All plays by Philip Barry are intelligent plays. But when The Animal Kingdom was filmed, movies had not learned yet how to move while filming plays. The result is a very slow movie, which we listen to but do not compels us to look at. Edward H.Griffith was that kind of director, but the films he made for MGM immediately after this were much better. Specially No More Ladies had a pleasant rhytm and camera movements, which we do not find in the interminable conversations of this picture. But Griffith was an excellent director of actors and his work with Ann Harding, Leslie Howard, Myrna Loy and William Gargan proves it. It is very amusing to watch Henry Stephenson really acting under Griffith and not being just himself as usual.
Review of The Animal Kingdom
