So Goes My Love

Plot synopsis:
Farmer's daughter Jane Budden (Myrna Loy) sells her entire pig herd and moves to Brooklyn to find a husband. On the way to the home of her cousin, Garnet Allison (Molly Lamont), Jane runs into Hiram Maxim (Don Ameche), an eccentric inventor who is her cousin's neighbor. Jane scandalizes local society by saying she will not marry for love; she merely wants a rich husband who can give her the life of ease and culture she has long dreamed of.
Amused by Jane's announcement, Hiram visits Jane and tells her she can forget about marrying him. Jane is attracted to Hiram, but angered at his effrontery. She is amused when one of Hiram's inventions turns out badly and Hiram is publicly humiliated. Jane goes to a dance, where Hiram makes negative comments on each of her suitors, especially rich real estate developer and attorney Josephus Ford (Richard Gaines). Jane agrees to marry Josephus. Hiram gate crashes Jane's engagement party, where Jane is dismayed to learn that Josephus wants her to sign a prenuptial agreement and believes Jane should be frugal, silent, and matronly. When Jane learns that Josephus has just invested in a pork-packing plant, she breaks her engagement, rushes to Hiram's home, and proposes to him herself.
Hiram and Jane marry. Even though Hiram's inventions are only marginally profitable, the couple is happy. Jane gives birth to a son, Percy (Bobby Driscoll), whom Hiram raises in an unusual, freestyle manner to encourage his creativity and confidence. With Jane's constant encouragement, Hiram finally begins inventing things which meet practical needs and bring in a sizable income. A local organization decides to honor Hiram for his inventions by asking him to sit for a portrait. Hiram refuses. Jane, pregnant with a second child, hires the eccentric artist Magel (Rhys Williams) to paint the portrait anyway. Shortly thereafter, Percy, tries to be amusing by adorning his dog Skipper with a baby bonnet, which Jane had received as a gift for the expected new arrival. When Percy and his mother chase the dog to retrieve the bonnet, Jane moves a piece of furniture and jeopardizes her pregnancy. Her physician fears she may lose the baby and her life, and Percy feels extremely guilty, thinking he has caused his mother to nearly die. Jane does recover and gives birth to a healthy son. An ecstatic Hiram has the entire family sit for Magel and a portrait.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Really a biopic, not a comedy..
Based on Hiram Percy Maxim's memoir, 'A Genius in the Family,' this film attempts, rather poorly, to explore the comedic aspects of Maxim's relationship to his father, Hiram Steven Maxim.
Taken by itself, it's a rather superficial film about the man who revolutionized the machine gun, by inventing the version that operates on the power of the bullets' expelled gases.
Maxim's accomplishments are hardly mentioned, instead depending on the fictionalized relationships between his wife and son.
The younger Maxim, by the way, founded the American Radio Relay League, the national organization of radio hams.
While he he is famous to that particular fraternity, he is virtually unknown elsewhere, and even his father's fame is now largely forgotten..
What Was Universal Thinking....
...in giving the 'Green Light' to this picture.
As a mid-19th Century Family Comedy it succeeds in those respects.
It Stars Don Ameche (Hiram Maxim) and Myrna Loy (Jane Budden), his 1st Wife, making a attractive and winning couple.
The film is a polished piece, backed by a fine musical score by Hans J.
Who showed he could do more then just provide background music for the Universal stable of Monsters.Basically 'Maxim' is shown as a 'absent minded professor' who with the push from his Wife becomes a successful Inventor.
Though what he invented is barely touched upon.
Other then some minor domestic issues the film comes across as a discount LIFE WITH FATHER (1947).
Pleasing to watch (one time) and that is about it.The 'real' MAXIM was the inventor of many useful tools, his most noted one, the MAXIM MACHINE GUN.
How did he come up with this?
A friend suggested to make a real financial killing that he "...invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each others throats with greater facility".
In this he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams making a fortune, gaining a Knighthood and fulfilling his friends foresight as WWI would show.A pity the movie did not cover the latter part of his life.
The Machine Gun, Amusement Rides, a 2nd Wife and charges of Bigamy would have made a more fascinating film..
Obscure domestic comedy that deserves to be much better known.
