Such a frustrating disappointment

Memorable, crazy movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

For most of THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE, it seems as if being beautiful is the main theme-- that it's the most meaningful thing in the world. Then we realize the theme is actually about how it exists in the eye of the beholder and is very real for the beholder.When we get to the end of the film and understand the real message, we are in a state of shock. We suddenly realize we have been manipulated and have been betrayed by vanity.I like this movie, because I think it achieves what so many other trite productions fail to do. It gives us a true sense of magic-- the masks come off and it's very enchanting in a strange sort of way. Film is a visual medium, and this production effectively exploits the images of "beauty" on screen.

Watching this film was a reminder why I love B&W films so much. They're a time capsule of a different time, similar to ours, but very much different at the same time. This film epitomized this feeling so well. Utilizing the talents of one of the most handsome leading men of the time, Robert Young, and pretty leading ladies, Dorothy McGuire, the producers had the wisdom of using these two actors in totally unconventional roles—as ugly people. Without this juxtaposition, however, the film wouldn't have had it's visual impact. Today, even the subject might be considered "politically incorrect," but happily that term hadn't been invented yet. It's a simple film, and that's the charm of it. I've watched it twice,and it's had the same emotional impact both times. It's a tender, old-fashioned, overly-sentimental movie, and perhaps wouldn't make a dime today... wherein lies it's true beauty.

I suspect the movie is mostly a matter of taste. It does get pretty sticky toward the end. Nonetheless, it's a slick production even if RKO's idea of uglyfying the lovely McGuire is to thicken the eyebrows and leave off the makeup. I wish they would have really made her homely; that way the story would be even more poignant. But Hollywood being Hollywood, there's no way they would have chanced the audience sticking with a truly homely female lead, in make-up or not.The moral, however, is a strong one—the transformative power of love. Oliver (Young) senses Laura's (McGuire) inner beauty, such that in his eyes her inner beauty is transformed magically by the enchanted cottage into an outer beauty, as well. At the same time, Laura transforms his crippled arm into a body made whole by the power of her love inside the enchanted cottage. Of course, the changes only exist in the eyes of the lovers, and once others reveal this to the lovers, they must deal with their true physical appearance, which they are able to do thanks to the love they now share. This is all brought off in fairly effective fashion, thanks to McGuire's compelling performance and RKO's outstanding art and set departments, respectively. The exterior sets, in particular, complement the overall special mood. Then too, McGuire was always able to project a soulful quality when needed. I darn near cried when Laura, liberated from her duties as a kitchen drudge, is snubbed at the dance. Catch her fleeting expressions of hope as they pass into defeat as the young soldiers, one by one, withdraw from her physical plainness. It's heart-breaking. For me, it was a compelling performance. Also, Herbert Marshall's pivotal role as the blind pianist shouldn't be overlooked. He, of course, is able to sense the inner worthiness of the disfigured lovers before they themselves do. And Marshall brings it off in typically persuasive fashion.The movie's basically a romantic parable, sticking to that theme throughout. In short, the results are certainly not a Rambo or The Terminator, and thus, not everyone's cup of tea. But the movie (despite the few flaws) certainly works for me, hauntingly, since I first saw it many, many years ago.

Had I not experienced something similar in my life before, I would probably not have "bought it". I tell you right away: The mystery about love is to want to love and want it without parachute or any other protection, want it because it is right, want it and become vulnerable.Some of that is only hinted at in this movie but what is hinted at is so much more than what is present in all these other so called "love" films, which are just about lust and not about how lust can be created through the will to love and that will alone.You see, the lust that is immediately presented to us in life has more in common with other bodily functions than with anything spiritual. That is why rape is possible as well as masochism. I have experienced this difference between immediate lust (not far from rape) and the lust through the will to vulnerable love (as far from rape as anything could be) three times in my life, which would have been only one time had it been up to only me. Once I experienced it consciously, witnessing the whole process, which is the reason why I know of it, and I would like to tell you about it, so that you can enjoy this movie even more.I once was in lust with a woman that I met where I was working some thirty years ago. It came to be that this lust was consumed and I was faced with the prospect of a more lasting relationship or "the big deal for life". At this moment by defenses set in and I could detect ugliness on the woman, that my conquering lust had previously not detected. This mechanism is well known amongst women and that is why mothers tell their daughters "not to give it all" and always hold something back for future negotiations with the conquering lust.Maybe through my inexperience, which assumed the whole scalp where my woman had thought she had only given part, I looked at the scalp and decided it was not good enough to last a lifetime, especially not when I knew that there had been scalp-hunters before me operating on the same scalp. All of this was more or less a subconscious process presenting itself to consciousness in finding ugliness where before blind lust had found the opposite.However, I had experienced something similar before and did not really want it to happen. I wanted love so bad that in my mind I saw myself stand before an abyss, the abyss of love, and, willingly, I let myself fall into that abyss.Nothing happened immediately but a process had begun and after what could not have been more than a week, there had been a dramatic change. Gradually my woman had become increasingly beautiful and after that week or so, she was more beautiful than she had ever been before and more beautiful than any woman could ever be for me. I had fallen in love and the miracle of love had presented itself.How vulnerable I had become, I was soon to find out for my loving vulnerability was interpreted as weakness and "my" woman left me and for months I visited her window at nights, hoping to find her with somebody else, so that I could somehow get here "out of my system". Incidentally another woman appeared on the scene and did the job for me.What I had learned was this: Love at first sight is just lust at first sight. True love can only appear where there is an honest and brave wish for it and only he or she who let themselves fall vulnerable, will ever experience true love. This "falling" can however happen less consciously and far more gradually than it did in my presented "case", so there may be true love even where people think that they have only battered with lust for a long time or, with the words of John Lennon, "life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans".This movie is about this more conscious falling and so it takes less time for the participants to find the miracle of true love.Some may say that my "explanations" are derived from thumb-sucking as far as this movie goes. I do however disagree with that. There is serious intent in this film and not just the presentation of a fantastic idea. In fact, I hold it to be the best and maybe only film about true love that has so far been committed to celluloid.