The 1948 film, Enchantment has been on my Amazon watchlist so long that I kind of block it out, but this year I decided to take a chance on it. Put it this way: What seems familiar can still surprise us.
Enchantment opens in London during the Second World War, with a towncar pulling up to a tony row house. An old man, General Sir Roland “Rollo” Dane (David Niven) gets out and goes into the drawing room. He’s been told his family’s lease on the house is almost up and he needs to move, but he’s not having it. This is where his memories are. He sits down in the library and basks in it. He can feel the past talking to him.
The past won’t be the only voice Rollo hears. Into his sanctuary comes his niece Grizel Dane (Evelyn Keyes) from America, who’s volunteered for the Brits as an ambulance driver, and she would like to stay with Rollo because he’s family and anyway, her assigned quarters have fleas and creepy hunting trophies hanging everywhere.
Even though Rollo’s not too keen on Grizel staying with him, she wins him over. She’s got her dad’s eyes but her own mouth. The butler, Proutie (Leo G. Carroll) offers to put Grizel up in Lark’s room, but Rollo thinks his sister Selina’s (Lynda Meadows) old room is a better idea.
Grizel wants to know about Lark, but Proutie is pretty sparing with the details. She used to be Rollo’s dad’s ward, taken in when Lark’s parents died in a train accident., and she grew up with the three Dane children. “What happened to her?” Grizel asks.
“Nothing happened to her,” Proutie basically says, leaving Grizel mystified.
There’s not much time to wonder, though, because there’s a war on. However, Grizel meets an intriguing young man named Pax Masterson (Farley Granger), who turns out to be Lark’s nephew. He also turns up in Uncle Rollo’s sitting room. When Uncle Rollo finds out who Pax is, he’s off on another round of memories.
Lark’s childhood was happy in the house, for the most part. Oldest sister Selina is severe to a fault and treats Lark like an underling even though they’re the same rank socially. Rollo and Lark are friends, as are Lark and older brother Pelham (Philip Friend), and as Lark grows up she’s very popular and is asked out to all the party. Lark is a beautiful singer like her mom, and the library where she practices is full of light and flowers. Rollo and Pellie can’t help but notice the difference she’s made to the place.
No one is more jealous of Lark and her talents than Selina “Buzzkill” Dane, who throws a fit when Rollo and Lark begin to fall in love. She gets even more toxic when Rollo and Lark want to marry. I won’t give away what happens, but the Dane family is well and truly fractured, with Selina tottering around the Dane house, probably alone, for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile in the present day, Rollo hopes Grizel won’t throw away her own chance for happiness. She’s been hurt and she wants to wait for any committments until things are more settled, but when has the world ever been settled? Rollo is afraid Grizel is making a huge mistake.
Enchantment is a pretty, graceful love story, but the real romance is with the house, which is another character in the film. “No room is truly empty,” is the philosophy, because every room has a story. Instead of the characters mentioning past events and getting all misty-eyed, all it takes is someone picking up a certain object and suddenly the memories are there. It doesn’t end like a typical love story, and in all honesty, the last few minutes are a wee bit implausible. I’m still not going to ruin the ending, though.
This was the last film of cinematographer Gregg Toland, who passed away from a coronary thrombosis soon after the film’s release at the age of forty-four. It was also the last film Teresa Wright would make for producer Samuel Goldwyn, as there was a contract dispute. David Niven, who had been under contract to Goldwyn since the 1930s, would soon be out as well.
Unfortunately, though, the movie flopped at the box office because audiences just couldn’t get into it. Even some of the film’s actors couldn’t get into it.
I can kind of understand that, because while I liked the film and thought it was enjoyable, I’m also having trouble drumming up much of an opinion about it. I have an opinion, sure, but just not a very expansive one. Like I said, it’s a pretty, graceful movie, but in the end there’s not too much there. The costumes are just OK, but they look like they’ve been repurposed and don’t quite fit the characters. This is not outside the realm of possibility, seeing as the movie was made only a few years after the Second World War ended and scarcity was still a thing for a while, even in America. Like everyone else, Hollywood had to be very tight with money and resources, so everything went black and white and extravagant costumes were out. Smaller studios like Goldwyn probably felt the pinch more than anyone.
However, I will say this: The makeup job done on David Niven to make him look older is pretty impressive, as he’s barely recognizable. His real hair was dyed gray for those scenes, and legend has it that his hair was magenta when he finally got the dye out. Who knows if that’s really true, but strange things like that happened in old Hollywood all the time. I digress, of course.
No, I’m not sorry I finally got to see Enchantment. I liked it a lot, actually. I just wish it could have been more than it was.
A big announcement is coming up tomorrow. As always, thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
Enchantment is available to own on DVD from Amazon, and is free to stream for Prime customers.
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