The Enchanted Cottage - Warner Archive Collection

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside that counts. Real beauty emanates from within. Clichés? Of course. Truisms? Absolutely.

Sadly, during Hollywood's Golden Age such ideas were practically anathema. The 1930s, '40s, and '50s was the era of glorifying the American girl and the age of blonde bombshells, oomph girls, and love goddesses. One movie, though, had the courage to completely embrace those oft-quoted lines in the most tender, sincere, and relatable manner. The Enchanted Cottage often winds up on lists of the most romantic films of all time and yet it focuses on the neuroses of two damaged souls who are tortured from within and without by their physical appearance.

Located on a slip of New England coastline, the titular cottage is the only surviving remnant of an estate that was destroyed by fire many years ago. The tiny abode is now rented by honeymooning newlyweds who enjoy its seclusion, quaintness, and idyllic setting. Feeling ostracized by society due to her plain appearance and difficulty interacting with others, the painfully shy yet very sweet Laura Pennington (Dorothy McGuire) comes to the cottage to work for its caretaker Abigail Minnett (Mildred Natwick), whose husband was killed in World War I. Laura feels protected and safe in her new environment and reveres the cottage's rich romantic history.

When Army pilot Oliver Bradford (Robert Young) and his fiancée Beatrice (Hillary Brooke) come to inspect the cottage prior to booking it, Laura is dazzled by Oliver's good looks and dashing demeanor. America's entrance into World War II forces the couple to cancel their reservation and postpone their wedding, but a year later Oliver returns to the cottage alone. A horrible war injury has disfigured his face and rendered his right arm useless. Bitter, depressed, and ashamed, Oliver hopes the cottage will provide a sanctuary for him as he hides from Hillary, his flighty mother (Spring Byington) and stiff stepfather (Richard Gaines), and the world at large.

Laura, who still pines for him, lends a sympathetic ear, and after he rejects his parents and fiancée, Oliver asks her to marry him...but more for companionship and convenience than love. Laura reluctantly accepts, but once the two are married, something amazing happens. Their love blooms and magically alters their appearances. Oliver's scars evaporate and his lame arm regains its strength. Laura is beautiful, poised, and confident. The cottage magically transforms them, but are the changes real or an illusion? And are they temporary or permanent?

The Enchanted Cottage tenderly and gracefuly explores the transformative power of love, and like the best romantic films, it's both uplifting and heartbreaking. We ache for the pain Laura and Oliver must endure, but their connection gives us hope that maybe - just maybe - love can conquer all, or at least sufficiently salve our wounds so we can live life as fully, contentedly, and peacefully as possible. The lyrical script by DeWitt Bodeen (Cat People, I Remember Mama) and Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane) and sensitive direction by John Cromwell (Since You Went Away) combine to create an emotional motion picture that's not syrupy or sentimental. The feelings depicted are honest and relatable, and as a result, they cut all the deeper.

Watching The Enchanted Cottage today, cynical viewers might opine that the wealthy Oliver could have had plastic surgery and all the plain and dowdy Laura really needed was a good makeover. Problems solved. But that's not the point of the movie. All too often our frailties, fears, and insecurities cripple us and our warped perspectives prevent us from getting the things in life we really want. The Enchanted Cottage hammers those points home. So much emphasis is placed on physical attractiveness, but Laura's beautiful soul brightens every frame of the film, making it impossible not to fall in love with her.

In just her second film, McGuire embodies Laura, crafting a luminous, layered performance that never strikes a sour note. (She reportedly had to fight for Laura's no-make-up, bushy-eyebrowed, straight-hair look.) Her mellifluous voice, bright yet sad eyes, and thoughtful insights delivered with a disarming earnestness that never sounds phony make Laura both a magnetic character and true heroine. Young, who co-starred with her in her film debut, the enormously successful Claudia, rekindles that chemistry, but also turns in a very fine performance of his own. Evolving from a devil-may-care, brave, handsome soldier to a devastated, ashamed, and angry hermit is no easy task, but Young rises to the challenge and tugs our heartstrings, too.

A World War I injury cost Herbert Marshall one of his legs, and here he touchingly plays a composer who lost his sight in the same war. Marshall is excellent, as always, but his personal connection to this particular character adds more poignancy and authenticity to his performance. The marvelous Natwick brings just the right amount of mystery, mysticism, and surrogate maternity to the empathetic Mrs. Minnett, while Byington plays slightly against type as Oliver's giddy, frivolous, yet blunt and judgmental mother. One of the lines she delivers with off-hand, reprehensible insensitivity lands like an earthquake at the end of the film.

Mystical romances can be tough to pull off, but The Enchanted Cottage effortlessly sucks you into its conceit. McGuire's Laura may not look like Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, or Elizabeth Taylor, but you'll soon fall in love with her just like Oliver. Eight decades after its premiere, it's still hard to resist falling under the spell of The Enchanted Cottage.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The Enchanted Cottage arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.

A new HD master struck from 4K scans of the original nitrate camera negative yields an enchanting, spotless 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that faithfully honors the lush cinematography of Ted Tetzlaff, who received his sole Oscar nomination a few years before for The Talk of the Town, but is perhaps best known for photographing the Alfred Hitchcock classic Notorious. Faint grain preserves the film-like feel and superior shadow delineation keeps crush at bay while heightening the cottage's aura of mystery. Excellent clarity and contrast make fine details easy to discern, but they also call more attention to the painted backdrops that lend a nagging artifice to some exterior scenes.

Blacks are rich, whites are stable, and beautifully varied grays add texture and depth. Though some shots exhibit a bit of softness, special effects are crisp and blend seamlessly into the whole. Sharp close-ups help us appreciate the film's terrific makeup design by showcasing Young's scar and sagging skin and McGuire's bushy eyebrows, drab hair, and unattractive teeth. I don't own the 2010 DVD, but considering it was produced on a single-layer DVD-R, it can't possibly come close to rivaling this high-quality high-def rendering. Fans will absolutely want to upgrade.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track supplies high-quality sound. A wide dynamic scale handles all the sweeping highs and resonant lows in the Oscar-nominated score by seven-time nominee Roy Webb. (Sadly, Webb would never win the award and The Enchanted Cottage proved to be his final Oscar nod.) Strong bass tones add oomph to rumbling thunder and crashing waves and subtleties like chirping birds nicely shade the action. All the dialogue is well prioritized and easy to comprehend and any age-related hiss, pops, or crackle have been erased.

A couple of radio adaptations of The Enchanted Cottage comprise the disc extras.

• Vintage Radio Adaptation: Lux Radio Theater (60 minutes) - McGuire and Young reprise their roles in this 1945 radio adaptation of the film.
• Vintage Radio Adaptation: The General Electric Theater (30 minutes) - Joan Fontaine takes on McGuire's part in this very truncated 1953 radio adaptation.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes) - The film's original preview isn't in great shape, but it's a treat to see it. Interestingly, it only shows McGuire after her transformation. RKO probably worried a dowdy-looking McGuire would turn off potential audiences and hamper the movie's success.

An old-fashioned romance with a timeless message and tender performances by McGuire and Young, The Enchanted Cottage still tugs the heartstrings eight decades after its initial release. Warner Archive revives this often neglected film and honors it with a high-quality transfer struck from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, remastered audio, and a couple of radio adaptations. Even those with a heart of stone will be touched by this sweet, understated, and uplifting film. Highly Recommended.