Come Live with Me

1941 "How To Woo An Unkissed Bride!"
7| 1h26m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 31 January 1941 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Seeking US citizenship, a Viennese refugee arranges a marriage of convenience with a struggling writer.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
utgard14 Austrian refugee (Hedy Lamarr) asks a penniless writer (James Stewart) to marry her so she won't be deported. Needing money badly, he agrees. Soon he finds himself in love with her (who can blame him?) and wants the marriage to be real. The problem is she's already in a relationship -- with a married man (Ian Hunter).This was a pleasant surprise. A sweet, likable romantic movie. This would be called a chick flick today. What's perhaps most surprising about it is that it's pretty non-judgmental for a movie made under the Hays Code involving things like skirting immigration laws and committing adultery. It's all handled with tact and understanding. The only 'bad' character in the movie is Ian Hunter's and even he's played mostly for laughs. Jimmy and Hedy do a fantastic job and have a real, believable chemistry. Adeline de Walt Reynolds steals the show as Jimmy's dear old grandmother. A lovely, heart-warming type of film that will surely leave a smile on your face.
lastliberal There is a great exchange in this movie that shows it comes from the forties:Barton Kendrick: Well where should we go? Johnny Jones: Oh I don't care. Just so there are people and music and we can be gay. Oh, how it would be nice to go to such a place in a time when we could all be gay. But, things didn't work out as La migra comes knocking on the door and wants to throw poor Johnny (Hedy Lamarr) out of the country because her Visa expires. Are they crazy?So, what to do. She and Barton (Ian Hunter) are in love, and he wants to leave his wife for her. The immigration officer feels sorry for her (Call Lou Dobbs!) and gives her a week to find an American husband.Enter Jimmy Stewart, a failed writer that is literally down to his last dime. She finances his novel and they get married, but Stewart is not happy to leave it that way, so he plans a trip home to Granny's house to make a final pitch.It was a little silly at times. The wronged wife was even willing to let her man go if Hedy really loved him. But, it was sweet and romantic and funny, too.
howardmorley I loved every frame of this 1941 light romantic comedy when Hedy Lamarr is paired with Jimmy Stewart.It has been said so many times before but Hedy had such beauty both in body and spirit that it is almost worth seeing a film with her in it just to gape in awe at her.I am gradually building up my collection of Hedy's films which include Exctacy (1933), Algiers (1938), Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945) and Dishonored Lady (1947).We must not forget that she also had intelligence and invented in 1942, at the height of her Hollywood career, a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was two decades ahead of its time which with a colleague, she patented.In this film Hedy has overstayed her visitor's visa and the immigration officials are on to her.This is unfortunate for her in war time as she would have to return to her native Vienna.Of course as the good natured immigration official suggests, if she could find a husband within the week he decides to turn a blind eye, she could stay in America.Cue Jimmy Stuart failed writer who has the rejection slips and pawn tickets piling up in his flat.Can he meet this week's rent?Hedy has an idea.She requests he writes down his weekly expenditure and she will pay him regular amounts based on this budget in consideration of a civil marriage of convenience, thus avoiding deportation.Jimmy Stewart will regard as an accumulating loan until such time as his novel is sold to the publisher's and he will have enough money to pay off the debt.The coincidence is that his publisher (Ian Hunter) is simultaneously having an affair with Hedy.She only visits him at his flat to pay him his regular instalment, so despite being husband and wife, at least in the eyes of the law, they never really have got to know one another.As time goes by Jimmy is starting to care for Hedy and he invites her to visit his grandmother in the country where passions deepen.Hedy is still unsure at this stage and uses a ruse to phone her married sugar daddy Ian Hunter giving him directions where she is.It is night and Hedy and Jimmy both must go to their respective bedrooms but Jimmy keeps making excuses to stay in her bedroom before reluctantly leaving.Their bedrooms have a partial wall over which light can be seen so they can converse with one another when both in their beds.The Grandmother has a hobby of embroidering sayings all around her home some of which humorously fit the action on the screen.When Ian Hunter arrives at the address to fetch his mistress, guess who Hedy selects? What I find fascinating about Hedy in her film roles (apart from her obvious physical beauty) is her genuine Viennese accent, her honesty, integrity, and intelligence and she is every inch the lady.In 2013 I wrote a general amendment to this and other user comments which also applies to those actresses whose films I have already commented on IMDb.com in recent years.My love goddess/film actresses are Margaret Lockwood, Jennifer Jones, Vivien Leigh, Hedy Lamarr & Ava Gardner.Perhaps you will notice they were all dark brunette 1940s (& 50s) stars.It occurred to me that there should be one defining film which perfectly encapsulates for me their intrinsic personality, talent glamour & intellect.These are my choices after years of deliberation: Margaret Lockwood - "The Wicked Lady" (1945), Jennifer Jones - "Portrait Of Jennie" (1948), Vivien Leigh - "That Hamilton Woman" (1941, Hedy Lamarr - H.M.Pulman esq (1945, Ava Gardner "One Touch of Venus" (1948).
bkoganbing Hedy Lamarr is a foreign born showgirl and kept mistress of publisher Ian Hunter. Immigration has gotten on her case and before Hunter can get his influence peddling machine in gear, Hedy's having some anxious moments.But as Hollywood fate must have it she meets up with aspiring writer James Stewart and they agree to a marriage of convenience to keep her in the country. And to seal the bargain Lamarr actually agrees to pay Stewart a "salary" so that romance won't creep into things.Well wouldn't you know it, Stewart writes about the arrangement in a prospective new novel that he takes to publisher Hunter. The rest of this film is rather obvious.What I find curious about this film is that the plot I described could easily be the basis for some sophisticated screwball comedy or a tender romance, given the writers, director, and players. But the combination in Come Live With Me opted for the tender romance. Stewart and Lamarr are just fine in their roles as is Hunter. MGM and director Clarence Brown gave them a nice supporting cast. Please note the performances of Verree Teasdale as Hunter's wife, Adeline DeWalt Reynolds as Stewart's grandmother and the whimsical Donald Meek, just being Donald Meek in a Donald Meek part.The title Come Live With Me is the first line of a Christopher Marlowe sonnet, a romantic piece that fits the tone of the whole film. But it does end on a Shakespearean note.