Peter Ibbetson (1935) User Reviews

Serious, Memorable and Deserving

[DAHLRUSSELL · 8/10 · 12 February 2007]

This 1933 Gary Cooper film is highly regarded and mentioned in many film books. It was a serious film in tone and content, and also in it's techniques. Initially, it seems a rather bland melodrama about two childhood sweethearts who are parted then reunited. The blandness is somewhat heightened by the visual blandness of Ann Harding, the female star. (She is blonde, but very visually monochromatic… minimal eyebrows or eye make-up, which makes her seem very very plain, even though she is pretty.) This was the "taste of the times" for a serious "good" woman, and the reason I have this listed as an 8 is that it is definitely dated, and will be much too slow for many viewers.

The story is about dreams and architecture, so keep an eye on the buildings, there are really inventive and beautiful buildings. The stable that is supposed to be "horrible" is like a forest cottage in a fairy tale. The child casting at the beginning is funny by today's standards of continuity. These actually are pretty good child actors for the time – not cloying or overly precious - but the boy's coloring is quite dissimilar to the adult. Big brown eyes of the boy becoming the famous baby blues of Cooper. But let these things go, and the early scenes are an effective and emotionally effective set up for the payoff.

The best part of the film comes in the last third. Suddenly, we are in an expressive fantasy – completely grounded in the earlier part, but also completely different. Not only are the effects here still magical, reminiscent of Durer etchings, but they are also really overwhelming when we think about how difficult it was to achieve these effects in this time period. (Any thing that fades in or out - this had to be done by re-filming with the same piece of film, etc.) While never named, it is clearly colored by the "astral body" theories of the Eastern religions that were popular in Hollywood at the time, having a strong influence on art, architecture, and design during this period.

Ultimately this is a beautiful and memorable film about the strength of love, dreams, and the triumph of pure heart. This makes for a very quiet but powerful film. (Quiet and powerful became the hallmark of Cooper's screen character.) The strength of this film is its simplicity of message, and the really memorable and soulful performance of Cooper.

Transcending love and destiny into one concept

[james charity · 8/10 · 21 April 2001]

It may sound like cheap romance, but that is exactly what that movie is about. Only it carries it with such simple force and poetic candor that it makes you forget a certain general stiffness in the acting. Filming has vintage qualities and limitations that can only bring concentration on the story. To me, it has provided one of those rare experiences of strange likenesses with the original material of dreams. Sorry for the improvisation and my stilted English.

An inventive and utterly unashamed utopian romance here on planet earth

[secondtake · 7/10 · 12 June 2011]

Peter Ibbetson (1935)

An un-repenting romance, and I mean romance in the sense of two people being in true love for ever and ever no matter what. There is almost nothing less going on here, but who needs anything else? The best of it, in a way, is the fantasia near the end, some remarkable dream and surreal scenes with great effect. Also a great treat is seeing a young Ida Lupino as a sweet and somewhat self-absorbed young woman who is interested in our hero, played by Gary Cooper.

But Lupino is secondary, and once things get fully in gear in the present, it is Cooper's romance as Peter Ibbetson with Ann Harding, playing his childhood girlfriend, that makes it click. And no romantic stone is left untouched. By the time the movie gets to its final third you know what is happening, and then it takes a huge turn and things get both crazy and sentimentally moving. A romance turns violent, and then a crime turns first dark and then bright and almost religious (though never actually religious) and a sense of winning against all the odds is the final theme. This may strike some viewers as just wishful thinking and directorial excess, but it's so well done this isn't fair. The special effects are stunning, better than many recent effects, for sure.

And what about the filming and acting? All quite first rate. You might pigeonhole this as some kind of Depression-era escapist dream come true kind of film, but it really rises above that. It's about an impossible but not quite impossible ideal of absolute love, something that rises even above having a young Ida Lupino want you in your youth, or above giving up when chained to a wooden plank with a broken back. It's about hoping when it seems there is no hope.

But then, that's what people were doing everyday in the mid 1930s, after half a decade of terrible economic times (and without even knowing that another half a decade lay ahead). It's not a great film, but it's a great theme handled well enough to make you perk up. Someone else might have played Cooper's part with more subtlety or sophistication, but Harding is terrific in her role as rich kid turned angel. And Henry Hathaway, directing his heart out for a change, pulls off some great shifts in tone and temperament form one section of the film to the next, and narrowly avoids the sickly sweetness or downright camp that might have trapped another director. He may not have had a really classic film to his name, but among a good dozen very very good ones, from these 1930s dramas to some post-war film noirs, this is one of his best.

Great Film

[fsilva · 25 June 2005]

Once again, like many other film's I've finally come to see, after reading so many about them and longing to have the opportunity of watching them (i.e. "Trouble in Paradise"), I was afraid this one was not going to meet my expectations, and I was wrong.

First of all, Gary Cooper really impressed me so favorably; so early in his career he was able to handle such a difficult role and give a complex and sensitive performance, conveying Peter Ibbetson's ethereal aspects. Gary Cooper was really a fine actor (not only a charming personality and huge star), good at Drama, Adventure, Western, Romance, Comedy et al.

