Her Cardboard Lover (1942) User Reviews

She'll do anything to ward off the object of her affections

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 26 August 2005]

Norma Shearer, in her last film, is a wealthy woman desperate to stay away from her on-again/off-again boyfriend (George Sanders) in "Her Cardboard Lover." To do this, she has Robert Taylor, a songwriter who's crazy about her, work off his gambling debt by pretending to be her boyfriend.

A nice dramatic role would have been better for Shearer's final performance. But like Garbo, she went out with a comedy, and one that bombed at that, also like Garbo. One wonders what MGM was thinking. The dilemma seems to have been finding vehicles for these older stars as the world - and they - were changing.

The film was made in 1942, and though it is a delightful comedy, it really has the look and feel of the '30s to it. There are some wonderful scenes - one where Taylor threatens to jump over a balcony and a dandy fight scene at the end. But in spots, it seems a little tired.

Norma Shearer wears gorgeous clothes and is over-dramatic, which is what the part called for. Robert Taylor does a fine job, and George Sanders was wasted. One of the comments said that Shearer was too old for the role - yet the actors seem properly matched and this writer, anyway, had no idea of Shearer's age. In the end, though, it wasn't a fitting way for her to go out. The role hearkens back to a much earlier time. Perhaps, in the end, that's what she wanted.

Cute and Funny

[gggg-97 · 7/10 · 9 July 2009]

Why does George Sanders always play the cad? I think he's very sexy, and this was the perfect role for him. Too bad Sanders was always cast as the cad/rival. I would like to have seen him as a romantic lead more often. Anyway Sanders and Shearer are delightful and very watchable in this film. They're both extremely talented actors, and the chemistry was believable. Shearer wasn't at her best, and didn't have much of a script to work with, but she proves she's one of the great movie stars - you simply cannot take your eyes off her. However, Taylor stole the show with his brilliant comedic expression and timing. He's a marvelous actor and used those eyebrows to their full potential in "Her Cardboard Lover". This is a very cute romantic romp of a film with some truly funny scenes.

A Mild Farewell

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 11 March 2009]

This innocuous comedy that marked the farewell performance of Norma Shearer on the big screen has quite a history to it. It was a French play by Jacques Deval, adapted for the stage by P.G. Wodehouse among others. It ran for 152 performances in 1927 on Broadway and starred the legendary Jeanne Eagels with Leslie Howard.

It then went to the silent screen the following year with Marion Davies and Nils Asther in the leads and scored a modicum of success there. But the most bizarre adaption was yet to come. In 1932 the story was reworked for Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in the The Passionate Plumber. Irene Purcell is the female lead. Which brings us to the last and least version of this story.

I've a theory that Norma Shearer chose this vehicle to show Marion Davies that she could do one of her roles better. What other explanation could there be for turning down Mrs. Miniver as her farewell picture for this. And would you ever believe that Robert Taylor and Buster Keaton would play the same part on screen?

Shearer and Davies were a pair of feuding stars at MGM while Davies was there. Shearer was married to the boss, Irving Thalberg and Davies had her patron William Randolph Hearst who bought his way on to the lot. It's now conceded that Davies had a real flair for comedy, but that Hearst just could only see her as the heroine of many a drama. Shearer was a great dramatic actress who never quite scored in comedy. I'm betting for her final film she was going to show the retired Davies that she could do it better.

Well she didn't. In fact if any of P.G. Wodehouse's wit survived in this film, I must have dozed off. What emerges is a pleasant innocuous comedy which would have been long forgotten had it not been Norma Shearer's last film. When we first meet Shearer she's trying to fend off the advances of an amorous Taylor who has fallen in love at first sight. But later on she thinks he might be useful in fending off George Sanders's advances. She's trying real hard to dump the cad, but he's one charming rogue. So Norma hires Bob as Her Cardboard Lover to pretend he's the new man in her life. I think you can guess where this is going.

Shearer did not get quite the sendoff from the big screen that she thought she would have gotten, surely not anything like Mrs. Miniver would have been. For Taylor, he's pleasant enough, but if you want to see him and Shearer in much better form look at the 1940 film Escape.

