The Barretts of Wimpole StreetFranklin's first adaptation of Besier's famous play (he would return to it more than 20 years later) is a typically lush MGM production set in 19th-century London. The tyrannical father of the wealthy Barretts (Laughton) has banned members of his family from marrying, but he cannot stop daughter Elizabeth (Shearer) meeting and falling in love with the poet Robert Browning (March). The film drips with prestige, the three actors all having won Oscars in the three years leading up to its making, and they all put in good work here amid the handsome sets.
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