And So They Were Married (1936)

“Women - well, after all they do make gentlemen of us.”

            Old Hollywood is full of films about marriage. Usually the plot is about a couple who gets divorced and then they figure out they made a mistake and they still love each other (The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday) or in some cases it is about a guy and a girl who fall in love with each other and they eventually get married. Or even the ones where the guy and the girl hate each other at first and then they wind up falling madly in love and getting married. Marriage, I take it, was a popular theme in classic films. Even today with crappy Rom-Coms they are all about a girl falling in love with Mr. Right and them getting married in the end. I have a few modern Rom-Coms and the only reasons I have some of them are for the mostly actresses I like that star in them (Jennifer Garner, Katherine Heigl, Kristen Bell to name my favorite three). Nowadays I tend to avoid Rom-Coms unless an actress I like is in it even then the plot has to look somewhat decent which rarely they are.

            Anyway, one of several Classic Hollywood martial farces I watched has been And So They Were Married from 1936 starring Melvyn Douglas and Mary Astor. The story starts off pretty good and then takes a slight dive near the end.

            Edith Farmham (Astor) takes her young daughter Brenda to a new ski resort for Christmas. Stephen Blake (Douglas)  goes to same resort as Edith. He has a young son named Tommy who will meet him there when he is done with school. On the road to the resort Stephen cuts Edith off then at a stop sign she bumps his car and cuts him off. They arrive at the hotel at the same time and everyone thinks they are married. The hotel clerk tells Edith and Stephen that there was an avalanche that has stopped the rest of the travelers from arriving on time. They are the only ones at dinner and they start throwing confetti at each other.

            The following day, Edith and Stephen go out together because she cannot take the hostess and he cannot take the ski instructor. They talk about their children and how they need companions of the opposite sex since they are both widowed. They both have a good time alone talking and walking around in the snow.

            Tommy arrives at the resort while Stephen is out. While out sledding he meets Brenda and is not very nice to her. Edith and Stephen think their kids will be sweet to each other if they were to meet. The next thing they see is Tommy and Brenda beating the life out of each other in the lobby. They casually walk past the fighting children acting as if they are someone else’s kids. Sometime later Brenda and Tommy overhear the hostess and the instructor talking about how they think Stephen and Edith might possibly get married. Their parents ingrained a dislike of the opposite sex into their minds. They try to make their parents not like each other but everything they do winds up backfiring. A spoiled rich kid named Horace keeps taking the blame for all their schemes to get attention from his mother.

            Edith does not think it is a good idea she and Stephen get married because their kids do not like each other but he says they have to think of themselves and live their lives. At a party Stephen gets drunk and Edith does not like that. The kids are happy with this.

            The next day Edith is upset and so is Stephen too because they could not get married. When they each arrive home at their respective houses Edith and Stephen are still upset. Brenda and Tommy try to get their parents back together. They want to run away because there are not paying attention to them. When they do so Brenda and Tommy realize they have made a big mistake. They hide out together as if they are missing so Edith and Stephen will see each other again.

            Then a whole silly thing happens and Stephen and Edith are thrown in jail but of course they are released and the kids admit they like each other.

            Melvyn Douglas and Mary Astor were good together. It was nice to see Douglas with an actress that did not outshine him in popularity. By this I mean he had been paired with some of the most popular actresses at MGM such as Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo who were insanely popular and practically left him in the dark. Mary Astor was still a popular actress but not as she had been in the early thirties. They seemed to have had good chemistry but I think that came down to Douglas because he could have had chemistry with a pole. I do not think this film did either one of them justice as actors and as a pairing. I wish they had been paired in another, better film than this.

            And So They Were Married was cute and it starts off well. When the kids meet and begin messing around with their parents’ relationship the film takes a slight dive and does not recover. I could have dealt with a martial comedy where the man and woman do not at first really care for the opposite sex but the kids just messed it up. And So They Were Married is available to view on Youtube and I recommend seeing it for Mary Astor and Melvyn Douglas. 

They All Kissed the Bride (1942)

Too Many Husbands (1940)

Too Many Husbands recently aired on TCM. Robert Osborne introduced the film. In his introduction Osborne stated that the film came out the same year as My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The film did well even thought the Grant/Dunne film came out months before. The plot of Too Many Husbands is basically the same plot as My Favorite Wife only it is about a woman who married a man only to find out her first husband who she thought was dead is actually alive instead of the man marrying another woman and finding out his wife is still alive. The only difference is while My Favorite Wife is easy and enjoyable to sit through Too Many Husbands becomes tedious the moment the wife finds out her first husband is still alive.

            The opening scene of the film show Harry Lowndes (Melvyn Douglas) dictating a letter to have his former partner’s name taken off the company title. His former partner, Bill Cardew (Fred MacMurray), died the previous year. Harry’s secretary comments that Vicky, his wife, will not like the fact that Bill’s name is being taken off the title. Vicky (Jean Arthur) was married to Bill when he died and she is now married to Harry. Vicky comes into the office and the secretary was right, Vicky is not happy about Bill’s name being removed. Harry has no time to speak to her about it he has to go to an important meeting.

