Today We Live

What a cast!!! Robert Young never disappoints. What an ending.

It's a great movie.

Awesome movie...one of the only WWI movies that I found worthwhile......

i really loved the story line.joan was great

Good

I am reviewing the product here, not the wisdom of paying the price posted for it. This film is a Warner Archive product made on demand on DVD-R consisting of the finest material Warner Brothers currently has in its vault, but with no restoration done especially for this release. There are no scene selections - you can only go forwards and backwards in ten minute intervals. You can buy this product directly from Warner Brothers for just under twenty dollars, or you can buy it in a bundle with five other Gary Cooper films for a greatly reduced price. The case in which this and all Warner Archive products are shipped is quite sturdy. The artwork is nothing to write home about, but neither is it amateurish looking. Now for the details of the film itself.This film could have been great with some adequate dialogue and character development. For some reason the makers of this film seemed to believe that because three of the main characters were supposed to be British that it was necessary that they speak in incomplete sentences, usually missing pronouns, and that they speak as though tranquilized. They all still sound American, they're just having half of every conversation.Bogard (Gary Cooper) is an American aviator who takes over a British estate during World War I before the Americans enter the fray because the current residents can no longer afford it since the father is in the military at the time. The daughter, Diana (Joan Crawford) moves into one of the servant's quarters and her brother Ronnie (Franchot Tone) and their lifetime friend Claude (Robert Young) join up with the British forces and ship out to France. The development of the romance between Bogard and Diana consists (onscreen) of exactly one bike ride in which Bogard declares his love and Diana's one word sentences make her seem disinterested. However, at the end of the ride she says rather emotionlessly that she loves Bogard. The two might as well be using semaphores to communicate, the conversation is that wooden.Diana goes to France to help the war effort, with her brother and childhood sweetheart seeing naval action nearby. While in France her brother breaks the news to her that Bogard is dead. Based on that information she then makes a rash decision that she later regrets when Bogard shows up at her door, very much alive and aghast at what he finds.On the other hand, the action sequences, both in the air and on the sea, are extremely well done and photographed. It's just a shame when a fine cast, such as this film had, all have their performances put in a straight jacket. The one thing that even the director couldn't do was put a complete damper on the chemistry between Franchot Tone and Joan Crawford. This is the film where they fell in love, and their scenes together show it, even though they are playing brother and sister here.This film is actually about a 2.5/5, but I am rounding up because of the outstanding cast and the action scenes. I notice that the old out-of-print VHS copies of this film are selling for twenty dollars. Quite frankly I just don't see the selling power of this one.

I first saw "Today We Live" about 8 years ago (when I was just beginning to discover the wonderful world of Miss Joan Crawford) and I watched it right after "Sadie McKee" (my very favorite movie) and figured that it would be rather similar. After all, Joan made so many pictures for M-G-M during the '30s with very similar plots and storylines, however "Today We Live" is nothing like any of Joan's other pictures. It's a complete original and I mean that in both a good and a not-so-good way."Today We life," is not one that I'm crazy about at all. I've seen it a few times and each time I have to force myself to finish watching it because it's so boring. Was Joan supposed to have a British accent? I couldn't tell. The story is Joan's signature M-G-M love-triangle formula but it seems like someone left it on the rinse cycle a little too long because everyone's all wet. This is a war-era movie, maybe that's why I don't like it; those movies never worked out too well for Joan. Skip this and go straight to Joan's next picture, "Dancing Lady," one of her very best!!As you probably know by now, this is a DVD-R (not a movie DVD, it's a burned DVD minus R). Warner Bros. Home Video over the next couple of years will be rolling out most (if not all) of Joan's movies from their vaults that have not yet made their way onto home-video. This is great and it's also not so great. First of all, it's obscene how these crooked sellers are charging such exorbitant amounts for these movies. Keep in mind that they are not licensed or authorized to sell these movies as they are not official resellers or distributors. Second, The WB Shop (Warner Bros.' only official e-commerce site) isn't a very good company either. I have purchased from them several times and always had a rather poor experience. I recommend getting the movies on Amazon (directly from Amazon as some of the prices are starting to go down somewhat). And if that is not possible (or if you want to save some money) you can almost always find this on TCM (just do a search on tv-now dot com to find out when Joan's next picture will be on).It's unfortunate that the people who are making all of this money off of Joan's good name are not thinking about the viewers and I am certain that Joan would not be happy about this in the least as she always felt that her movies were for her public. As a fan who owns every single Joan Crawford movie I am always glad to share my collection with everyone because that is exactly what Joan would have wanted.

I personally like "Today We Live". It was one of dozens of Joan Crawford movies she made for MGM during the '30's when she became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. The plot deals with a woman (Crawford) who is nursing a man back to health during World War 1 played by Robert Young (Joan's future co-star in "Goodbye, My Fancy" and future star of TV's "Marcus Welby, MD" series). Joan soon finds herself embroiled in a love triangle with herself, Young and Gary Cooper. I can't say "Today We Live" is one of my favorite Crawford films, but it's nice to see it has renewed life on DVD even though it's a DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection. Joan herself wasn't terribly fond of the film stating she felt uncomfortable with an English accent. Joan's future second husband, Franchot Tone, also stars.