Cooper portrays the idealistic Peter Ibbetson, a young man so deeply attached to his childhood memories, that he cannot feel fulfilled or happy, in spite that he's supposed to have everything a man would wish, to find happiness.

Ann Harding, on the other hand, of whose performance regarding this film I've read that she wasn't ethereal enough to play this part (Peter Ibbetson's childhood sweetheart, Mary), I must say that I found her well suited to it, as always giving a sincere, sensitive, natural and restrained performance, looking perfect in period clothes.

Both lead performers transmit truth into their characterizations, embodying the love that transcends all the obstacles or "L'amour fou" as French defined it, giving endearing performances. Beautiful Cinematography by the great Charles Lang and great sets by Hans Dreier.

John Halliday plays expertly the stern Duke of Towers; Ida Lupino looks pretty and shows her great talent in a supporting role as a vulgar English woman Peter Ibbetson befriends in Paris and Douglass Drumbille is the "menacing at first sight", uncle of the Title character.

Mention apart deserve lovely Virginia Weidler and Dickie Moore, who portray the leading stars as children, giving impressive, terrific performances. Their scenes together have been among the most heart-wrenching and sincere I've ever seen, featuring a couple of child actors (the 1949 film "The Secret Garden" featuring Dean Stockwell and Margaret O'Brien comes to my mind).

If you liked such pictures as "Smilin' Through", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", "I'll Never Forget You", "Berkeley Square", "Somewhere in Time" or "Portrait of Jennie", you must see this one.

The DVD transfer (released by Universal as part of the "Gary Cooper Collection") is of very good quality.

Confused fantasy

[jjnxn-1 · 7/10 · 10 October 2013]

Odd semi fantasy film has a good performance from a dashing Gary Cooper to recommend it but the pacing is off. The mood is too earthbound to make it haunting and too celestial for a standard telling. Part of the problem is in the female lead. Ann Harding while a fine actress is miscast as the object of Gary's lifelong desire, a more ethereal performer was required, Merle Oberon would have been perfect. The film drags in parts and feels stilted in others, a defect in the direction more than in the story. The appearance of an almost unrecognizable Ida Lupino as a bit of Cockney baggage is a treat but she's in and out of the film in under fifteen minutes.

One of the strangest romantic films ever to have come out of Hollywood.

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 16 November 2021]

Henry Hathaway's "Peter Ibbetson" is one of the strangest love stories ever to have come out of Hollywood. It's a kind of 'Wuthering Heights', only with Heathcliffe and Cathy's roles reversed and Gary Cooper makes for a very strange 'Cathy'. It was based on George Du Maurier's novel and a subsequent play and is about how childhood friends Gogo and Mimsey, (those precociously talented brats Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler), grow up to be Peter and Mary, (he's Cooper and she's Ann Harding), are separated, reunited, except that she's now married to John Halliday and whose love knows no bounds as in even death can't tear them apart, (yes, it's that kind of nonsense).

On the plus side, however, it's visually superb and it's certainly not like anything else by Hathaway while both Cooper and Harding are both excellent but it's also preposterous in an often gob-smackingly awful way and its reputation in some quarters, (David Thomson, amongst others, is quite a fan), is highly exaggerated. Maybe you have to be in the mood for it and perhaps one day I'll revisit it to see what I missed, if anything, first time round but for now let's call it a curiosity and give Hollywood kudos for making it at all.

All we have to do is dream..

[dbdumonteil · 10/10 · 27 March 2008]

To think that Henry Hathaway made the same year "the lives of a Bengal Lancer" and "Peter Ibbetson"!Both are classics in their genre :the first was an adventures film no one could do today;the second one is simply my favorite Hathaway movie.I know it was his favorite too.

"Lancer" and "Peter" could not be more different,they are worlds apart,and who could believe the same director (and actor) made the two works?

"Peter Ibbetson" had a strong influence on the French cinema of the thirties/forties ,particularly those of Marcel Carné ("Les Visiteurs du Soir""Juliette ou La Clé des Songes" ) Marcel Lherbier ("la Nuit Fantastique" ) and Cocteau/Delannoy ("L'Eternel Retour").Henry Hathaway's film spawned a whole school of "escapism" cinema.

The first part deals with childhood and depicts the worst misfortune a young boy can know:the death of his mother.It takes place in the chic suburbs of Paris ,where,we are told,wealthy English people own their town house.After his mother's decease ,"Gogo" is separated from the little girl with a white dress...and returns to England where he will live with his uncle.

Peter/Gogo's only desire (and it's everyone's desire ) is to come back to this lost paradise ,to the place he was a child ..Early in the movie,we have a first pilgrimage with a girl (Ida Lupino ,a future great actress/director in one of her first parts)who does not care (she cannot share his memories)and whose only interest is the swing.

