Introduction to Her Cardboard Lover
Her Cardboard Lover is an American film that was directed by George Cukor and released on the 16th of July 1942. The film is based on the English version of the play Dans Sa Candeur Naïve by Deval. PG Woodhouse and Valerie Wyngate adapted the English version and screenplay for the film was by Jacques Deval, William H Wright, Anthony Veiller and John Collier.
Her Cardboard Lover is the third screen adaptation following The Cardboard Lover and The Passionate Plumber from 1928 and 1932. The tars of the film were Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor and George Sanders.
The Reception of the Film
Her Cardboard Lover was filmed with a budget of $979 000 and only grossed $973 000. Apart from the loss at the box office, critics were ruthless and described Her Cardboard Lover as one of the worst films of the year.
It has been considered that the failure of the film may have been due to the fact that it has a comical nature which no one was receptive to as it seemed viewers were more interested in dramatic and patriotic films during the war time. Her Cardboard Lover ended up being the last film for Norma shearer as she retired after twenty years of acting mostly due to the films failure.
Summary of Her Cardboard Lover
Her Cardboard Lover is about Terry Trindale who secretly falls in love with Consuelo Croydon and visits the Palm Beach casino every night for weeks to see her, not knowing if she knows how he feels. When he finally summons up the courage to tell her, she tells him that she does not have any interest in him. Trindale ends up losing $3,200 at the casino through his efforts to be around her.
Trindale has no way of repaying the money to Consuelo, so they come to an agreement that he will work off his debt. One of his duties is to pretend to be Consuelo’s fiancé, so that her ex-lover Tony Barling will leave her alone and she will not be able to fall for his charms. Upon learning that Consuelo is engaged to be married to Trindale, and meeting her fiancé, Tony recognises him from the casino and become suspicious of the couple.
Later when Consuelo learns that Trindale must travel to New York with his friend Chappie Champagne, she cancels his debt to her so that he can go. She insists that she will not fall for Tony and it is safe for him to leave NZ betting. Trindale phones Consuelo and disguises his voice to sound like Tony and Consuelo invites him to her house. He arrives and admits he made the call and scolds her for dropping her guard so quickly.
Tony arrives and they start to argue, Tony leaves for his hotel, with Consuelo and Trindale in tow and a fight breaks out which results in the men’s arrest. Chappie arrives and pays Trindale’s fine and together they leave for New York. Tony proposes to Consuelo and she realises that she is in love with him. As he arrives at the airport he is arrested because Consuelo pressed charges against him to stop him from leaving.