Not as Bad as Legend Has It

[drednm · 19 December 2005]

Norma Shearer plays a woman on the rebound from a bad love affair. She meets a man (Robert Taylor) who has been following her around a casino. He finally gets the nerve to talk to her and blurt out I LOVE YOU. She is, of course, repulsed. By chance he runs into a man (George Sanders) desperate to get a note to a woman. When Taylor hears who it is (Shearer) he offers to pass the note. Silly on a certain level, the the 3 stars are so good you forget the obvious machinations of the script and just watch 3 pros at work.

Sanders still loves Shearer who might love Sanders but Taylor loves Shearer as she is interested. Forget the plot Taylor is a sing writer with Frank McHugh and Shearer is guarded over by maid Elizabeth Patterson. Lots of fun with many funny lines.

For some reason this was a huge bomb when released in 1942 and it ended Norma Shearer's 22-year film career. It's not even a bad movie! She looks great and gives a lively and funny performance. Taylor is also in top form.

Certainly worth a look

Overacted, but not their fault

[luvdlcame · 6/10 · 3 November 2022]

The acting was not bad, but very over acted. But that was what it called for unfortunately. Norma Shearer's character is trying to make her lover jealous by using another man who loves her, so she's got to pretend to both of them.. so she's overly dramatic.. she has a few moments where her acting is natural which is good to see. Robert Taylor's character is a bit over the top at the beginning, but gets more natural later on, although still silly. He should have had his mustache.. but oh well. George Sanders' character is a cad who wants her but wants to other women also also has to pretend more than is natural. I love the 3 main actors and the rest of the cast are great character actors. I just think that the script was too over the top. All of the actors characters could have been reined in a bit and toned down and still kept the right amount of zaney..but, that would be the fault of director George Cukor who most of the time is spot on! I wish Norma Shearer would have chosen differently for her last film.. but it certainly doesn't ruin her great career.

Cukor directs Shearer and Taylor

[jhkp · 6/10 · 9 October 2021]

As others have said, this was Norma Shearer's last film. I have no idea if she intended it to be, at the time, but it was, and she retired. Norma was, I think, 39 in this movie.

Shearer didn't appear in many comedies. The Women (1939), also directed by George Cukor, was fantastic, and a big hit. She was the lead, but her part was more serious, and she wasn't required to do the comedic heavy lifting (that was left mostly to co-star Rosalind Russell and the supporting cast).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Norma didn't particularly have the light touch necessary for this type of sophisticated comedy. It's the sort of thing Claudette Colbert could have done in her sleep - and she would have made it seem better than it actually was.

It's a trifle about a woman hiring a good-looking man (Robert Taylor) as a secretary - but really it's to give the impression of being her lover, in order to make her boyfriend (George Sanders) jealous. Taylor's character already has a crush on her when he's hired.

Shearer is good enough, but the role seems to expose not only some of her acting weaknesses but also some of the qualities that made her a little hard to take as a personality. She was always able to rise to the occasion in difficult material - having triumphed in Romeo And Juliet (1936) (another occasion where she was directed by Cukor), and Strange Interlude (1932), as Eugene O'Neill's complex heroine, Nina Leeds. But as a film personality required to just "play herself" in this piece of fluff, she tends to come off as both strained, and, at times, strange.

Robert Taylor wasn't known for his comedic abilities, either, but the times he was cast in comedies he actually did very well. He's funny, here - but there's not a lot of chemistry between him Miss Shearer. And unfortunately he was almost a decade younger- and looks it. (George Sanders was also younger than Norma by a few years.)

Shearer and Taylor had been paired previously in the drama, Escape. They weren't a totally effective screen couple, but then Taylor seemed do do better opposite actresses who could display more vulnerability - such as Margaret Sullavan, Katharine Hepburn, and maybe especially, Vivien Leigh. (Strangely enough, Shearer's final acting role was in a 1951 radio adaptation of Waterloo Bridge - Taylor's one film with Leigh.)

Finally, director George Cukor is simply off his game, in this one. It didn't happen very often, but it was obvious when it did. Not that the script is up to the level of The Philadelphia Story, Holiday, or anything remotely that good. The story is really extremely light and a little dumb, and probably required some very expert, elegant, comedy stars to make you forget that fact. Which Shearer, Taylor, and Sanders were not, unfortunately.

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times put it on his 10 Worst list for the year, and it was a box office bomb. Norma Shearer turned down Mrs. Miniver to make it - paving the way for Greer Garson to take her place as First Lady of MGM.

Her Cardboard Movie.

