Margaret Sullavan

In The Mortal Storm (1940), Margaret Sullavan is tender without becoming solemn. As Freya Roth, she gives James Stewart’s Martin Breitner affection we can believe, and leaves the film to do the explaining. Frank Borzage’s melodrama benefits from an actress who does not press every opportunity to make us feel sorry for her. The husky voice catches the ear, but her willingness to hold back makes us attend to the person speaking. We recommend her here even where we have reservations about the film.

Her screen career began with Only Yesterday (1933), and reached its peak in the late 1930s. Three Comrades (1938) gave her scope for restrained dramatic playing; The Shop Around the Corner (1940), opposite Stewart, brought out her impish comic touch. The latter also makes room for intelligence and vulnerability, rather than asking charm to do all the work. Those qualities help explain why she is worth following between comedy and melodrama.

She and Stewart made four films together, with The Mortal Storm their last pairing. Here his sincerity makes a good partner for her restraint, and neither needs much assistance to hold our attention. We were moved by their tenderness, because their affection makes the threat to their freedom feel personal. The plotting is less persuasive, and Borzage sometimes adds sentiment where the performances would have been enough. Sullavan cannot repair that, but she keeps her own scenes from becoming stiff.

Her preference for theatre helps explain a screen career of only sixteen films, with a retreat in the early 1940s and a final return for No Sad Songs for Me (1950). Some stage reviewers found her delivery mannered, and a voice this recognisable can draw attention to itself. In The Mortal Storm, though, it never distracts us from Freya’s affection for Martin. Begin there, with some patience for the extra prompting neither Sullavan nor Stewart needs.