As a longtime classic film buff, it's great to come across a worthwhile film from Hollywood's golden age that I've never knew existed, yet alone have seen.
Doubly nice to find that Don Ameche made a few films in the years immediately following his departure from Fox; I think there was no better light comedian in movies.This one is an expensively mounted romantic comedy-family comedy, shown in a beautiful new print on TCM.
It's very much in the idiom of "Life With Father" (Myrna Loy was NOT in that one, despite what another reviewer said here) and Lubitsch's "Heaven Can Wait".
Ameche and Loy do a masterful job with their light comedy roles, so much so that I could almost ignore that they were too old for the parts they were playing.
Loy easily manged to be sexy, charming and beautiful, despite the handicap of overly heavy make up used for the entire film (obviously to hide that she was probably around 40 at the time)..
Loy and Ameche at the top of their game in humorous biopic.
Ameche and Loy are playing roles not unlike more brilliant performances in more brilliant movies during the 1940's.
That doesn't make So Goes My Love any less enjoyable despite the unnecessarily esoteric title.
A more appropriate title would have been The Unconventional Hiram Maxim - a British-born inventor who lived in Brooklyn and, according to this movie, was fond of eschewing dignity.
Loy is as successful here in engaging her co-star in remarkable chemistry and holding her own on the comic front (her smoking of a cigar is hilarious) as she was to be in her upcoming masterpieces Life with Father and Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House.
Ameche, fresh off Heaven Can Wait - one of my personal all-time favorites - and having perfected the inventor biopic in his essay of Alexander Graham Bell, is ideally cast as Maxim and has excellent chemistry with Loy. Add in highly competent support by Bobby Driscoll as Loy and Rhys WIlliams as an equally eccentric portrait painter and you have a highly amusing if episodic 80 minutes of entertainment..
Thoroughly enjoyable film!.
Since I'm partial to almost any Myrna Loy film, I recorded "So Goes My Love" with the intention that I might watch the first 10 minutes and then hit delete.
However, to my delight, this quirky comedy based on the early married life of Hiram Maxim (Don Ameche) turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable.Loy and Ameche made a wonderful screen pair.
Always elegantly coiffed and dressed, they are a very attractive couple with perfect chemistry.
They both play the "straight man" which makes the humor very subtle and underplayed.
It is the opposite of the screwball comedies that I so dearly love.
Its quirkiness makes most every scene tongue in cheek funny more so than laugh out loud funny and it works well.
I particularly enjoyed the casting of the extremely talented Loy and Ameche as well as a young Bobby Driscoll who plays their son, Percy, with such a natural talent that even he could underplay the humor appropriately.The movie is actually based on the 1936 book by Percy called "A Genius in the Family." The book was a series of family anecdotes that Percy recounted from his early life.
The plot is actually the tying of each anecdote together to make a precious story.
There is little focus on what Hiram was inventing as that was not the point of the film since it is really more of a family film.
Further reading (which I easily found on the Internet) is necessary if you really want to learn more of the actual Maxim family history.
Meanwhile, if you want to relax and enjoy a cute film that was probably laced with lots of Hollywood glamour and fiction, then I recommend this enjoyable gem..
Light comedy romance that had possibilities.
"So Goes My Love" is a film that one wishes had been better than it is.
It's a fictional biopic about Hiram S.
Maxim who invented a machine gun, curling iron and other things.
The film is based on a story by his son, Hiram Percy Maxim, who was himself a prolific inventor.
Maxim's inventions get little attention in this film.
Instead, it's more about his personal life, meeting his first wife, and their family.
It's supposed to be a comedy, drama and biopic.However humorless Hiram senior may have been, Hollywood surely could infuse enough energy and humor into his character to make the story more interesting.
With Myrna Loy and Don Ameche in the leads, and a good idea for a plot, this film had potential.
But, unfortunately, it turns out to be slow and just so-so for entertaining.
I think the fault lies in a weak script, poor direction, and a lame acting job by Don Ameche.
Some pep shots of humor in the script would have put life into the screenplay.
And, a pep pill for breakfast each day of shooting for Ameche might have brought his character to life.
I understand that his Hiram Maxim is supposed to be a deadpan character.
But that doesn't mean that he has to move about as though he were a robot with a recorder playing his lines.
