's seeing male patients?-(IMDb)
Missy plays Dr.
Helen Hunt, and Fonda plays Peter Kirk.
This being my first oldies romantic comedy in a while, I forgot how fast
couples fall in love. Before the first
thirty minutes have gone by, the two have met, fallen in love, and
married. I quickly got over it, though,
because this was just an adorable, OTP worthy pairing. The predictable happens: Dr. Hunt is
constantly being called to take care of her patients, and this especially
annoys her new husband when the calls start not even a day after being
married. He grows even more hurt and
annoyed when he discovers a vast majority of her patients are male. The rest of the movie basically consists of
Helen being called away to work, Peter getting jealous and worried about all of
her male patients and interfering with her work, Helen getting mad at Peter for
embarrassing her and her patients, the two making up, Peter promising he trusts
her, but then breaking that promise and the whole cycle starting over again.
Eventually, Peter
and Helen have a huge fight after Peter pulling a particularly embarrassing
stunt. She storms off to bed and, when
she wakes up, he is missing from the guest bedroom (where he was forced to
sleep) and the rest of the house. Helen
goes to work completely distressed over the whole matter, and it is then that
her secretary declares she has become a real wife. It turns out Peter went out and found a job
working at a clothing store selling ties after finally listening to Helen and
realizing he needed a job to make his life worth living, even though he already
had millions.
At this point, it’s
important to reveal that throughout the whole film up until now, Helen has been
adamant about continuing her practice.
She refuses to give up her job even though she is now married. However, once she hears Peter has finally
gotten himself a job, she immediately decides she can settle with him earning
the money and closes down her office.
This really kind of enraged me.
What a great way to show a wife’s place versus her husband’s. Now, I know that ‘these were the times,’ and
it was only 1941, but really? The movie
started out portraying a head-strong woman just by the fact that she was a
female doctor when it wasn’t a popular occupation for said sex. The dialogue made its fair share of jabs by
pointing out that the only reason Peter wanted her to be his doctor (He had a
small skiing accident while trying to show off for her on the ski slopes,
causing him to land on his head.) was because she was a good-looking
woman. That’s easier to deal with,
though, because Missy did her fair share of yelling and arguing with that
point. But to see her then give up what
she had been calling her ‘life’s purpose’ throughout the movie all because her
husband now has a job is absurd and really an insult to the female race.
Back to the plot,
Peter quickly loses his job because the vast majority of the employees are mad
that a millionaire is given a job he clearly doesn’t need when others who do
need it are not given the chance to earn this money. After ranting to the gardener, who suggests
that Peter should become an employer instead of an employee, Peter disappears
yet again, worrying Helen all the more.
Eventually, she gets a call saying he is at a local hospital. (At least, I assume a local hospital. That would be the small-town-America in me
talking.) It is revealed that he is
buying the place and this is where Helen’s earlier action of quitting her job
for her marriage is sort of redeemed: Peter makes her Chief of Staff. And that kicker last line?
“There’s a kid in 219 we ought
to adopt.”
“You mean if we get too busy
for—if we get too busy.”
All in all, not too
shabby of a movie. IMDb gives it 5.8/10
stars, and I gave it 3.5/5, mainly because I’m still not over the fact that
Helen thought it was suddenly okay to give up her job for her husband like that.
~Until Later…B