[nycritic · 2/10 · 25 August 2005]

Even by 1942 standards of movie-making the setup which HER CARDBOARD LOVER presents was dated to the extreme. The machinations of one half of a pair (of husband/wife, ex-husband/ex-wife) to get the other back at the threat of marriage to another, divorce, or an eventual separation by means of jealousy, humiliation, or other schemes had been done much better in classics such as HIS GIRL Friday and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Both of these movies features women with a strong, indomitable screen presence and who played independent, proto-feminist characters. In both movies, both women were estranged/divorced from their (witty) first husbands and set to marry colorless men who were their exact opposite, and both would be bamboozled into rejecting their soon-to-be husbands and re-igniting their passion for each other.

The plot in HER CARDBOARD LOVER switches the gender: here, it's Norma Shearer in the Cary Grant role out, this time, to ward off an ex-boyfriend (George Sanders) by means of hiring Robert Taylor to pose as her gigolo. The problem is, Shearer is much too old to be playing a role more suited to an actress in her mid-to-late twenties; Sanders is about as involved as a piece of furniture for the most -- any man who would be in love with his fiancée, on seeing a strange man come out of her bathroom as happens here, would knock the lights out of him and cause a huge scene. Not here. And Robert Taylor plays his part as if he were trying to channel Cary Grant half the time, not in speech inflections but in overall essence.

But the worst part of it is Shearer herself. For an actress used to parts which gave her a sense of intellectual sexiness and dramatic presence, playing Consuelo Craydon seems to put her into throes of complete over-acting, over-emoting, and over-gesturing which, while still a part of her style of acting and more appropriate ten years earlier, makes her look like an extremely mannered performer wrenching the joke out of a situation like water from a fairly dry sponge. It only fuels the fires that tell the theory which gives Irving Thalberg the maker of her career and chooser of (most of her) roles; why she passed on roles such as Charlotte Vale and Mrs. Miniver on mega-hits NOW VOYAGER and MRS. MINIVER is a mystery, but then again, most accounts also state that by this time she had just burnt out from acting, that she'd had lost interest in the whole thing altogether and it's no secret that anyone who has experienced this sort of thing has essentially lost focus and can't wait until retirement or the end of a contract is near to leave as soon as possible. Such could be the case here. She seems lost, she seems tired, she seems ill at ease, going through autopilot instead of living the part. After this film she would make no more, but would be responsible of discovering Janet Leigh who would come into her own as a screen star during the late 40s and into the 60s.

Norma and bob.... really.

[mdenison57 · 7/10 · 12 April 2014]

I love it but wait! It doesn't have a real story to tell. Four or five people talking,,, and it makes no sense,, except at the end,,, by then it doesn't matter.

Why didn't someone convince Shearer to play Mrs Minniver,, better,, or both,,, Hall Wallace wanted her for ''now,voyager''. at Warners.

1940 ''Escape'' also with Taylor, the critics love this film. When it was released on VHS/DVD....... viewers appreciated the film.

.....1941 Taylor and Lana Turner in; Johnny Eager''. And Robert Taylor almost always looked good.

.........As Garbo, Crawford, Shearer, Garland, Monroe. Cukor was directing many of these ladies end of carrier, films. I fail to see how he was so helpfull to lady stars.

.....Norma Shearer was wonderful, beautiful here,,, even if her clothes were not particularly flattering. Had Shearer gone on to a film-noir,, but then she was gone. ......................... It is a lovely film,, better the second time. And she seemed to not want to work again.................. But Norma Shearers early silent films as her early Talkie's before the code. Re-discovered... Her beautiful voice......She lived in to the 1980's....... ''escape'' is wonderful, Norma was... oh.. still wonderful.

Norma Shearer Turns off the Charm

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 16 July 2009]

Songwriter Robert Taylor (as Terry) is "dizzy, slap-happy" and can't see straight over otherworldly Norma Shearer (as Consuelo). "She makes the sun shine, even when it's raining," Mr. Taylor explains. But, Mr. Taylor gets a lump in his throat whenever he gets near Ms. Shearer. Finally, at the Palm Beach casino Shearer frequents, Taylor proclaims "I love you!" Shearer brushes him off, as she is engaged to George Sanders (as Tony). However, to settle a gambling debt, Shearer hires Taylor to pose as "Her Cardboard Lover", to make Mr. Sanders jealous.