Although he briefly appears ,Slade is a very important character.He is a blind man,but he can see;his words are not different from those by Saint Exupery in "Le Petit Prince" -which was yet to come for it was published in 1943) ("It is only with the heart that one can rightly see;what is essential is invisible to the eyes") If the heart can give eyesight to the blind ,then what can true absolute love do?When you are in jail,a paralyzed prisoner ,what can you expect from life?

The last part is one of the peaks of the American cinema of the thirties ,predating dozens of films not only the French escapism movies from the German Occupation but also such works as "Stairway to Heaven" (Powell) or "Portrait of Jennie" (Dieterle) and "Bid Time Return" (Swarc) These dreams when the lovers meet up are the impossible return to childhood man longs for in his whole life;but these dreams are fragile:the castle Peter built for his beloved one is nothing when the storm set in.A surrealistic film,"Peter Ibbetson" is love's triumph over everything:the laws that man made,our Cartesian spirit ,even death itself.Just make your dream longer than the night.

Gary Cooper and Ann Harding have become legendary hearts.

Mimsie & Gogo

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 28 April 2010]

I'm glad that Peter Ibbetson has been done as an opera by Deems Taylor because that is the medium that this strange story would most likely be revived. It's a sad and romantic tale that they wrote back in Victorian days, but would hardly make it today.

Originally a novel by George DuMaurier, Peter Ibbetson became a play on Broadway that was written by John N. Raphaelson and starred John and Lionel Barrymore on Broadway during the 1917 season. The notion that people in love separated by man could be united and live a life in dreams would have found great popularity in that year with so many lovers and married folks separated by war.

Two children played by Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler grow up to be Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. Moore and Weidler are best friends and neighbors in Paris, a pair of English expatriate families. When Moore's mother dies, his uncle Douglass Dumbrille comes to Paris to take him back to Great Britain to raise and the children are separated.

Fast forward many years later and Ann Harding is now the Duchess of Towers and her husband John Halliday the Duke hires a promising young architect to do some major renovations on the estate and its Gary Cooper. At some point Harding and Cooper realize who they are and the memories of a bygone carefree childhood cause them to fall in love. When Halliday finds them in a compromising position, he tries to shoot Cooper who flings a chair at him and kills him.

If all things were equal Cooper at most should have been charged with manslaughter. But Halliday being a Duke gains him celebrity status and Cooper apparently without a good attorney gets sentenced to life imprisonment.

But as they are separated now, Harding and Cooper connect in their dreams each night and live an incredible life which of course means they never grow old.

For today's audience Peter Ibbetson is a bit hard to swallow, but the players are so charming and sincere you actually let your cynicism fall away. The story is remarkably similar to the operetta Maytime and no wonder Deems Taylor saw it as suitable grand opera material. In fact Peter Ibbetson's one Academy Award nomination was for its romantic musical score.

As good as Cooper and Harding are, I think in retrospect the film belongs to Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler. As the children Mimsie and Gogo, the film really belongs to them, you remember their performances throughout the movie as you watch their grownup counterparts.

Oddly enough even with a French and later English setting, Peter Ibbetson's cast is mostly American. No one in fact is more American than Gary Cooper, but few also are have as romantic persona and a face the movie camera loved as it did few others. For that reason and others Peter Ibbetson holds up well even in today's far more realistic and cynical age.

Haunting romance, sweet, sad and hopeful. A classic!

[larry41onEbay · 9/10 · 9 October 2000]

I watched this dreamy romantic film decades ago on TV and it has haunted me ever since. When I tell friends about the plot line we both get misty eyed thinking of the sweet, sad ideology behind this forgotten romantic film. This film does what movie do best. It takes a good book and play and transports them beyond into a world of fantasy that can only be brought about through the magic of Hollywood. This is another example of a film that was not a blockbuster when originally released so it's not available today on video or DVD. But if it was released thousands maybe millions of folks could turn it into a classic like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

Somewhere in time, Love will Prevail.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 11 January 2012]

Where does love begin and where does it end? Do our dreams keep us connected with the person we truly loved no matter where they are, even if they are deceased? A few films in Hollywood history have asked this profound question, the most famous of which is 1980's "Somewhere in Time" in which lovers Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour played time travel with each other in order to be together. In "Peter Ibettson", Gary Cooper and Ann Harding are childhood sweethearts who are somehow able to have similar dreams that ultimately are the method in which they are able to be together when circumstances tear them apart.

Cooper seems like a strange choice for this type of role, being too all-American for this dashing European character born in France and raised in England. It takes a while to accept him in this part, more obviously made for actors like Fredric March or Ronald Colman. Ann Harding, a popular leading lady barely remembered today (except by obsessive classic movie fans such as me), resembles the more famous Irene Dunne; In fact, the two of them were often cast in similar parts in the early 1930's when they were under contract to RKO. The only difference is that Dunne was able to show off her talent for comedy and was a good singer for operettas, while Harding was primarily a dramatic actress. Harding did have some comical skills she gets to show here. The roles of the characters as children are played by the talented Dickie Moore and Virginia Wiedler. Douglas Dumbrille, usually cast as the imperious heavy, is good as Moore's serious uncle, but unlike Basil Rathbone in the same year's "David Copperfield", his similar character actually means well, if not totally sympathetic. The actual villain is John Halliday as Harding's count husband whose actions are understandable considering the time, setting and circumstances. It is more the outcome of his actions than the things he does which bring on the tragedy (and fantasy) of the romantic situation. Donald Meek is also memorable as Cooper's blind employer who sees the world through a different light that instills him with much wisdom.

