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5.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. I Take This Woman remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like seeing stars before they were Icons, then yeah, put this on. It's perfect for a lazy Sunday when you want to see Gary Cooper looking extremely tall in a cowboy hat.
People who hate slow, stagey movies from the early 1930s will probably want to skip this one. It's got that weird hiss in the audio that makes you feel like you're listening through a tin can.
I watched this mostly because I wanted to see Carole Lombard. She isn't doing her funny routine yet, but she’s still very good at looking miserable in a ranch house.
The movie starts out with Kay being a rich girl who doesn't really know what she wants. She meets Tom, played by Gary Cooper, and he's basically a human tree. He just stands there and looks honest.
They get married and her dad gets super mad. He disinherits her, which in these old movies means she has to wear slightly less shiny dresses.
The ranch scenes are the best part because everything looks so dusty and uncomfortable. You can tell Kay hates it. She’s trying to be a good wife, but she looks like she’s about to sneeze from all the dirt.
There is this one scene where she's staring at the horizon and you can just tell she's thinking about a steak dinner in Manhattan. I felt that. I really did.
Gary Cooper is... well, he's Gary Cooper. He doesn't say much. He just looks at her with those big eyes like a sad dog. It’s effective, but sometimes I wanted him to just say something.
The pacing is a little bit wonky. They fall in love really fast, then they hate each other, then she leaves. It feels like the middle of the movie is missing a few pages of script.
I noticed the background actors in the Western scenes look like they just wandered in from a real ranch. They have these craggy faces that you don't see in movies anymore. It makes the New York scenes feel even more fake by comparison.
Kay goes back to her family and for a minute, you think she’s going to marry some boring guy in a suit. Her family is pretty awful. They all talk like they have sticks up their backs.
It reminded me a bit of the vibe in Ain't Love Grand? but with much higher stakes and more crying. Not that this is a sad movie, it's just very dramatic in that 1931 way where every gesture is huge.
One thing that bothered me was the lighting. In some shots, Carole Lombard looks like an angel, and in the next, she's practically in the dark. It’s that early sound era struggle where they couldn't move the cameras much.
The ending happens so fast you might blink and miss it. She just decides she wants him back and boom—she’s on a train. There isn't much of a conversation about how they're going to fix their problems.
They just sort of hug and the movie ends. It’s a bit of a letdown if you wanted a big emotional payoff, but I guess people back then had shorter attention spans for talking.
I've seen better Western romances like The Gun Runners, but this one has a specific charm because of the leads. They have this weird chemistry that shouldn't work, but it does.
Also, the clothes! Kay’s outfits when she’s rich are just ridiculous. One hat looks like a giant pancake falling off her head. I loved it.
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it better than most of the stuff from that year? Probably.
It’s a bit like Martha in how it handles the whole 'city girl vs country life' thing, but with more Hollywood polish. Even if the polish is a bit thin in spots.
Check it out if you want to see Gary Cooper being the ultimate cowboy. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. It's just a decent way to spend an hour and a bit. 🤠
It's a weird little time capsule. Sometimes the most interesting thing about these old films is just seeing how people used to talk to each other. Or how they thought people talked to each other.
Anyway, I liked it more than I thought I would. It’s got heart, even if it’s a bit clunky around the edges.
IMDb 6.8
1925
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