This film's title invites the obvious and appropriate three-word review: "Her Cardboard Movie". It is most notable as the last film appearance for Shearer, one of the biggest stars in the world from "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924, playing another Consuelo) to "The Women" (1939). To be fair, this was likely the kind of Shearer film MGM believed audiences wanted to see. However, the part is unflattering.

Plucked and powered, Taylor and Shearer were better off in "The Escape" (1940). If Shearer had continued, she might have become a better actress than "leading lady"; apparently, she was no longer interested, and certainly didn't need the money. Taylor has a great scene, reciting Christina Rossetti's "When I am Dead, My Dearest" while threatening to jump from Shearer's balcony, as directed by George Cukor.

**** Her Cardboard Lover (6/42) George Cukor ~ Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, George Sanders

Flagging farce

[MissSimonetta · 6/10 · 11 February 2023]

HER CARDBOARD LOVER was an adaptation of a stage farce that had been brought to the screen twice before MGM dusted it off in 1942. Buster Keaton, who starred in the second of these versions, once scoffed that life was too short for farce comedy-- indeed, this sort of high-speed, high-hysterical plot is not for everyone. Handled with the right actors and the right touch, it can be pulled off.

I'm not sure this film was really pulled it off. Robert Taylor is wonderful, goofy yet earnest in his puppy love, while Norma Shearer's character is so unlikable that I never bought into the budding romance between the two leads. And while farce is frivolous, at the end of the day, one does need to SOMEWHAT care in order for a story to retain interest. Even at 90-something minutes, the movie starts to sag in the middle. Another reviewer claims the movie feels "tired" and I would have to agree.

In the sound age, this film was the kiss of death for the lead actress

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 24 July 2021]

This version was so bad that Norma Shearer retired from the screen. I actually liked the quirky 1931 version with Irene Purcell in the same role, but it had the same effect on her career, and would be the last film in which she ever performed, though she was primarily a stage actress. Only the silent 1928 version with Marion Davies did not destroy the career of the leading lady.

Anyways, back to this version. In it Norma Shearer hires a lovestruck Robert Taylor (sporting a Bela Lugosi Dracula haircut with a point down the middle) to protect her from herself. Norma plays a Palm Beach vacationer hopelessly in love with a womanizer, played by, who else, George Sanders. Shearer hates that she can't control her desires for Sanders. Since Taylor owes her a gambling debt, he can pay it off by being Norma's secretary. His job doesn't involve typing. He's there to keep her away from Sanders, a job he performs too well, practically keeping her hostage in her own room. The chemistry between Shearer and Taylor is okay. But not as charged as her scenes with Sanders. You get the sense the two of them could have a happy open marriage. Shearer excels at playing liberated women (A Free Soul), (Private Lives). Norma wouldn't lose sleep over a philandering husband, as she would have her own trove of lovers. Of course, this is not Pre-Code Hollywood, which was something that worked in the favor of the 1931 version - "The Passionate Plumber".

I give Taylor credit for playing against type. Some of the comedic tropes for keeping Norma and George separated are funny, and some come across as creepy. This film has gorgeous sets, Harry Stradling's rich B&W photography, the elegant atmosphere, and of course Norma Shearer. But still, it just feels like the story is playing out in the wrong era.

Norma Shearer retired after this film. Apparently, during its making, someone said she had "jiggling grandma arms", and that was enough to have her hang it up at age 40. Although she still looked mighty fine to me.

Not Bad, Quite Amusing.

[Pittwater · 8/10 · 8 December 2004]

I don't know what all the fuss is about. Most of the criticism directed at this film is fairly unjust. After reading some reviews, I was hesitant at watching the film, but because it starred Robert Taylor, Norma Shearer and George Sanders, I thought I would give it a shot. I'm glad I did. It didn't make me turn off the TV set or change channels. The acting was excellent and the story was played out quite amusingly by the main cast. I believe the cast held up the film well. I have no problems with Shearer's age. After all, it's just a comedy. Jean Arthur was in her 50s when she was in Shane and 10 years older than Van Heflin too and no one criticized her. See and judge for yourself and never listen to critics. They don't know what they are saying half the time. We all have different tastes.

so-so film for huge stars.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 18 May 2021]