A dissenting word...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 July 2009]

While it's obvious that almost all the reviewers adored this film, I feel a voice of dissent is needed, as I have a different perspective. Although this is one of the loveliest looking films I can think of from the era, I was left cold by the film because I felt the plot didn't make much sense and because the characters were jerks---yes, jerks. To me, the film was NOT about true romance but blind infatuation and selfishness, but more about that later.

The film begins with a prologue. Young Peter Ibbetson (played by Dickie Moore) looks to be about 5 and he is alternately playing with and arguing with the little girl who is his best friend. Unfortunately, soon his mother dies and he is taken to England to live out most of the rest of his life. However, the plot demands that this little infatuation with a little girl is not only NOT forgotten but so consumes Ibbetson that decades later he returns to France to try to find this girl. This is utterly ridiculous, as was his "accidentally" discovering this same girl, now grown, quite by mistake when he fell in love with her all over again (while not realizing it was the same person). Talk about straining credibility! But, it gets worse. The lady is already married--yet Ibbetson doesn't give a darn about the husband and demands that she run off with him!!!!!! So, they're basing this "love that will withstand the ages" mostly on the vague recollections of a guy thinking about life at age 5...and this doesn't seem illogical to anyone? Plus, now the lady is married to a wealthy titled man and yet this will somehow work out?!!

When the husband finds out and tries to kill Ibettson (after all, this is a matter of honor and it is the early 19th century--a duel or simply shooting Ibbetson would have been the proper tactic), the husband is killed in the scuffle...and we are expected to feel bad only for Ibbetson and his lady love? I actually felt worse for the husband--up until then, he seemed like a decent enough sort. Sure, he shouldn't have tried to kill Peter, but can you blame him for trying to get rid of this shameless home-wrecker? Now, Ibbetson is in prison for the rest of his life.

Now here it gets weird...very weird. Ibbetson spends the rest of his life meeting with and loving Mary in his mind--and she, too, can see and experience all these meetings along with him! There is no explanation for this odd symbiosis...it just happens as if by magic. And, when he finally dies, they meet in some external bliss together. Uggh--what hooey! These portions of the film are so sticky and tough to watch.

So, the film is based on a love affair between two dumb and selfish people. Dumb, because loving somebody as a small child should NOT be the basis for uprooting and destroying lives. This movie is all emotion and no logic from start to finish. Cooper plays a selfish and mushy character who I had a hard time liking--not a rugged or manly sort of fellow, just a jerk.

So why did I still give the movie a 4 even if I though I disliked the plot so much and felt it tried to justify adultery? Well, I gotta hand it to Henry Hathaway's direction--it was a truly lovely film to look at and it was very manipulative. Plus, the great sound track really pulled on your heartstrings (whatever a 'heartstring' is).

Very sad

[Caz1964 · 10/10 · 30 March 2006]

This film is one of five on The Gary Cooper Collection,they are all good films,and this one is my personal favourite of them.Its beautifully acted and deeply emotional,its a very well written story that is like no other story that i know of,especially from 1935.It may have been a little bit ambitious when it was released back then,as it was the depression era,and not much use to an audience who must have been feeling very low in spirits and full of worries,and weren't prepared for escapism.If the film had been made over a decade later the audience would have appreciated it more.But then many great classics were big flops in their day,Its a wonderful life was one,and thats hard to believe now isn't it,when its now the biggest Xmas selling film of all time.It would be nice to see this film have more recognition,i hope its time will come one day.

Close to Heaven

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 15 May 2010]

In the mid-1800s, cute Dickie Moore (as "Gogo") and pretty Virginia Weidler (as "Mimsey") - both around eight years old, according to the script - argue about what to do with a pile of wood. He wants to make a wagon, and she wants to build a dollhouse. The wagon wins. Despite their tender age, the youngsters are "desperately in love." When Master Moore's ailing mother dies, he is taken away from the Parisian suburb, to live in England. He vows to return for his little sweetheart, someday...

In the film's first real problem, Moore grows up to become Gary Cooper (re-named Peter Ibbetson). An architect, Mr. Cooper goes back to the old Paris home, where he is contracted to rebuild stables for his childhood friend, now played by Ann Harding (as Mary). When Ms. Harding appears, you immediately know she's the grown-up version of Ms. Weidler, but Cooper doesn't. Understandably, Harding doesn't recognize Cooper as Moore - the two look nothing alike.

They are still in love, but... alas, Harding is married...

