Enchanted Cottage, The (1945) (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Aug 07, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
John CromwellRelease Date(s)
1945 (June 24, 2025)Studio(s)
RKO Radio Pictures (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: C
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Those of us who have seen the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called Eye of the Beholder are unlikely to forget this tale of a young woman, face swathed in layers of bandages, hoping that this time the plastic surgery will have cured her ugliness. The theme of beauty as a matter of subjective common opinion was explored fifteen years earlier in The Enchanted Cottage, an unusual romantic drama set against the background of World War II.
Shy, plain, lonely Laura Pennington (Dorothy McGuire) takes a job as housemaid to Mrs. Minnett (Mildred Natwick) at her picture-book coastal New England cottage. Mrs. Minnett claims the house has an enchanting effect on honeymoon couples and has rented it to American airman Oliver Bradford (Robert Young) and his fiancee, Beatrice Alexander (Hillary Brooke), for their honeymoon. Mrs. Minnett will stay on as the couple’s housekeeper and Laura will be their maid. But the attack on Pearl Harbor intervenes, Oliver is called up for duty, and the marriage is indefinitely postponed.
Oliver returns from the war crippled and disfigured. Beatrice doesn’t react well and Oliver, depressed and angry, retreats to the cottage. He finds a sympathetic soul in Laura, who isn’t repelled by his appearance, is compassionate, and has a romantic heart. They develop a bond and, because they both feel destined to live out their lives alone, they arrange a marriage of convenience. Under the influence of the cottage, however, they come to love each other, gain confidence, and become friends with their neighbor, blind pianist Major Hillgrove (Herbert Marshall) and overcome complications that arise from Oliver’s mother (Spring Byington). Subsequently, emotional and physical transformations occur that are attributed to the spell cast by the cottage.
A 20th-century fairy tale, The Enchanted Cottage couches a romantic melodrama in a semi-supernatural setting. There are no ghosts or haunted houses, yet the effect of the cottage plays a significant role. Coming out right at the end of the war, the film was attractive to audiences hungry for romantic stories of love triumphing over all kinds of battle scars.
Robert Young, best known for his TV starring roles in Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, MD, does what he can with a character who feels sorry for himself and broods for much of the film. In the early scenes, he’s fine as the cheerful soon-to-be husband of beautiful Beatrice, but his transition from hermit to a man opening his heart isn’t especially convincing. Even in the film’s later scenes, there’s a stiffness and formality in his performance.
Despite her obvious good looks under the washed-out makeup, mousy hair, and frumpy costumes, McGuire is sympathetic as the timid, self-conscious, homely Laura. In one unconvincing scene, set at a USO canteen, Laura is literally left sitting on the sidelines as soldier after soldier approaches, sees her face, and abruptly moves on. McGuire has a soft manner of speaking which is comforting, though it does grate after a while. She sometimes sounds like she’s talking down to Oliver as if he were a child.
Faced with a sappy screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen and Herman J. Mankiewicz, director John Cromwell had to rely entirely on his actors to breathe life into the characters. McGuire comes off best, as her face is quite expressive. As the blind musician, Marshall is more a metaphor than a real character with his mystical pronouncements and feelings. But with that wonderfully mellifluous voice, it’s just a pleasure to hear him speak.
As Oliver’s dotty mother, Spring Byington, has a few good scenes despite a script that veers her character from initially doting to rather cruel in response to her son’s marriage to a woman she regards as unworthy of him. Mildred Natwick’s role is curious. Mrs. Minnett is largely scornful and impatient, yet acts as a servant to the couples who rent her property. She does have a good moment when she reveals the secret of the cottage, enlivening the mundane exposition.
Shortly after the first World War, the British government commissioned playwright Sir Arthur Wing Pinero to write The Enchanted Cottage to uplift the returning soldiers, many with physical and emotional scars of war. The play was adapted into film three times: 1924, 2016, and this version in 1945. Given that it’s not a traditional romance, it nonetheless has problems. The “magic” of the cottage never is fully realized. We hear about it more from Mildred Natwick’s landlady and Herbert Marshall’s blind pianist that we feel it. Wisely, the film’s running time is brief, since extending the fantasy would have been deadly with an already shaky script.
Director of photography Ted Tetzlaff shot The Enchanted Cottage on 35mm black & white film with spherical lenses. The Blu-ray is sourced from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, preserving the original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 with side mattes to fill out the image on widescreen TVs. The picture quality is sharp and well detailed, as in the gardens outside the cottage, clothing patterns, ladies’ hats, decor in the cottage, and the kitchen of a wartime canteen. Make-up on Dorothy McGuire downplays her looks to make her seem homely. After Oliver comes home from the war, he’s seen in shadow for a long time until his injuries are finally shown. Process photography stands in for the Atlantic Ocean as Laura and Oliver exchange dialogue. Apart from a few long shots, the film was shot entirely at the studio, with a few obvious miniatures standing in for structures.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an option. Dialogue is clear and distinct. Roy Webb’s score is often overpowering, perhaps to bolster musically a less-than-stellar plot. A key scene at a wartime canteen features dance music, general crowd clamor, and ambient noise.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive Collection include the following:
- Lux Radio Theater Radio Broadcast (59:34)
- General Electric Theater Radio Broadcast (29:50)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1:58)
Lux Radio Theater Radio Broadcast – Aired on September 3, 1945, this broadcast of The Enchanted Cottage features the film’s original stars, Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young. The radio play is introduced by producer Hunt Stromberg. Music, sound effects, and narration accompany dialogue.
General Electric Theater Radio Broadcast – Starting Joan Fontaine, this presentation of The Enchanted Cottage was initially aired on September 24, 1953. The original commercials are included.
The Enchanted Cottage has its problems. For one thing, Dorothy McGuire is not as unattractive as the film suggests, even with low angles throwing unflattering shadows on her face, dull make-up, and an unstylish hairdo. Young’s Oliver loses the use of his right arm and his facial scars are unsettling, but these afflictions don’t seem severe enough to sideline him from life since many of his comrades weren’t so fortunate as to come home alive. His petulant self-pity portrays him as a rather shallow fellow at heart who determines worth by outward appearance, and makes him hard to empathize with. The script forces itself on the viewer rather than letting its message evolve naturally. The film may have been embraced by 1945 audiences who were living with the plight of returning servicemen. These days, the film’s flaws weigh it down, rendering its mystical spell plot a heavy-handed device.
- Dennis Seuling