Ahh, Hollywood – the place that produces stories in which they want the audience to believe attractive people are ugly! For another example of this “genre”, we go to 1945’s The Enchanted Cottage.

Oliver Bradford (Robert Young) plans to marry Beatrice Alexander (Hillary Brooke). However, when he suffers war wounds that scar him, the engagement ends.

Oliver retreats to a cottage where he planned to honeymoon with Beatrice. When he meets homely caretaker Laura Pennington (Dorothy Maguire), a relationship blossoms.

Even though the folks at RKO wanted moviegoers to buy Young and Maguire as physically unappealing, apparently their marketing folks didn’t get the memo. A look at the poster pictured on the Blu-ray’s cover offers a clear glamour shot of the two.

During the film itself, the producers’ attempts to make Maguire ugly become downright comical. She sports shaggy eyebrows, ugly teeth and suffers from lighting so creepy that the photography feels more appropriate for a horror tale.

Even with all that, it doesn’t quite work. Sure, the movie makes Maguire look plain, but she never seems especially ugly, so the film’s basic thesis falters.

This seems especially true because it feels obvious that if Laura plucked her eyebrows, adopted a less mussy hairstyle and stopped standing in spooky lighting, she’d be attractive. The characters treat her like she’s a frightfully deformed freak who needs to hide from the world and not just a Plain Jane.

As for the character who suffers actual physical deformation, Oliver comes across as more obviously damaged, but Cottage still doesn’t go very far. Young sports a minor scar on his face as well as some facial droopiness but he doesn’t exactly look scary or horrifying.

If I get past the movie’s refusal to commit to its concept, Cottage becomes a bit more interesting, mainly because of its unusual emphasis. Even if I don’t buy Oliver and Laura as ugly people, the story’s focus on characters intended to be psychologically damaged gives it a different flavor.

And at times, Cottage makes this theme appealing. It eventually settles into a largely trite love story, unfortunately.

The biggest issue stems from my inability to ever buy Maguire and Young as Really Ugly People. A better made film would lean less heavily on attempts to convince us they’re hideous and paint a portrait of two characters more damaged by their own flawed self-perceptions.

Again, Cottage does occasionally stab in that direction. However, it does to too infrequently to add up to a deep dramatic experience.

This leaves it reliant on its romance, and that side of things doesn’t really blossom. Eventually we need to buy that Oliver and Laura ignore each others’ facial flaws and love each other for their hearts.

Which seems fine, but Cottage executes this shift in a simplistic and easy manner that doesn’t work. The character development fails to feel convincing.

I do give Cottage credit for its occasionally unusual choice. The end product rarely rises above standard romantic melodrama, though.

The Enchanted Cottage appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Despite a few inconsistencies, this became a fairly positive presentation.

In general, sharpness satisfied, as the movie usually appeared well-defined. Some softness popped up for the occasional shot but the majority of the flick boasted nice delineation.

Shimmering and jaggies remained absent, and edge haloes also failed to appear. The movie’s grain structure felt natural, and print flaws failed to mar the proceedings.

Blacks appeared deep and dark, and contrast came across well for the most part. That said, some scenes came across as a bit too bright. Though the image didn’t excel, it still gave us a mostly appealing transfer.

Similar thoughts greeted the sturdy DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Cottage, as it held up nicely over the decades. Speech could seem a bit thin at times, but lines were intelligible and concise enough.

Music and effects displayed the expected restricted dynamic range, but they showed acceptable clarity and didn’t suffer from distortion. The mix lacked pops, clicks, hum, or other defects. This was a more than competent track for a movie from 1945.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get two radio adaptations of Cottage. The disc includes a September 3, 1945 Lux Radio Theater version (59:34) as well as a General Electric Theater presentation (29:50),

Movie leads Dorothy Maguire and Robert Young return for Lux, whereas we find Joan Fontaine and William Johnstone take their parrts as the main roles for General Electric. With more time at its disposal, Lux replicates the movie more closely, though it obviously loses some elements.

General Electric takes major liberties and makes a lot of changes from the source. This actual means it ends up as the more interesting of the pair, though both deserve a listen from fans.

Though it attempts an unusual spin on its genre, The Enchanted Cottage mostly adds up to standard romantic melodrama. It simply doesn’t exploit its twists well enough to become more than schmaltz. The Blu-ray comes with positive picture and audio as well as a few supplements highlighted by old radio shows. While not a terrible movie, Cottage doesn’t really click.