Terry (the dashing Robert Taylor) has been following the beautiful Consuelo (Norma Shearer, HUGE star, and Mrs. Producer Thalberg) for some time, trying to speak with her. Her steady date was Tony (George Sanders), who is not ready to step aside for an interloper. Taylor was about ten years younger than Shearer. When terry can't pay off a gambling debt to her, Consuelo hires him to be her "secretary", although she tells him she is only trying to make her boyfriend jealous. Frank McHugh is in here as Chappie, for some light humor. Character actress Liz Patterson is Eva, Consuelo's maid, who does not like Tony at all. Directed by the amazing George Cukor, who had directed so many big hits. And won the oscar for My Fair Lady. Original story by french playwright Jacques Deval. The US had just been yanked into the war, so of course there's the usual war-time plea for bonds at the end. Taylor died young at 57 from cancer; Sanders would take his own life at 65. Apparently, this was such a flop, that Shearer retired. But one of her very own quotes was Never let them see you after age 35... or you're finished. And she was about forty when she made this. It's not terrible, but there just isn't the magic between Terry and Consuelo that they want us to believe was blooming. And they should have given Chappie more to say... McHugh was hilarious in his other films. And they do a dumb sound effects bit where Terry imitates Tony, and it really sounds like Sanders... and it probably was dubbed by Sanders. The play seems to have been more more successful. There's a funny bit where he comes out dressed in HER pyjamas and slippers, to Tony's shock. The fact that this implication was forbidden under the film code at the time probably added to its problems.

**

[edwagreen · 3/10 · 1 June 2017]

An absolute inane farce. Is it any wonder that Norma Shearer's star power fell rapidly from grace after this 1942 bomb of a film?

Shearer was looking older than ever. Whoever made her hair up in this film made her look even older.

Robert Taylor showed in this film that he exactly was made for the comedy genre. George Sanders, as the boyfriend Shearer is in doubt with, tries hard but he is hampered like the rest of the cast by tedious and rather annoying writing.

The best part of the film was the fight scene between Sanders and Taylor. Otherwise, this film is a complete dud.

Shearer wavers back and forth regarding her feelings for Sanders. Taylor is immediately smitten by her and with those wide-opened eyes, he looked even more ridiculous.

Basically speaking, this is a story about a woman who didn't know what she wanted. The film is as stiff as cardboard.

Amazing spontaneous talent!

[JBThackery · 1 July 2003]

Someone posted the comment that this film is "forgettable" and "triffling." But I saw Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor playing off each other with such spontaneity that I could only admire their talents all the more. Also, compare their rare comedic talents together in this film, along with their deep and tragic mutual acting in "Escape." Such a pair of talent-generating stars!

light-weight rom-com

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 November 2022]

Songwriter Terry Trindale (Robert Taylor) has gambling debts. He's desperately in love with wealthy socialite Consuelo Croyden (Norma Shearer), but she rejects him. She does have a job for him. She has his gambling debts and hires him to be her cardboard lover. She can't trust herself from reuniting with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Tony Barling (George Sanders).

It's another adaptation of a 1928 play. This film is dated even when it was first released. It's a light-weight romantic comedy. Norma Shearer is playing the flighty socialite dialed all the way up to eleven. Trindale should not be in love with her right from the beginning. He should grow to love over time. That would be more compelling.

Artificial!

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 24 May 2018]

Producer J. Walter Ruben. Copyright 26 May 1942 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 16 July 1942. U.S. release: Not recorded. Australian release: 27 January 1944 (sic). 9 reels. 8,360 feet. 93 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Terry Trindale, a young songwriter, loses $3,200 to Consuelo Croyden at baccarat at a fashionable gambling casino at Palm Beach while under the spell of her beauty. He is unable to pay his losses and Consuelo offers to employ him as her bodyguard to keep her from seeing Tony Barling, a suitor with philandering inclinations with whom she is in love. Tony calls at Consuelo's home, but she tells him she is in love with another man, for the sake of making him jealous. Despite all, Consuelo continues to pursue Tony, but Terry, living up to his obligations, forbids it.

NOTES: A re-make of The Passionate Plumber (1932), starring Buster Keaton. That movie itself was a re-make of a 1928 Marion Davies vehicle, The Cardboard Lover, based on Jacques Deval's 1927 stage play, Dans Sa Candeur Naive ("In Her Naive Candor").