This romantic fantasy began as a Gothic-tinged novel by George du Maurier, grandfather of Daphne (best known in cinema as the author of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and "The Birds"). A hit Broadway "Peter Ibbetson" (1917) starred John Barrymore, and led to a silent success for popular Wallace Reid and Elsie Ferguson, re-titled "Forever" (1921). In a more perfect world, George Fitzmaurice might have updated his production for Laurence Olivier and Greta Garbo. Still, much here is excellent.

This version's musical score, by Ernst Toch, won an "Academy Award" nomination; and, the combination of work evidenced by director Henry Hathaway and cinematographer Charles Lang is unquestionably award-worthy. The film is extraordinarily beautiful, using the Paramount production team to great effect. Cooper succeeds by building intensity (filling Mr. Reid's shoes, if not Mr. Barrymore's), and Harding is at her personal best. If only love was this eternal…

******* Peter Ibbetson (10/31/35) Henry Hathaway ~ Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, John Halliday, Dickie Moore

Peter Ibbetson review

[JoeytheBrit · 5/10 · 20 April 2020]

A young architect discovers that the wife of his latest client is the childhood sweetheart whom he never stopped loving. A miscast Gary Cooper looks ill-at-ease in the title role of the architect with an artistic touch, but it's the strange fantastical direction the film takes when the lovers discover they can share one another's dreams that brings it to a shuddering halt. The final act is a real chore because of it.

A Rare Gem from the Golden Age of Hollywood

[malvernp · 18 March 2007]

If you are at this site and reading about "Peter Ibbetson"-----congratulations on having an exotic taste in films coupled with a deep-seated fascination with romance, fantasy, destiny and the power of love to conquer the most formidable of difficulties! We have seen a number of films from Hollywood's Golden Age that touched upon similar themes. From "Death Takes a Holiday" (1934) to "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941), we suffered along with sympathetic lovers whose path to true fulfillment was strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But in the end---somehow-----the force of love overcame every problem to ultimately allow for what was meant to be.

These stories are ageless and have appeared as recently as "Somewhere In Time" (1980) and "Meet Joe Black" (1998)---itself a reworking of "Death Takes a Holiday." "Peter Ibbetson" may be one of the very best films to explore the force of destiny on young lovers linked from childhood to be together "forever." The beauty of this film is in its design, execution and performances.

Henry Hathaway, the director, worked with Gary Cooper earlier in 1935 in the rousing action adventure "Lives of a Bengal Lancer." Are there two more dissimilar films than these? It is a tribute to Hathaway's skill and artistry that he could make both stories work so well when they were completed almost at the same time.

Cooper excelled in portraying sensitive characters ("Pride of the Yankees" (1942), "Sergeant York" (1941), etc.) and Peter Ibbetson was well within his range of projecting an introspective romantic hero whose great love must be found in the world of dreams. It is a fine, deeply felt performance.

Ann Harding, not well known today as a romantic actress, captures the complexity and subtlety of the story. Her ability to will the Cooper character into believing that their love must persist even if it exists only in their own imagination is both powerful and enduring.

When contemporary critics take shots at the old Hollywood Studio System as nothing more than a glorified factory grinding out entertainment fodder for the masses, they ought to take a look at this strange, moving and truly unusual film. Its creators probably knew going in that it was not likely to be a box office hit given the nature of the subject matter. The fact that it was made at all and in such a sumptuous manner is an excellent tribute to the taste of the powers that be at Paramount.

Seek out "Peter Ibbetson," You will be transported to a world that no longer exists---and into a story that requires the viewer to be a real romantic with great imagination. It will reward you with a deeply touching tale where true love finally wins out under the most extraordinary of circumstances. What more need be said?

An ageless and unforgettable story of a love that defied all human barriers

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 14 March 2022]

A young architect , Gary Cooper, meets in his adult life his lost childhood love , Ann Harding , who is married to a duke , John Halliday, and he is subsequently falsely imprisoned for a murder. Undeterred by physical separation the intimate couple continue to meet in their own world. Love ...born in the simple hearts of children , loving gloriously , triumphant through the years ! How long have you been with my wife ? Go ahead make love to her .. before my eyes..not behind my back , but be quick about it..before I send you both to hell !

A very romantic drama with emotion , sensibiity and exciting finale .This is a stunning and memorable adaptation of a novel of George Du Maurier about a beloved couple that transcends death , preserved in their youth , until the lasting reunion forever , resulting in a seamless transition between the worlds of reality and dream . The movie's boldness and continuing appeal lie in its unhesitating and exulting acceptance of the primacy of love . Reputedly discovered by the French Surrealists and hailed by Andre Breton as the cinematic embodiment of his magnificent obsession with "L'amour fou" , the love that transcends all known obstacles. In fact , it is a gentler and more sensitive channelling of the libidinal surges of The Age of Gold by Luis Buñuel . As both of whom are able to live out their love story in a dream World when she comes to him for an eternal life. Main and support cast are frankly excellent as Gary Cooper , Anne Harding , John Halliday , Ida Lupino and Douglas Dumbrille.

