6/10
A real loser
1 March 2009
"You Belong to Me" is a 1941 comedy - I think - starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, with a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and directed by Wesley Ruggles. The story concerns a female doctor (Stanwyck) who impulsively marries a millionaire. His jealousy toward her male patients is obsessive and causes embarrassment and trouble immediately.

If anyone but top stars had been in this, it would have gotten a 4 from me. Boy, is it bad. Fonda and Stanwyck are such an attractive, delightful couple. They're wasted here in an absurd story. The Stanwyck character would have dumped this guy in 24 hours in real life.

The story does point up the change in our society's values. The Fonda character has money and is considered by himself and his wife completely useless. She has a successful practice - guess what happens to her resolve to keep that going in 1941. The philosophy stated in the film is that the only reason to exist in the world is to be useful. Well, Mother Teresa felt that way. Does Paris Hilton? Stanwyck and Fonda dream of living in a small apartment with a Murphy bed and no money rather than the enormous mansion they live in now. Right, Donald Trump and Bill Gates wish for that daily.

Someone on this board said in their subject matter "this hasn't worn well." It really hasn't. Part of it is the world's fault; the rest of it is the script's. Skip it.
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