No Marriage Ties

Up until the middle of 1934, Hollywood's films were far more salacious than most would suspect today. There was no rating system for films and parents had no idea if a particular film was family-friendly or not. For instance, "Ben Hur" (1925) featured a couple nude scenes and an impaled head. "Parachute Jumper" showed Frank McHugh flipping someone the bird (so to speak). In "Platinum Blonde", Jean Harlow slept her way to the top and never got punished for it! And, "No Marriage Ties" is a story where the two main characters cohabitate--with absolutely no intention to ever marry. Things certainly were different in 'the good old days'! "No Marriage Ties" begins with Bruce Foster (Richard Dix) losing his job due to his heavy drinking. In the bar, he meets Peggy (Elizabeth Allen) and she takes him home after he passes out from the booze. She has no place to live and he invites her to live with him--no strings attached. Soon, Bruce lands on his feet. Although his drinking destroyed his job as a journalist, he is glib and has a way with words--and soon is taken on as a partner in an advertising agency. Because of him, the agency takes off and he's rich--very rich. It helps that he is rather sociopathic--willing to sell any sort of crap and make it sound like gold. In fact, this causes some tension with his partner who thinks this is immoral. Actually, this conflict made little sense, as I always thought advertising ALWAYS was trying to make crap sound wonderful--and I am sure all advertising agencies would heartily agree.

During the course of Bruce pretty much taking over the advertising world, he sets his sights on the Adrienne Deane Company. This makeup company has very old fashioned advertising BUT its president (Doris Kenyon) is adamant that things are fine as they are. But, using his smooth charm, Bruce is able to get close to Miss Deane--VERY close. Soon they are inseparable--which leaves Peggy feeling awkward and unneeded. So, her plan is to leave and forge a life for herself. But, who does Bruce really need to make him feel complete--his live-in or the sophisticated (and rich) cosmetics queen? In many ways, this film is very reminiscent of one of Clark Gable's better films, "The Hucksters". Both are rather no holds barred sorts of films--showing the seamier side of the industry. Clearly "No Marriage Ties" is seamier--with some scenes of scantily clad models, a HORRIBLY TRAGIC twist and the cohabitation element. In many ways, it reminded me of many of Warren Williams' films of the era--playing a money-grubbing cad. Overall, I really liked "No Marriage Ties" because towards the end, it deliberately avoided clichés and formula--which made it a terrific film from start to finish. My only complaint, after some WONDERFUL twists at the end, the final message from Bruce sounded a bit hard to believe--after all, he IS a horrible human being. Had the movie ended just BEFORE this speech, I would have given the film a 9!

An alcoholic sports reporter misses the Tunney-Dempsey fight he was supposed to cover, and is fired from his job. Despite being a mess, a kind aspiring artist helps him out, and the two become lovers. They believe in 'free love,' not marriage, and their relationship is open. They live together but at one point she doesn't see him for eight days; she doesn't mind that he's been sleeping around or want to know what he's been up to, saying to him, "so long as you come back to me." Meanwhile, quite improbably the man has gotten a job in advertising and quickly risen to being not just a partner in the business, but the driving force behind its success. One of the clients he takes on is a beautiful woman, and after wearing her down, he becomes her lover too. The rub is that she cramps his style, expecting him to show up for dinner and then wanting to get married to him. He thus apparently has a choice in both women and lifestyles.

It sounds like pretty spicy pre-Code fare and I guess the idea is pretty daring, especially since the couple at the beginning seem quite happy with their relationship. However, as there really isn't much passion on display and little chemistry in either pairing, it actually seemed pretty tame. The cast doesn't have big stars (Richard Dix is the man, Elizabeth Allen the artist, and Doris Kenyon the client), and that might have been part of the problem. More significantly, though, the film doesn't really want to commit itself to this idea of "no marriage ties," or exploring what that means in an honest way. The character of the artist has no depth and comes across more as a sweet fantasy than a real person. The film then veers off into the guy's immorality in the advertising business, selling products that don't work or are harmful, a subplot that takes a life of its own and leads to a dreadful expository speech near the end. Good grief that was bad. It then seems to link what he's doing as an advertising exec with his lifestyle and its consequences, wrapping it all up in a bundle that's rather traditional and conservative.

