Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

atlasmb I Live My Life starts out as a simple story: boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl runs away, boy pursues girl. But the boy is an Irish archaeologist who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and who spurns "people with too much money". The girl comes from a wealthy New York/Connecticut family that cowers in the presence of the grandmother who controls the family fortune and, therefore, their lives.During the film, the characters tell a series of lies. In the beginning, these are frivolous lies told with no concern for the feelings of others. By the end of the film, they lie for love.I am not a huge fan of Joan Crawford, who plays the wealthy and frivolous girl, Kay Bentley. But in some of her early films she displays a great energy. I Live My Life is one of those films. On occasion, she even displays emotional subtlety.Brian Aherne plays the boy. He is, in turns, ebullient and downcast as his character (Terry O'Neill) is buffeted by the fickle winds of Kate's affections.The cast includes memorable performances all around, especially by Eric Blore as the Bentley butler.The gowns and other wardrobe that were fashioned by Adrian deserve mention. Others have been critical of his efforts in this film, but I found them immensely enjoyable. Even when they are impractical, they accentuate the frivolous nature of the rich who inhabit this film. They are bold statements that sometimes transcend practicality and embrace art. The film itself is not a masterpiece, but it satisfies

mark.waltz It's easy to see why Joan Crawford was one of the top box office draws of the mid 1930's. She was simply one of the most exquisitely beautiful and natural movie stars, not a superb actress, but purely ravishing in looks, poise and personality. She sang and danced, clowned and cried with conviction, and audiences adored her. The masculine 1940's and 50's look was far off, so here she is at her most appealing.This romantic comedy has Crawford as a madcap socialite traveling aboard her father's (Frank Morgan) private yacht around the Greek isles where she meets a struggling archaeologist (Brian Aherne) who thinks she's a secretary. Fate reveals the truth in New York when he meets her father, and once all is revealed, the sparks continue to fly. Aherne is one of Crawford's better romantic leads, not a he-man like Gable or dull like real-life hubby Franchot Tone, but a likable masculine male who will not tolerate her nonsense, yet would never bore her, either.This isn't all champagne corks and society shindigs, however. This delves into visions of the lives of the idle rich and how a working man could never tolerate such an existence, particularly in the depression. When Aherne is made a vice president in the company run by Crawford's hard-as-nails granny (the fabulous Jessie Ralph), he goes ballistic as he realizes the pointlessness of it all and his title in name only position. Eric Blore and Arthur Treacher exchange some great "sissy" dialog as butlers of the different households, and the always wonderful Aline MacMahon is fun as Aherne's assistant. There is also a fabulous Christmas sequence where the guest at the unseen Ralph's annual shindig sing one of the funniest versions of "Silent Night" ever heard on film.This has one of the wittiest screenplays of MGM's golden age (outside a "Thin Man" movie), with gems such as Morgan's retort to Aherne, "After all, Rome wasn't burnt in a day!" and Ralph's acceptance of Aherne when he fibs by telling her that his ancestors were horse thieves and pirates. "Good Stock", she says, as she could in that truly inimitable vinegary way.

bkoganbing Joan Crawford gets a change from being a taxi dancer or a shop girl and is a full fledged heiress in I Live My Life. She's living it pretty good too, far better than most in her Depression era audience were. She's on a nice holiday in Europe and comes upon an archaeological dig in Greece. A rare statue is unearthed, but the debonair Irish archaeologist doing the digging played by Brian Aherne interests Ms. Crawford far more.Our heiress is quite the flirt, movie heiresses back then always were, but she sure hooks Aherne. The problem is she's already engaged to the wealthy and snooty Fred Keating back in New York. And she may have to marry him. Her dad is Frank Morgan and he's got a few bucks, but the real money is with her tyrannical grandma Jessie Ralph. There's reason personal and financial to marry Keating. And as the popular song of the day went, all Aherne has to give is love. And Keating is such a drip.Although Crawford is one sly little minx in this film, Aherne's charm and sincerity really get to her. In fact they got to me as he gives the film's best performance. Frank Morgan is always good and he's his usual befuddled self. He actually married into the money, Joan's mother is deceased and he lives to a lesser degree on the largess of his mother-in-law.I wish Aline McMahon and Sterling Holloway as Aherne's assistants had more to do in I Live My Life. They always add to any film they're in.I Live My Life is not one of Joan's better films, but entertaining enough. The question is will Aherne live Joan's life or will Joan start living Aherne's? Back then there was only one way to go.

MartinHafer MGM came up with a very predictable formula for Joan Crawford in the 1930s. Despite the films' limitations, casting her as a poor girl worked well in the box office. In most of these films, she wanted to marry a rich man and live a life of leisure, but regardless of her aims, she became known for playing her earthy ladies from working-class roots. Despite this, the studio worked against type and cast her as a rather shallow rich lady in I LIVE MY LIFE--a role that seemed ill-suited to her. On top of that, the film really didn't seem well written, as the characters often act in ways that make little sense.The film begins with Crawford and her clan on a yacht in the Greek Isles. Crawford goes to shore and meets an archaeologist (Brian Aherne) and they hit it off pretty well. However, he says something about his prejudices against rich and shallow folks (that's her in spades), so she lies and tells him she's a secretary--not a pampered 'princess'. However, after spending all this time with him, she just leaves--without telling him who she really is, as she knows the relationship can't work.Later, after she never answered any of his letters to her in America, Aherne comes to the States to look for her. He soon finds out that she is NOT who she says she was, so he digs deeper and eventually finds her in her mansion. They argue a lot and split. Then, when he's giving a lecture in a nearby museum, she arrives--to tell him how much she doesn't love him. Naturally, this is a giant cliché and soon they begin snogging (for those not acquainted with 'British', this is KISSING). Soon, they are preparing for a wedding(!?).In the meantime, Crawford's father (Frank Morgan) finds out his investments have gone bust and the family is in jeopardy of losing all their stuff so Crawford knows she can't marry Aherne but must marry a rich guy. Now considering that this film was made during the Depression, the idea of Morgan or Crawford having to get a real job doesn't seem THAT awful. It was hard to care about some flibbertigibbet who has to vacate their mansion when the average American was pondering whether or not cat is the other white meat! So worrying about whether this brood can keep their wealth seems rather unimportant. So, will Crawford marry Aherne or some other dude? Well, instead, she has the idea of having Aherne suck up to her grandmother--maybe she will give them the money they 'need' to bail out the family. So, in other words, she wants Aherne to become a man-whore. And, once he gets a job from her where he gets to sit around and do nothing and collect a HUGE salary, the audience is expected to feel sorry for him! As for all this nonsense, does anyone care? Well, as for me, I didn't and had a hard time following this film to the end--especially since late in the film Crawford showed herself to be a total brat. In one scene, she destroys thousands of dollars worth of things around the house and a designer dress!! Poor little pampered princess!I recommend this film only for completists who insist on seeing all of Crawford's films--otherwise, skip it. It's a sad shadow of her better films of the era. A sad misfire with an uninvolving plot and rather unlikable characters--aside from the crusty grandmother. This, by the way, is quite a waste as the film did have a great supporting cast consisting of Frank Morgan, Arthur Treacher, Eric Blore and Aline MacMahon.