Here stands out the wonderful cinematography by Charles Lang Jr with plenty of lights and shades . The motion picture was competently directed by Henry Hathaway at his best . He was a good Hollywood craftsman who made all kinds of genres , such as : Adventure : Lives of a Bengal lancer , Circus World . Western : How the West was won, Sons of Katie Elder , North to Alaska , Nevada Smith , True Grit . Wartime : Raid on Rommel, Sundown, Desert Fox , among others . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . The flick will appeal to Gary Cooper fans . Well worth watching .

Not the triumph we all expected!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 8 March 2018]

My chief problem with the picture is not that I think Cooper is woefully miscast, as do most of the movie's detractors. It's a most unusual role for Coop certainly, but, in my opinion, he makes quite a fair fist of it. I also liked Ida Lupino, but I felt the normally ultra-reliable Donald Meek made but a poor impression with his role-admittedly small, but important. On the other hand, Douglass Dumbrille is given an elaborate introduction as the colonel, but then completely disappears! As for the children - Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler - they are both absolute horrors, though Master Moore is far the more obnoxious of the two.

Admittedly, I hardly expected du Maurier's Mimsey to be accurately (or even half-heartedly) translated to film. But even so, Miss Weidler is surely the very opposite of the child du Maurier describes: "the reverse of beautiful, although she would have had fine eyes but for her red lashless lids. She wore her thick hair cropped short, like a boy, and was pasty and sallow in complexion, hollow-cheeked, thick-featured, and overgrown, with long thin hands and feet, and arms and legs of quite pathetic length and tennity; a silent and melancholy little girl, who sucked her thumb perpetually, and kept her own counsel." Fortunately, both Ann Harding and John Halliday are cast more in the du Maurier mold, and - what's more important - both display excellent presence and ability.

The chief problem for me really comes down to Hathaway. He seemed to me to be a bit out of his element here. Three of the players were so embarrassingly bad, it's almost beyond belief that a skillful director could allow such ineptitude to slip by. Especially with such key support players. Admittedly, two were children, but Hathaway himself was a child actor. You could understand a bit-player or a minor actor gumming up a scene. He's on the set for a few days at most - and then gone forever. But actors that a director is supposed to be guiding, day in, day out, for weeks on end!

Hathaway has stated, on more than one occasion, that actors are hired to act. It is not the director's job, he feels, to guide them with their interpretations, let alone help and succor actors who have been miscast or are out of their depth. On the other hand, Hathaway would know from his own personal experiences the particular requirements of child actors and one would expect him to rise to the challenge. But this was obviously not the case here.

If Hathaway is not the man for the players, he is also not the man for this type of story. He's an action man, not a Lubitsch who can handle fantasy and Romance. That's "Romance" with a capital "R", not sex, or even just your everyday celluloid boy-meets-girl. The two or three action scenes and the tense confrontation at the dinner-table (masterfully shot from six or eight angles, and skilfully edited by Stuart Heisler) do come across with powerful effectiveness. But elsewhere, Hathaway is obviously laboring with difficulty with unfamiliar surroundings and trappings. The fantasy material lacks tight supervision. Its effects are too obvious, too heavy-handed.

I can understand why many French critics love this movie. Sub-titles would not only disguise the inadequacies of Moore's and Weidler's performances, but allow freedom to interpret the visuals more imaginatively and romantically. In a foreign language, - and for those of us with more sensitive dispositions, - "Peter Ibbetson" would likely emerge as a profoundly moving experience.

Coop transcends space, his own corporeal reality, and death itself; finds true love.

[FilmSnobby · 10/10 · 12 June 2005]

Well, it's finally here, all you rabid film enthusiasts. *Peter Ibbetson* -- never before released for home consumption, not even on VHS, and very rarely revived in art-houses since its 1935 flopped release -- is now on DVD as part of Universal's new "Gary Cooper Collection". On this five-movie set, *Ibbetson* is clearly the crown jewel, though the others are certainly worth a look, depending on your degree of interest (I've already reviewed on these pages Lubitsch's *Design for Living*, which should interest anybody interested in good movies). *Peter Ibbetson* is the very definition of the term "cult classic": its extreme rarity admits only a select club of in-the-know members, and its surrealist subject-matter -- sundered lovers who communicate to each other through their dreams -- especially as realized by such American workmen as director Henry Hathaway and actor Gary Cooper, makes this movie irresistible to the cinephile.

It also appeals to other disparate types, such as the chick-flick connoisseur -- for what can be more deliriously romantic than lovers who live in their own telekinetic, dream-world universe? It's the kind of movie where Cooper builds Ann Harding a glistening castle in the air, made out of clouds and stardust, only to see it crumble when he doesn't believe strongly enough in his own dream. For those who will find all of this rather silly or at least doubtful, I can tell you that the unremitting sense of tragedy throughout the story's arc helps to keep things grounded and cleans out any extraneous gossamer. The entire movie depends upon the lovers' grievous separation, from childhood onward to old age, and Coop spends the majority of his adult life shackled in prison for a crime from which he should have been exonerated. Rather than commit suicide or allow himself to die after a savage beating from a jailer, he decides to go on living so that he can spend every night with his girlfriend, who is sharing the same dream with him. Romantic enough for you, ladies?