He underplays the part so much that it stretches the credibility of the audience to think that Loy's character could see anything in the man.
Ameche could act and could do comedy very well.
He was absolutely hilarious at Tibor Czerny, a deadpan role opposite Claudette Colbert in "Midnight" of 1939.
One can imagine Fred MacMurray in the part of Maxim.
He was among the best – if not the number one leading man in deadpan comedy.
And, he played a number of roles as a tinkerer.
The only thing that earns this film my six stars is Myrna Loy's Jane Budden Maxim.
Her knowing glances, looks of polite shock and other expressions are priceless.
These are the things that made her a perfect film companion in so many wonderful comedies with William Powell.
The camera catches them here, but unfortunately, the rest of the film is quite flat.
It's too bad some of Jane's energy and enthusiasm didn't wear off on Ameche's Hiram..
Country goldigger moves to Brroklyn to snare a rich husband but ends up marrying eccentric inventor instead..
Not much of a plot after the marriage, more of a series of barely connected events in their home life.
Much of the events centre around their son, Percy.
They should have styled Loy's hair this way more often.
She looks absolutely beautiful, as do her gowns.
Don Ameche was no slouch in the looks department either.
There is quite a bit of humour throughout the movie which holds up very well decades later.
I laughed out loud at the rice throwing comment.
Also the pull back while a jilted fiancé is giving a break -up speech.
Contemporary humour in a movie set in the 19th century is rare.
I actually wish they had made it a little longer as I really enjoyed watching Loy and Ameche together..
based on a true story.
This subtle comedy, "So Goes My Love" from 1946 is based on a book by Hiram Percy Maxim, who is a character in the film, about his family.Jane Budden (Myrna Loy) comes to the city from a farm life in order to find and marry a rich man.
It doesn't quite work out that way.
She marries her cousin's neighbor, Herman Maxim (Don Ameche), who is an inventor - of what, we don't know.Jane is determined that Herman find success, and in fact, with her encouragement, he does.
They also have a family.That's really all there is to it, but the humor in the film is delightful from the cast, including Bobby Driscoll as Percy.
Myrna Loy and Don Ameche both approach their roles seriously, which makes the humor even better.This is a film Ameche made after his career with 20th Century Fox; Loy at the time was 41, an advanced age for a woman to play a leading lady who wasn't in a character role in those days.Lovely film that will leave you with a smile on your face.
Bobby Driscoll is a sad reminder that Hollywood can chew you up and spit you out.
After all his success as a child actor, his body was found in an alley and he was buried as a homeless person.
The real Hiram Percy Maxim fared better..
Enjoyable but nothing special.
Jane Budden (Myrna Loy) has decided to leave her farm and move to the big city in order to find a husband.
Unlike some women, Jane is very open about wanting a successful husband and why she ends up marrying the far from successful Hiram Maxim (Dno Ameche) is perplexing.
However, over time, this crackpot inventor actually turns out to be very successful.
This film is about their life together and the family.
Interestingly, unlike many other films of the era, this one is relatively uneventful--more a slice of life film instead of one with any great events or crazy happenings.
Instead, it's just a nice little showcase for two actors away from their home studios (Loy with MGM and Ameche with 20th Century Fox) and doing a film for Universal.
Nothing great, nothing bad about this one...just a nice story and nice acting..
good for passing time without thinking.
There isn't much of a plot, this film just recounts the trials and tribulations of a gold-digging women who falls for a unusual inventor (who isn't that rich) - but they get married anyway.
This isn't a bad film, it just isn't anything spectacular, sometimes it does feel like it isn't going anywhere.
That is probably because it isn't actually going anywhere...not that it doesn't make it enjoyable.
Maybe it was funny in 1946 - it certainly isn't funny now - but if it's being repeated on television it is good to pass a few hours immersing yourself in this tale.
Like many films of this time, it is probably just worth watching it for the interesting old sets..
Myrna Loy Comes Off the Farm.
Myrna Loy and Don Ameche star in this excellent comedy/drama based on stories about real-life inventor Hiram Maxim's life.
Episodic storyline has Loy leaving her rural pig farm and heading to the city to marry a rich man.
Instead she meets and marries a poor would-be inventor and raises a family.Loy looks great and is excellent as Jane.
