If I Were Free - 1933

RKO - 66 minutes - US release 12.01.1933

Cast: Irene Dunne (Sarah Cazenove), Clive Brook (Gordon Evers), Nils Asther (Tono Cazenove), Henry Stephenson (Hector Stribling), Laura Hope Crews (Dame Evers), Lorraine MacLean (Katherine Evers) and others

Director: Elliot Nugent, Executive Producer: Merian C.Cooper. Screenplay: Dwight Taylor based on the play "Behold We Live" by John Van Druten, Photography: Edward Cronjager

plot summary and review 

photos from the film

"If I Were Free" in story form (Picture Show, July 1934)     

Notes: Irene sings a lullaby in German "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen".

Rewievs:

New York Times, 01.05.1934 "Considering the limited possibilities of her role, Miss Dunne does remarkably well."

Variety, 01.09.1934 "Performances by the cast of four, Irene Dunne, Clive Brook, Nils Asther and Henry Stephenson, who virtually carry it alone, are far superior to the subject. Miss Dunne and Brook, by the capable manner in which they play, hold it together. Less skilled performers would have made "If I Were Free" much less acceptable screen fare."

Newsweek, 01.13.1934 "Grown-up dialogue and situations which are conceivably could occur in real life make this RKO offering a movie out of the ordinary. Irene Dunne and Clive Brook convincingly depict two people unhappily married - not to each other."