Final film appearance of Norma Shearer, who then retired. According to director George Cukor, Norma Shearer herself selected the old Deval play for her farewell screen appearance, having previously turned down the title role of Mrs Miniver (which was then assigned to Greer Garson).

COMMENT: Norma Shearer was not greatly liked in either Great Britain or Australia - except of course by the carriage trade. Only four of her movies were re-issued in Australia during the great M-G-M classics revival of the late 1950s in which the studio ransacked the vaults:

Her Cardboard Lover did little business anywhere on first release, even in situations were Shearer was reasonably popular. Wartime audiences had little time for this sort of dated posturing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing dates so finally and inexorably as a sex comedy. Unfortunately this one was already well and truly rancid even before it was freshened up for 1942.

The players try hard, all the M-G-M gloss and production values are there. The trouble simply is that so far as the characters in the play and their predicaments are concerned, we the audience simply don't care. They have long since passed from any semblance of real life into artificial death.

A cute film...but I also wished Taylor's character had just walked away in the end.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 6 June 2010]

Robert Taylor plays a guy who is a bit goofy. He's infatuated with a stupid lady (Norma Shearer) and seems willing to do about anything to win her. Because both characters are awfully flawed (too flawed, actually) the film does lose a bit of its appeal--though it is still quite enjoyable.

Taylor has a strong case of infatuation. While he has never spoken with her, he keeps coming back to the casino night after night just to see a mysterious lady (Shearer). But he hasn't the courage to do anything more than just be near her. Coincidentally, she is in trouble and looks for the first guy she meets for help--and it just happens to be Taylor. Finally, she notices him and he thinks his prayers have been answered. Why she wants him, however, is because she wants him to pretend to be her lover. That's because she has been in a very sick relationship with an ambivalent man (George Sanders)--a guy who treats her great one moment and ignores or mistreats her the next. Because she apparently is brainless and has no will of her own, she can only resist returning to Sanders IF Taylor stays with her all the time and pretends to love her. Why Taylor would want such a stupid woman is beyond me, but this IS a Hollywood film! This brings me to the major problem with the film. While you might chalk up much of Taylor's actions to youthful infatuation, what about Shearer?! She plays an extremely well-coiffed and well-dressed person with zero self-esteem. I personally felt a lot of disgust by her--particularly when she worked so hard to get Sanders back. I also was disgusted with her requesting that Taylor feel free to hit her in order to keep her away from Sanders!!! Wow, talk about a liberated woman!! She came off like one of the low-lifes on "The Jerry Springer Show" who was willing to fight for her degenerate boyfriend and as a result, I lost a lot of interest in her and wanted Taylor to find someone so much more worthy of his childish devotion. Taylor was a bit annoying--Shearer was contemptible.

If you are somehow able to look past the annoying qualities of the characters and ignore the regressive female role model, perhaps you will like the film. After all, the acting and gloss are pure MGM--high quality and top-notch all the way. And, in a way, it's all fun and enjoyable. As for me, however, this is not a romantic comedy I want to see again and it's sad that Miss Shearer's career ended with such a mediocre (at best) film.

By the way, this film is in some ways quite evil with its messages. Not only is Shearer a bad person and Taylor very pathetic as well, but the film gives credence to such ideas as a woman says NO when she she really means YES, it's okay to smack a woman around and if a man cheats on you that you should accept this! I would be horrified if either of my daughters internalized any of these vile ideas.

Three dud leads with a dud screenplay for a dud plot spell disaster

[SimonJack · 4/10 · 19 January 2021]

After watching "Her Cardboard Lover" on DVD, I had to check its history to see if it seemed as bad to others as it did to me. Sure enough, this film was considered a real turkey. It bombed at the box office and was a big loss for MGM in 1942. And, Turner Classic Movies reported that the leading male, Robert Taylor, thought it was one of the 10 worst films of the year.

Most movie buffs over time tend to have an array of actors they particularly like or enjoy to watch. And that usually involves a sort of expectation that one will enjoy the next film one will watch that has that actor in a prominent role. But with many more years and films under one's belt, so to speak, one learns not to expect sterling performances, superb screenplays, and great stories all the time. Time shows that no favorite actor or actress is perfect or always laudable in every role. Sometimes the actors are good or seem to do their best with material that is not so good. Screenplays can be weak or poorly written. Some stories just don't seem to work on film. Any number of other things might affect the product and one's takeaway from the film and the actors' performances.