At 72 minutes though, at least it moves along, and there are some fun little bits to this film that made it entertaining. While drunk the guy refers to his boss as a "sh*t faced mongrel," for example. Another thing is the guy's office being equipped with a giant bar on a revolving stand; he comes in and his secretary wheels it open, pours him a shot, and tells him "Your breakfast," while handing it to him. By contrast, his client's office has some lovely little Art Deco touches and beautiful lettering on the office doors. When he's dating her she takes him to a performance from "The Russian Art Players" where we see a scene of a couple of peasants speaking Russian; he then takes her to a wrestling match the next time they're out. While in the Caribbean and she's in his arms on a boat, we hear a lovely little bit of the song "Venezuela" from a voice that I wish had been credited. With these kinds of things and the initial challenge to traditional marriage I would have given it a slightly higher rating if it hadn't slipped off the rails at the end; regardless, you could do worse than seeing this one.

Taped this film in the late 60's because Richard Dix was a Veteran Actor along with Elizabeth Allan. Dix,(Bruce Foster)had a drinking problem which was portrayed in the 1930's as being funny and cute and enjoyable to view. He was a newspaper man and it seemed Hollywood associated them with always being drunk in order to function. Allan(Peggy Wilson) who appeared in her last film with Boris Karloff "Grip of the Strangler"'58 tries to help Bruce get on his feet and it was refreshing to see that a woman could help a man in trouble without having to see them take their clothes off and jump into bed. There was a beautiful attraction between a man and a woman, which made the story different from the average picture in the 1930's. It is impossible to be critical of this film and its actors, who were super stars in those days. Richard Dix was a leading man in many pictures and made "The Whistler" movie series a tremendous success.

The movie starts with Richard Dix as a drunk newspaper sports reporter who forgets his assignment to cover a championship fight. Elizabeth Allan plays a young artist without a job who takes him home. Dix and Allan decide to have an affair, but agree on ground-rules - "no ties, no strings." Dix gets fired and stumbles into a job as an advertising ad man. He has amazing success as he easily comes up with catchy phrases. He becomes a partner in the company and hires Allan to draw artwork for his ads.

The movie switches between comedy and dramatic scenes neatly. There is nothing special here in the plot, but Dix and Allan are very good at their craft and make the film easy to watch.

Richard Dix looks a lot like George Reeves who played Superman in the 1950s "Superman" television series. Elizabeth Allan was a successful British actress who had a short Hollywood career of 5-6 years, and went then went back to England because she didn't get enough leading roles. She did play in about a dozen good films, including "Mark of the Vampire," "The Mystery of Mr. X," and "A Tale of Two Cities," and co-starred with Greta Garbo in "Camille." (1936). She re-teamed with Dix in "Ace of Aces" also in 1933, which suggests this movie was well-received.

I caught this forgotten flick by accident the other night. Far from being just a 'B' throwaway, it's actually a lot better than you might expect.

Its biggest asset is the surprising charisma of the two leads. I'd always thought of Richard Dix as just another silent-screen hunk. And it's true, a lot of shots linger on his impressive profile. But he rings true as a character who never thinks things through, and projects a self-deprecating charm that really won me over.

Elizabeth Allan is an actress I'd never heard of at all, but this film makes me wonder why she wasn't a much bigger name. She seems able to be effortlessly both witty and vulnerable. I would have loved to see her and Dix together in another dozen films; they make a perfect team.

The script, apparently based on a stage play, is also sharper than you'd expect. The dialog is slick, and the story takes some interesting turns. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but it's way better than the average 1930s potboiler.

My advice: give No Marriage Ties a shot, if you have the chance. I'll certainly watch it again, if I can.