Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

HotToastyRag I rented Smilin' Through because it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but I don't really know why it was. Basically, it's an earlier version of 1948's Enchantment, but not nearly as good. In both versions, a young actor plays an old man mourning the loss of his lover from decades earlier. His niece falls in love with a soldier, but others disapprove and threaten the match. But in Enchantment, David Niven is the lead, and in Smilin' Through, Leslie Howard is the lead. As Kevin Kline says in French Kiss, "Tough decision!"I can't stand Norma Shearer, and whenever she's cast as a romantic lead, I spend the entire movie cringing. Everyone in the film plays a dual role, which is actually the most interest part of the movie, so Norma plays the niece and her aunt. Leslie plays the young and old versions of himself, and Fredric March plays a father and his son. In the "modern" timeline, Norma falls in love with Freddie, but Uncle Leslie forbids the match because Fredric's father stood in the way of his own happiness decades ago. As proved by Enchantment, this story could be entertaining, if done properly. Maybe because this was made in 1932, and Hollywood barely had a handle on talking pictures, this version isn't very good. None of the characters are likable, and Norma acts ridiculously spastic in the love scenes with Freddie. If this story interests you, rent Enchantment instead.

ptimmermantoronto Minor spoiler ahead. This is a classic weepy, derived from a play. I am not very fond of Fredric March (who wrecked Anna Karenina) or Norma Shearer (a 30s taste if there ever was one), but will watch anything with Leslie Howard in it (even though he spends most of the movie in old man makeup). It isn't that good of a movie, really, though there are some interesting camera moments here and there. The writing is pretty clunky. The most compelling thing is the startling scene between the two lovers, on the verge of his leaving for the front in World War I, where they actually have a serious conversation about sleeping together before he goes in case he dies, and she is at least as eager as he is -- a symptom of a just barely prior to code film. The film buffers it with vague stuff about going to Dover and getting married overnight, etc., but the real issue is blatantly obvious.

marcslope Sidney Franklin was perhaps MGM's safest director of the '30s, being handed a series of prestige projects and always bringing an unadventurous classiness to them. This one, from a Jane Cowl Broadway war horse, has two sad love stories in different eras, sumptuous photography, and a small, starry cast. Leslie Howard, forced to spend most of the movie behind unflattering I'm-a-70-year-old makeup, lends it dignity, and Norma Shearer and Fredric March deliver a one-two punch of star quality. She was always a little artificial, a little too love-me, but she did have the individuality that spells 1930s movie star. He was usually excellent, and he is here, infusing his noble-soldier persona with a modern immediacy that's the antithesis of her actressy histrionics. Speaking of actressy, I've never been able to tolerate Beryl Mercer, and she's at her most unforgivable here, but at least it's a small part. It's less arthritic and overproduced than the Jeanette MacDonald remake, and if the ending steals from "Viennese Nights" and presages the MacDonald-Eddy "Maytime" right down to the double exposure, it doesn't ruin a still-affecting love story.

Sean Smilin' Through is about a man played by Leslie Howard who must raise his friend's niece because her parents were killed. Howard, who has just lost his wife, reluctantly agrees.He begins to realize, over the years, that the girl he is raising (Norma Shearer) is very similar in looks to his deceased wife. Because of this fact, he has a strong relationship with her.One night, Shearer is off with a friend to an abandoned house. They find that someone else is there. The person who was there (Fredric March) is actually the son of the man who killed Howard's wife. And the abandoned house was where March grew up.Shearer falls for March and when Howard sees this, he becomes jealous. Tensions rise in this excellent "tearjerker." It's only flaw is that it seems to get a bit overlong for what it's trying to tell right at the very end.All of the three leads are amazing and should have been nominated for Oscars. Sadly, the only nomination it did get was Picture, which it should have won.