So, rather than expecting a very good film and role or two in a movie one is about to watch, an avid movie buff just hopes for an enjoyable film and good performances. Thus it was with me as I placed the DVD in my player to watch "Her Cardboard Lover." I had seen many films in which the leads and supporting actors had appeared. I've enjoyed all of these performers over the years - Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, George Sanders, Frank McHugh, Elizabeth Patterson and Chill Wills.

But, boy, did this film turn out to be a stinker for all of them, with the possible exceptions of McHugh and Patterson. They each gave performances typical of their supporting role personas. But the rest, especially the three leads, were very bad. And, their bad roles/acting got worse the higher the role and actor. Thus, George Sanders seemed weak and confused in his changing character as Tony Barling. Robert Taylor was rather witless and aimless, almost as window dressing, as Terry Trindale. And Norma Shearer was such a mixed-up jumble of highs and lows, calm and frantic, and extreme over-acting, as Consuelo Croyden.

This film was supposedly based on a play by P.G. Wodehouse, whose comedy I've enjoyed in a number of other films. But, his stories can be hit and miss, depending on the writers for film adaptations. The play had moderate success on Broadway with two prominent actors - Leslie Howard and Jeanne Eagels. After that it had a couple of renditions made into films, and when this version was made, it's doubtful much of the Wodehouse comedy remained. The plot doesn't work well on film and the screenplay is very poor. And, then the performances further the demise of this film. It clearly suffered from poor interpretation of the roles by the cast and by horrible over-acting by Shearer to the point that she becomes annoying about midway in the film. And one wonders where the director, George Cukor was during all of this - or how much of a hand he had in making it lousy rather than good

This is probably one of the most scathing reviews I've written on a movie. It's due to the cast of three very good and big-name actors who made some tremendous films in their respective careers. Then, to have them all contribute to such a mess as this film - well, it's almost too much for any die-hard movie buff and fan of all this cast to endure and just go away quietly.

Maybe the four stars I give this film are too many, but I probably weakened some with Taylor's smiles and with the hope that the right romance or love would win out at the end. Well, it's written that way, but not the least bit believable as Shearer plays it. And, while the court scene at the end is poor by comparison to such scenes in at least a dozen other real comedies, it is better than a 3-star scenario.

Here's the best of the dialog that supposed to be funny in this film. Consuelo Croyden, "Good heavens, are you still here?" Terry Trindale, "Yes - unless we both went somewhere."

Robert Taylor chases Norma Shearer, who loves George Sanders, is she nuts or what!

[mamalv · 9/10 · 4 April 2005]

What a delight! Robert Taylor is hired by Norma Shearer to be her Cardboard Lover to make her real love, George Sanders jealous. Taylor has been in love with Shearer but has never even spoken to her, too afraid to be rejected. When he finally speaks, he says "I love you" which makes Shearer think he is crazy. Later in the casino he loses $3000 dollars of which he has none, and he is employed by her to work off the debt. George Sanders is a cad but she is in love, and tells Taylor he is never to leave her alone, so that she can rid her mind of Sanders. Every time she tries to get to Sanders, he is there, in the hall, in the bedroom, on the balcony, eating a banana outside the door, totally insane. In one scene when Sanders comes to her bedroom to tell her they can be together if she accepts him as is, Taylor comes out of the bathroom in her pajamas with fluffy slippers and all, and hops into her bed, sending Sanders into a rage. Very, very funny indeed. They argue, he has a fist fight with Sanders, they wind up in jail, but in the end she realizes that it was Taylor all along that she loves, and all ends well. This film comes on the heels of "Johnny Eager" in which Taylor had the best of all roles as the sociopath gangster. Talk about versatility, they should never have sold this great actor short. He could play comedy or drama just as well. The teaming of Shearer and Taylor was their second, coming after "Escape" a pre war drama about Nazi Germany. They are great together, and it is a shame that this film was Shearers last film.

Shearer's Swan Song

[Filmbuff306 · 2/10 · 10 August 2020]

Even with George Cukor as director, this comedy is lame. The script is boring with predictable slapstick. Without her usual lighting to mask her crossed eyes, and the gorgeous Adrian costumes, Shearer is not glamorous. George Sanders' talents are wasted with his one-dimensional character. Taylor knocks himself out to be funny, but isn't. What a shame this was Shearer's last movie compared to her many earlier triumphs.