            The next scene shows Bill sitting in a barber shop getting his wild hair and beard taken care of. Apparently he survived when his ship went down. Bill calls to his old house looking for Vicky. Her father picks up the phone. The poor man almost dies of shock when he hears Bill’s voice. Bill asks his former father-in-law to tell Vicky to pick him up at the airport. The father relays the message to his daughter. She freaks out she does not want to tell Bill that she is remarried especially because she does not know how. Vicky tells Henry what is going on and the man passes out. Once he gets out of his shock Vicky wants him to be the one to tell Bill about them being married. Henry refuses Vicky should be the one to say something. They both go to the airport to get Bill. Bill is the happiest man when he sees his wife. He starts hugging her and kissing her as if he had been away for two weeks instead of year. He never gives Vicky a chance to say what she needs to say about her and Henry. She goes around the issue saying that Henry is living in the house with his wife and Bill does not get that meaning. Finally Vicky just blurts out she and Henry are married. Bill is obviously furious.

            After the reveal the film just goes downhill. It becomes silly and annoying rather than silly and enjoyable. Henry and Bill fight over for Vicky in the most ridiculous of ways. She puts off picking which husband she wants to be with because she likes their attention since neither ever gave her so much. What I could not stand the most in this film was the ending it did not end it was awful.

            Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, and Melvyn Douglas are great actors. I felt it was a shame to see them in this film with this material. Their characters were annoying. I really hated seeing Melvyn Douglas beg for a woman like a little boy vying for the cute girl’s attention when he was this fantastic sweet talker and charmer with Greta Garbo in Ninotchka. Jean Arthur the films I have seen her in she has been this smart funny determined modern woman. Here is was acting like a pain in the ass spoiled woman. Fred MacMurray is a good actor but he has yet to impress me. Needless to say he did not to impress me in this. Harry Davenport as Vicky’s father gets a ton of credit. He will always be Dr. Meade from Gone With the Wind to me. He was really funny in his scenes especially at the beginning when he gets the call from Bill.

            Too Many Husbands had some potential because the three leads are great actors. The story and the characters just fell completely flat. I was annoyed so much with the characters. I understand that sometimes characters can be silly but there is a fine line between being just right and being ridiculous. With My Favorite Wife it is obvious that Cary Grant really loves Irene Dunne he never plays games with her and she has a reason to fight for him. In Too Many Husbands Vicky does not seem to care about either one of her husbands and I have no clue why they even stuck around her they had nothing to fight for (maybe they did and I just missed it). I do hate to compare the two films but they are so similar it is hard not to. I only suggest watching Too Many Husbands if you are a fan of either Jean Arthur, Melvyn Douglas, or Fred MacMurray other than those three skip it. 

Fast Company (1938)

“Do you take dope?”

“Never Before Lunch”

            After MGM released The Thin Man in 1934 other studios as well as MGM tried to capitalize on the popular story of a husband who works doing something that have very little to do with sleuthing and his sophisticated wife who gets involved in his cases. Fast Company was one film that MGM made to capitalize on The Thin Man.

            Joel and Garda Sloane (Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice) run an antique book store. Besides running the book store they occasionally help an insurance company locate stolen books. A man named Brockler has framed another man named Ned for stealing one of his books that Joel and Garda had located. Ned loves Brockler’s daughter Leia. Brockler told Leia and Ned that he can send Ned back to prison without a problem.

            A corrupt man named Eli Bannerman (Louis Calhern) comes into Brockler’s office saying he has two first edition books that were stolen and want to sell them to him. Brockler gets nervous when finds out Joel and Garda have found the missing books.

            Joel and Garda return home one night after being out when two detectives come to tell them that Brockler has been murdered. The police suspect Ned and want Joel’s help to find him. Joel says he will not help. The next day Joel goes to Bannerman’s secretary Julia Thorne (Claire Dodd) telling her he has an offer that will make a lot of money. Bannerman goes to Brockler’s officer after what Julia told him. He tries to get into Brockler’s vault but he cannot. He gets nervous when he sees Joel. He and his partner think Joel will find them out about them before the insurance company does.

            Joel is able to find the books that the insurance company had asked  him to find and he collects the insurance money. Now Joel wants Julia’s help to locate the books Bannerman had offered to Brockler. He knows she knows where the books are. Joel is at a restaurant with Julia. Garda finds him and hands him a threatening note that was left under their door that says to stay off the case. Joel tells Julia he wants to be on her side and play the game with her. They plan to meet again another time.

            Ned comes out of hiding and finds Joel. He says he had gone to Brockler’s office the night the man was murdered but he was already dead. Leia is at the office. She has no idea that Ned is a suspect in the case. Joel goes there, he lies to Leia about seeing Ned. He tells her Ned is in South Jersey (** old Hollywood New Jersey reference!!! Love it**) looking for a Bible and that he has no idea what is going on.

            Julia meets with Joel again. She tells him that she saw the apparently stolen books in a safe. He calls the police to tell them what Julia told him. He finds out they picked up Ned. Ned tells his lawyer that Joel gave him money for train (which Joel really did). The district attorney brings Joel in to ask him how he knew where the safe was and he will not say. When Joel goes home he tells Garda what happened and he makes it sound like a melodrama to get her all worried and gain her sympathy.