Of course, the real points of the story are both the indomitable longevity of the libido and the endless resources contained within the human imagination -- fertile grounds for Surrealism. Not surprisingly, Luis Bunuel considered *Peter Ibbetson* to be one of the 10 greatest films ever made. The dreamy set-design, the gauzy photography by Charles Lang, and the beautiful score by Ernst Toch contribute to the generally bizarre feeling that the movie evokes. It's a rare American film, from any era, that insists on dreams having at least as much, if not more, significance than so-called "reality", but such is the case here in this mainstream release from 1935. The movie failed with mainstream audiences then, and probably wouldn't sit well with mainstream audiences today. Americans have always been practical people, even during the Great Depression: their need for escapism back then clearly didn't outweigh their reluctance to accept Coop as an English architect suffering the pangs of transcendent love that is stronger than the grave. (Their loss.) I suspect the same is true of audiences today, who, when they bother to watch old movies, certainly do not want to see one in which Gary Cooper wanders through a European-style art-movie directed by an action-adventure journeyman like Henry Hathaway. (Their loss.)

10 stars out of 10.

Beautifully photographed romance story

[nnnn45089191 · 6/10 · 9 April 2007]

Peter Ibbetson seemed like a wonderful movie until the movie changed its tone the last part of the story.The turn to melodrama and fantasy wasn't too my liking.Gary cooper and Ann Harding deliver good performances as the leads.There's also a noteworthy early performance by Ida Lupino.The movie is beautiful to look at thanks to the exquisite photography by Charles Lang."Peter Ibbetson" reminded me of a movie with a similar theme made a few years later "Wuthering Heights". I didn't find "Peter Ibbetson" as good as that one.Henry Hathaway who earlier that year made "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" was better directing action-adventure sagas, but does a competent job here. Not a bad movie, but not among those I will return to often.

what dreams may come

[blanche-2 · 10/10 · 20 June 2012]

Okay I'm a sap but what a beautiful story of transcendent love.

Based on a novel by George du Maurier, the story concerns an unhappy, empty-feeling architect, Peter Ibbetsen (Gary Cooper), who is hired by the Duke of Towers (John Halliday) to design new stables for him. Ibbetson and the Duchess (Ann Harding) are attracted to one another, and then find they have each had the same dream. The Duke picks up on something between them and confronts them, but the two haven't even touched. Peter owns up to his feelings, talking about a little girl neighbor he played with as a child, and that is the only love he's ever known.

While he's talking, the Duchess realizes that he is Gogo, her childhood friend, and the two ultimately declare their love. Peter wants to leave with her. The Duke enters the room while Peter and Mary are kissing and a fight ensues, during which the Duke is killed by accident. Peter is sent to prison, where he discovers that he can communicate with Mary through dreams. Because of this, though he's tried to starve himself to death, and then his back is broken, he becomes determined to live.

This is a stunning film that should be better known. Gary Cooper gives perhaps his most emotional performance, filled with passion. Ann Harding is subtle, soft-spoken, and yet determined in her love, and she is Peter's steadying force.

A story of sustaining love that transcends separation and ultimately life, Peter Ibbetsen is sensitively directed by Henry Hathaway. It's the ultimate love story, and not to be missed.

Peter Ibbetson was believable for a while until the last 15 or so minutes

[tavm · 6/10 · 25 November 2014]

If you've read my reviews under my username, you probably realized I'm currently reviewing the "Our Gang" shorts in chronological order as well as some feature films that have at least one of its members the same way when it comes between whatever OG shorts were released at the time. Actually, this one came about a year after the eps I'm currently reviewing but anyway, this one has Dickie Moore as a young boy who experiences a tragedy and only the girl who lives next door-played by Virginia Wiedler-manages to get him through it. Unfortunately, he's forced to move and it's a while before they communicate again. So years later, Moore's character becomes Gary Cooper and Ms. Wiedler becomes Ann Harding though neither know it yet. Oh, and Ms. Harding's character is married by this time. Now up to this point, I was willing to go with the story but when the jealous husband is killed by Cooper-in self defense-who then gets a life sentence, suddenly he and Ms. Harding are communicating with each other in dreams. And it takes place for so many years that we're then just treated to only them and no one else for most of the rest of the movie. I'm sorry but I just couldn't take that part as something to believe in and I found myself anxious for the movie to quickly end when those dreams were depicted. Good thing this was only about 90 minutes. I'm at least glad to have finally seen this after reading about it a little. And I was really impressed by Dickie Moore's performance. So on that note, Peter Ibbetson is worth a look. P.S. Moore would eventually get to share a scene with Cooper when they both appeared in Sergeant York.