Norma Shearer

[LolaJean · 25 March 2005]

Firstly, I cannot believe that Norma Shearer is 40 in this film. She looks absolutely incredible and doesn't look a day over 30! Besides being beautiful, Norma Shearer was fantastic in this film! She was brilliantly funny and sophisticated. I once read that Norma Shearer couldn't act (I don't recall who this person is who claimed that), but this person is wrong. Norma can act, and it was definitely proved in this film. Luck was on Norma's side because she ended her acting career with this amusing film.

And Robert Taylor -- what a gag! I love his acting and he's just so adorable! He was fabulous in this film! I won't give anything away, but the definite high point in the film (as well as Robert Taylor's funniest scene) happens in the middle of the movie and deals with a 'sleepy' Taylor...

With such a little -- but talented cast -- this movie is fantastically funny and has hilarious moments and wonderful acting. I cannot rave enough about Norma & Taylor -- just see the film yourself!!

turrible, just turrible

[SamPamBam · 1/10 · 11 August 2020]

Ten minutes into this i wanted out. robert taylor at this point in his career was a turrible actor...and you can pretty much lay that at the feet of the director who cared more about whether there were flowers in the shot than the actual acting. Miss shearer had unfortunately lost her looks, and its just embarassing to see her pretending to be some raving beauty men fall in love with after one glance. Robert Taylor's makeup looks like it was plastered on his face and hair. but the idiotic dialogue...ok if you ant say anything nice, have another beer

The movie that ended Norma Shearer's career

[Matt-293 · 3/10 · 22 August 1999]

In this forgettable trifle, the 40-ish Norma Shearer plays a fluttery, girlish socialite in Monte Carlo, caught in a tussle between George Sanders and Robert Taylor. It would be tempting to blame this movie's failure on the dull, talky script, or director George Cukor, who never seems interested in livening up the film's generally comatose state. Mostly, though, it's the fault of Shearer herself, who desperately wanted to keep playing "young" parts as long as she could get away with it. Inadvertently, this makes "Her Cardboard Lover" a bizarre monument to an aging woman's vanity.

Last Movie for Norma Shearer

[smithy-8 · 1/10 · 3 December 2003]

"Her Cardboard Lover" is Norma Shearer's last movie. She quit the movies and, I think, joined the Board of Directors at MGM. That was a good move on her part. "Her Cardboard Lover" was talky and boring in parts. It was obvious there were only a handful of actors with speaking parts so they had a lot of dialogue to speak to keep this turkey afloat.

The story was a good idea about a wealthy woman (Norma Shearer) hiring a man (Robert Taylor) to make her playboy fiancee (George Sanders)jealous. I am surprised that the director, George Cukor, did not cut many of the talky scenes between Ms. Shearer and Mr. Taylor. Mr. Cukor served Ms. Shearer well in "The Women" but not in this movie.

The best performance in the movie was given by Robert Taylor. During Mr. Taylor's career, he was given his best comedy roles in this movie and "When Ladies Meet" in 1941. In 1942, he gave his best comedy performance in "Her Cardboard Lover" and, up to then, his best dramatic performance in "Johnny Eager." He had a busy year. I think of all the actors at MGM, Mr. Taylor worked with all the major and minor actresses on the lot. Also, MGM gave Mr. Taylor all types of movies to make - most of them were successful. That is why MGM kept him for 25 years.

Mr. George Sanders was very good as a socialite heel. He played a similar role eight years later in "All About Eve" for which he won an Oscar for a supporting role. As for Ms. Shearer, this was one of her worst performances, she was not funny and too dramatic for this comedy. It is strange that she made a great comedy in 1939, "The Women", and gave her best performance. It was obvious that she was too old looking for her younger leading men in "Her Cardboard Lover." Also, it didn't help that some of her clothes were awful.

Too bad she and Mr. Taylor did not make another dramatic movie like their last movie together, the superb "Escape". The same comments about this movie can be said of another movie, "Personal Property" that Mr. Taylor made in 1937 with Jean Harlow. It was too talky, boring, and the actress looked old. Ms. Harlow looked ill throughout the movie and nobody in Hollywood noticed to tell her to see a doctor, so in 1937, she died at age 26. What a waste! She was becoming a good actress and getting better roles.