She gives a warm and funny performance.
Ameche is also good as Maxim, the slightly off-center inventor who marches to his own drummer.
His inventions are mentioned in passing but show that he becomes a famous and wealthy man.
The real story of Maxim and his legal problems with women and many failed inventions is not told.Bobby Driscoll gives a solid performance as son Percy (who would eventually write the stories the film is based on), a boy definitely in the mold of his father.
Others in the cast are Molly Lamont as the cousin, Richard Gaines as blowhard Josephus, Rhys Williams as the artist, Sara Padden and Renie Riano as maids, and Howard Freeman as the committee chairman.Excellent period production sets and costumes and two star performances make this one a unknown gem worth looking for..
Odd but pleasing period piece about a real inventor.
This is an odd film.
It's a biopic of a real inventor, though in the film we learn nothing about his inventions.
Instead, we learn about his family life.
There's almost no real plot.
Just a series of portraits of three lives -- Hiram Maxim (very nicely portrayed by Don Amece), his wife (Myrna Loy, who also is wonderful here), and their son (the tragic Bobby Driscoll).
I wish I could tell you what the plot was...but I can't.
It's just a very charming, nicely acted, somewhat lavishly set period piece.
There is a bit more humor than would be realistic, but the movie is more about relationships.I guess what makes this film so appealing is the acting.
I always felt that Don Ameche had a very strong and likable screen personality, and that is very evident here.
The same can be said of Myrna Loy.I feel at a loss to describe why you should watch this film...yet I recommend you watch it..
Marrying purely for money is nuts, as are the lovers who marry for love, not money..
In the mid-late 1800's, a young lady from a farm near Boston decides to move far away and get as far away from pigs as possible.
A city named Brooklyn.
To find a rich man, hopefully fall in love with him, and marry him.
Your destiny is to end up with somebody as nutty as you are and live a very unconventional life.She's Myrna Loy. He's Don Ameche.
He rushes off the buggy to throw rise at some newlyweds he's never met before.
Ironically, she is going to the same street he is, and he graciously offers to carry his bag.
Also ironically, he happens to live right next door to her cousin, and she interrupts his cousin's wife's tea party where she explains her reasons for moving to the very exclusive Brooklyn neighborhood.
Ameche's landlady (Clara Blandick) rushes back and warns him about the social-climbing Loy, so what does Ameche do?
He pays a visit on Loy and tells her that if she intends to go after somebody just because they are rich, then he is not her man.
Tossing the bouquet of flowers he brought her.Between wearing a curly wig he's just styled with his new invention (the curling iron) on the balcony for Loy to spot then practically setting Blandick's house on fire with the smoking invention, it is only a matter of time before Ameche and Loy fall in love.
She becomes engaged to the prominent Richard Gaines only to find out that he intends to become a hog farmer.
Watch as Loy rushes out to reveal her true feelings to Ameche then Gaines' confrontation of the two whom he finds kissing.
Period comedy has never been as funny or irreverent, but when you've got comic legends like Ameche and Loy paired together for the only time, what else can you expect?
Their marriage is an unconventional one too with an equally unconventional young son (Bobby Driscoll) who is due for a date with the switch when he plants a yarn ball with protruding knitting needles on a visitor's chair.
Ameche and Driscoll pick out switches from the tree outside and Ameche strikes fear into the loving mother Loy as he sets to teach Driscoll a lesson which he'll never forget.
Punishment with a true moral lesson which goes against "Spare the rod.
Spoil the child" and will have you both laughing and possibly crying at the same time.Then there's the presence of eccentric artist Rhys Williams who is interrupted by every possible interruption as he prepares to paint the portrait of the annoyed Ameche.
Pickle-pussed maid Renie Riano offers her two cents, then Driscoll comes in, and finally the family pooch.
Poor Williams is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
This documents the episodic nature of the structure of this film, somewhat plot less, but never boring.
Each segment provides a lesson as well as laughs, sort of a variation of "Life With Father" as told from the point of view of the couple as newly married.
The film's last few minutes take more of a serious turn, but that too has a twist.
This is totally enjoyable on every level, a nice obscure comedy about a real life inventor that doesn't profess to be anything close to accuracy, but as fiction, it is a ton of fun.