            Bannerman goes his partner Sidney to tell him that Joel has sold the police on the idea that he (Sidney) has been spending Brockler’s money. Bannerman told this story to Sidney so he would go kill Joel. Before Sidney can get after Joel Banner takes Sidney out into the country and kills him. Eli wants to take Julia away with but she does not want to go. Julia takes Joel back to her place. Someone has vandalized her apartment. Eli was the one who did it. He took some letters and money. Joel did not know that Julia was involved with Eli until he finds a picture of the two on the floor. Julia goes back to Eli later on threatening that she will run away from him. In response to her threat he punches her. Meanwhile, Garda is not happy with Joel. She is mad that he keeps going out and does not tell her where to.

            Joel was on his way to the DA’s office when out of nowhere he gets taken. Garda is upset she knows someone took Joel and they are going to kill him to keep him from going to the DA. She takes it upon herself to watch Eli’s house all day. Joel is alright. He was taken to shack outside town. He has been tied down to a chair and is under the watchful eye of a loyal gangster (Nat Pendleton). Garda had followed Eli to the shack and of course gets caught sneaking around.

            Soon enough both Joel and Garda are able to cleverly escape Eli’s gangsters. Joel goes to Julia. He knows she was lying about the safe when it was open. She told him that the safe had not been opened in years

            Joel eventually gets it out of Julia that she killed Brockler after she was blackmailing him.

            Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice were very good together. They were in no way Nick and Nora Charles there was no real chemistry but they worked. Melvyn Douglas was smart and quick but he lacked the smoothness of William Powell. Florence Rice was made to try too hard to be like Nora in some scenes it was a bit embarrassing. There was a scene where Garda walks in on Joel hugging Leia. I understand the film was made at MGM but seriously, come on with the copying!

            Fast Company is an entertaining film. The dialogue is smart and witty and the mystery is interesting.

 

The Great Sinner (1949)

“When a man takes the trouble to be so rude to a woman, he is usually falling in love with her.”
“You're not a woman. You are a symptom.”
“Of what?”
“Of one of the world’s deadliest diseases, sophistication.”

            The Great Sinner is not one of the best classic films I have ever seen. If it had not been for Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck starring in the film I probably never would have sat through it. It is from the start depressing and nerve wracking and the subject of gambling and self ruin is not one of my favorite story devices. But the performances by the cast were great.

            Peck plays a writer named Fedja living in the year 1847. He is traveling from Russia to Paris by train when he meets the beautiful young woman named Pauline Ostrovsky (Gardner). They do not speak for the entire train trip to Wiesbaden, Germany. When Pauline gets off the train Fedja follows her.

            Fedja comes to find that Pauline and her father are compulsive gamblers. They win thousands of Marks a hand and then lose it all in a flash. Fedja is fascinated by all of this and decides to write a book about the characters he has met.

            He finds that Pauline and her father owe more money they can possibly ever get to a man named Armand (Melvyn Douglas). Armand is willing to forgive their debts if Pauline marries him but Fedja wants Pauline for himself since he has fallen in love with her. He goes to the gambling hall one afternoon and plays roulette. His luck is incredible and he just keeps winning. By the end of the night he want won enough money to pay Pauline’s debts and take her away. Armand tells Fedja to keep the money until morning hoping that Fedja will gamble the rest of his money away. The plan works and Fedja is left with virtually nothing.

            Fedja spirals out of control from the man he used to be. He does not even want to see Pauline who wants nothing more than to help him.

            The story got on my nerves after the first forty-five minutes mostly because I was getting nervous with Fedja losing all his money.

            Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner were wonderful together. They looked stunning paired together even in period costumes. Gardner played Pauline beautifully this along with My Forbidden Past, is one her best acted films. Peck was such a great actor the man could play any part given to him and just be perfect. He looked a little silly in period costume but his acting more than made up for that.

            The rest of the cast was alright. Melvyn Douglas played a slim (the second time I have seen him play a character like this and I did not like it!). He was good but he is like Peck, Douglas always gives a good performance. Frank Morgan plays a math professor who is a compulsive gambler. When he finally wins then loses a big sum of money he kills himself. Needless to say Morgan is in not in the film for that long. Agnes Moorehead and Ethel Barrymore are also credited above the main title but they are barely in the film. Moorehead pops up every now and again as a pawn shop owner and she is a creeper. Barrymore has like two scenes towards the end and her character croaks at the gambling table.

            Robert Siodmak is a well known Noir director. He brings that touch of Noir to this seedy story of gambling and debauchery. Siodmak’s touch was perfect for the type of story.

            The Great Sinner was very well made with a great cast but I could not get into the story at all. It is an attempt to bring a nineteenth century melodrama of gambling to the big screen and it just either did not translate well from the book or fell flat somehow in the process of the story cinematic telling. I will say that even in literary form I would not be attracted to a gambling story where the main character falls off the wagon hard let alone a film. But after all is said and done, with an excellent cast and director The Great Sinner is worth seeing at least once.