User Reviews

The film begins with Mary (Myrna Loy) and Jack (Warner Baxter) getting married. It's OBVIOUS to anyone watching that their good pal, Bill (Ian Hunter) is in love with Mary. Even a stranger who meets them after the wedding says as much! This is a weakness of the film...as Mary SHOULD have noticed Bill's body language and tone.

Soon after the wedding, the couple go from giddy and happy to reality. Jack is a workaholic and Mary is soon disappointed and wants out of the marriage. But she is pregnant and decides to stick it out...for the child's sake. At this time, it becomes even MORE obvious that Bill is in love with Mary....yet she and Jack see nothing. But what is Mary going to do when she ends up losing the baby and only has a distant husband to keep her company?

"To Mary--With Love" is a tough movie to love, as you have a rather strong dislike for one of the leads (Jack) and a mild annoyance with the other (Mary) and feel the third is a bit pathetic (Bill). I am NOT saying it's a bad movie...but that it has some strikes against it which prevent it from being better.

What I DID like was seeing Jack's journey from a rich and successful guy to a guy out of work due to the Depression. Believe it or not, during the Depression Hollywood SELDOM dealt with the Depression and folk who were out of work due to it...and the film deserves kudos for this. And, interestingly, when Jack was busy and successful AND when he was poor and out of work, he pretty much avoided coming home and being a husband. He's just a crappy husband for most of the story!

Overall, this is a melodrama that's a bit on the sappy side though it is well made. I think the 'stand by your man' aspect of the story was extremely unhealthy...especially when Jack became more abusive and began cheating on Mary. What sort of message is this movie making towards women?? Sure, she eventually wants a divorce...but it seems like too little, too late.

Viewed this film online and it is not the usual funny comedy that Myrna Loy is known for in this time period but a marital drama that takes place over a ten year period. Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy are newlyweds and over the course of ten years, we see their romance, fun times, heartbreak, infidelity, money problems and abandonment. The film is done in flashback by their mutual friend, played by Ian Hunter, who is wonderful in the film. Also, Claire Trevor plays an interesting role of a friend who betrays them at the end. However, the ending makes you wonder if Myrna ended up with the wrong person because of everything she had been through in the past ten years. This reminds me of a harder version of Penny Serenade because you do not feel as close to the characters as you do in 'Penny Serenade' but that is what makes it interesting because they are more real and visceral to watch. The timeline is also realistic in it spanning from 1925 to 1935. There are the appropriate markers in the timeframe of the movie that also make it believable. Check this out if you get the chance.

This Fox melodrama is about the ups and downs of a married couple's life. The two spouses (Warner Baxter & Myrna Loy) seem to experience less ups and more downs than other couples do. The story starts with a flashback to the day they were wed back in 1925. We can guess that the next ten years of this union will be filled with considerable heartbreak and other problems.

The biggest problem is in how they take their relationship for granted. Baxter's character is a successful architect who places more value in the money he makes at his prestigious design firm than he does in being a decent husband to his wife. Loy is a stay-at-home type who places more value in standing by her man, no matter what, than she does in herself. They both feel that as long as they can keep up appearances with family, friends and business acquaintances, they have a 'good' marriage. But at every turn, the relationship is falling apart.

Baxter and Loy had already made several other hit films. This would be their final screen collaboration. Previous entries included a horse racing drama with Frank Capra at Columbia- BROADWAY BILL; as well as a precode drama at MGM- PENTHOUSE. By this point, the duo's very much in tune with each other; so we do believe them as a couple, even if the script does make both their characters act a bit unrealistic in spots.

Supporting roles are played by Ian Hunter, on loan from Warner Brothers; and Claire Trevor, a Fox contractee who at this point of her career was usually assigned leads in B programmers. Hunter's character is an attorney that Baxter and Loy go to for advice over the years. He is loyal and helps them, but he also has unrequited feelings for Loy. In a nicely understated scene, he finally voices those feelings to Loy during a crisis involving one of Baxter's unfaithful moments.

As for Trevor, she's a hanger-on who always seems to bump into Baxter when he's weak and ready to give in to temptation. In one scene Trevor has the audacity to give Baxter the name of the hotel she's staying at, as well as her phone number, right in front of Loy and Hunter. She plays it coy, as if she doesn't mean it. Yeah, right, she means it. Trevor's bold and breezy style is fun to watch; she practically steals the picture from the leads.

Despite some anachronisms with the fashions (the leads are in mid-30s garb during the flashbacks to the roaring 20s); and some incredible bits where Loy seems too willing to forgive her cad of a husband; this is still an engaging melodrama. It's interesting to see Loy on a loan out from MGM, where she was in the middle of a series of costarring roles with William Powell. A lot of her work at Metro was comedic; but here, we get to see her do a full-fledged tearjerker. She's especially excellent in a scene where her character learns that the son she just gave birth to didn't make it.

Baxter is a touch too theatrical in his portrayal. You can still see traces of his silent film acting. But one thing he is very good at showing is the anguish that his character faces. And there is plenty of anguish during the picture's 90 minute running time. His infant son dies; he loses a fortune during the stock market crash; he drinks too much; and he is nearly divorced by his loving wife. Baxter does successfully convey the sorrows, so that by the time he gets a happy ending, it seems to have been earned.