A lot is probably lost from page to screen

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 7 July 2020]

Do you want to know what it would look like to see Gary Cooper trying really hard to act in a serious drama? Now I know why he stopped trying and just relied on his normal Gary Cooper style. I know that sounds incredibly mean, but if you've seen Peter Ibbetson, you'll understand.

The beginning is intriguing, as both the leads are shown as children. Young Dickie Moore and Virginia Weidler are neighbors and they bond over the death of Dickie's mother. He's sad, and Virginia weeps when she feels his pain. Dickie is soon adopted by a distant relative, Douglass Dumbrille, and given a new name. The next time they see each other, they've grown into Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. Gary is working as an architect under a blind, Irish Donald Meek, and when he gets the assignment of restoring Ann's barn, he's reunited with his long-lost friend, now married to John Halliday.

I have a feeling that George du Maurier's book is much better than the film adaptation, and much more emotional. One of the main themes of the story is a connection between two people who visit each other in their dreams, and in a movie, it's sometimes hard to convey that without coming across as comical. This 1935 epic seems ridiculous at times, even though both Gary and Ann try very hard not to. Perhaps it was just the style of filmmaking in 1935, and not even the fantastic director Henry Hathaway could save it, or perhaps it was the casting. Robert Donat and Fredric March were both considered, but I don't think either would have been able to save it. Errol Flynn makes everything better, so if he were the title character, he might have made it seem more realistic. Whatever the reason, unless you're a die-hard fan of Victorian-set movies, you're not going to like it.

Memorable

[nicholas.rhodes · 8/10 · 10 September 2006]

I imagine this is exactly the sort of film that if you saw it at an impressionable age in your youth, it would make a lasting impression on you for the rest of your life. As I am not old enough to have been young when the film came out I cannot vouch for this. Nevertheless, I have possessed this film for several years on VHS and generally view it every 24 months or so. Picture and sound quality are below par as to be expected for a film of this age. I see that a DVD is now available but only as part of a boxed set and I don't fancy the idea of having to purchase a whose set, just to obtain one DVD !! With repeated viewings I have grown to like the film more. I originally only liked the first half and thought the second half to be a little boring but now I find that it is more watcheable. The thing is, there are unfortunately very few of this type of film made, the one that immediately comes to mind is of course Portrait of Jennie which had much better picture and sound quality and moved me emotionally far more than Peter Ibbetson. That said, the film has good points but I find the "grown-up" passion to be not as strong as I would have hoped, given the fusion and complicity between the kids during the first half hour. The separation of the children is an extremely painful moment to watch .. we then jump forward in time and when they meet up again and find out who they are and what they mean to each other, I just couldn't feel as much emotion as I would have liked. This may due to the actors involved .. I did not know the lady actress and have appreciated Gary Cooper in cowboy rôles but not in the role of an architect though I seem to remember having seen him in a similar rôle in a film called the Fountainhead. I also found that his person was well suited to the role of Mr Deeds but here something seemed to be missing, without my being able to put a finger on precisely what. Still the film has good moments with the dream meetings in paradisiac places and the end of course is satisfying. The music score is also very emotional and I hope that in the future both sound and picture quality can be cleaned up. I hope this film is not remade as any remake today is bound to overdo the special FX side and all the charm will be lost. The film is therefore quite original in its style and is bound to appeal to those who like a dose of surrealism and escapism without necessarily being completely removed from reality.

Interesting but too weird

[kenjha · 6/10 · 2 September 2007]

Strange film about the life-long love between a man and a woman is told in three parts. The first part shows them as childhood friends in Paris who are separated after he leaves for London. The second part has them meeting again as adults when he is an architect and she is a duchess. So far so good, with an engaging love story, but then things get too weird in the third part, dragging the film down. Although he is raised in London as the title character, Cooper doesn't even attempt a British accent while Harding's British accent comes and goes. Lupino, in a small role, does a fine British accent. Hathaway creates a haunting atmosphere.

Stinks With a Capital PEW

[ldeangelis-75708 · 1/10 · 4 February 2023]

This was, without a doubt, one of the worst movies I ever saw! It makes "Dudley Do-Right" look good, and that should tell you something! I only watched about 15 minutes of that disaster, but for some reason (maybe because I always liked Gary Cooper) I stuck with this one, but sure wish I had done something more enjoyable, like had 10 cavities filled, followed by root canal.

This movie was so awful, that when GC was apparently wasting away in prison, I was rooting for him to die already!

A story of true love that goes beyond time and death? Don't make me laugh! If Peter (Gary) loved Mary so much, then how come he never tried to find her, after their separation when they were kids? And if Mary felt the same, why did she marry a rich older man, or should the answer be obvious? (Can you say hypergamy?) So STUPID, and so RIDICULOUS to believe they keep getting together in their dreams, while he's rotting in jail and she's pining away in her mansion.

The best part of this disaster was the two child actors who played Peter and Mary as kids. And I'll bet when they grew up they wondered what possessed their parents to let them be a part of this disaster!