Borrowed Wives

The plot to "Borrowed Wives" is pretty bad--and 100% ridiculous! Peter Foley owes money but cannot pay it off until he marries. This is because he is receiving a stipend from his Uncle Henry and it will only be increased when he gets married. He plans on marrying his sweetheart but when her train is delayed, Mr. Parker INSISTS he be paid off NOW or go to jail. And, Parker suggest they use his secretary to pose as Foley's wife in order to make the uncle happy and release the inheritance. This is an amazingly contrived plot--but it gets worse. It seems that Henry and his wife live in a spooky old haunted house!!!! AND, then the woman who Peter planned on marrying arrives at the house with another man!! What?!?!?!?!?! Does any of this make any sense and is there any part of this plot that doesn't sound stupid? If you answered no to both these questions, then I can pretty much say the movie is not worth your time. If, somehow this sound like a good film, then by all means try it--just don't invite me over to watch this turkey!

Rex Lease is set to inherit a fortune. The problem is that he lied to his grandfather and told him he was married, so the fortune has been left to his wife. Vera Reynolds has agreed to marry him, but her flight has been delayed and he only has until midnight to collect. He owes Robert Livingston money, so Livingston suggests that his secretary (and secret girlfriend) Nita Martan can pose as his wife for a fee. The three of them trek off to Rex's uncle's house to collect the money. There are a couple of problems. Rex's romantic rival shows up with Reynolds to prove to her that Rex is already married. Also, Martan's psychotically jealous boyfriend, traffic cop Paul Hurst arrives. Oh ... and Rex's uncle's house appears to be haunted. This absolutely insane and delightful comedy packs this entire plot into just over an hour. They seriously do not make them like this anymore.

Rex Lease needs a wife. If he's married by midnight, his wife collects $800,000. Fortunately, he's supposed to marry Vera Reynolds, but for some reason, can't. So he pretends to be married to Nita Martan, who's Sam Hardy's secretary and cop Paul Hurst's girl friend, and they all wind up by coincidence in an Old Dark House, along with a mountain lion, from which the ladies occasionally disappear.

It's supposed to be a comedy-thriller, and given director Frank Strayer, and Miss Reynolds' silent career, you'd think they would have something, but the mediocre script by Scott Darling, the slow pacing by actors in dialogue and a farcical door-slamming sequence convince me that it's still early days for sound pictures. Where the silent personnel would be comfortable miming things at a leisurely pace and undercranking hard, to make the actions dance, now they're slowing down the actions to give the audience a chance to laugh... and there isn't much to laugh at.

It's a pity, because Strayer, at least, would figure it out and wind up directing the Blondie series at Columbia for some high-speed slapstick humor. Here, though, it's pretty much a misfire.

its too bad some people can't enjoy something like this movie,Paul Hurst is perfect for this role,have seen this movie 6 times and laugh as much as the first time.this is a small gem from the 30's, you don't have to do much thinking just sit back and enjoy this movie, i don't expect godfather type movies from the 30's and neither should any one else

This film essentially begins with a young man by the name of "Peter Foley" (Rex Lease) speeding down a highway with the intention of meeting his fiancé "Alice Blake" (Vera Reynolds) at the airport and getting married before midnight. The reason for his haste is that, if he can show proof that he is married by that time, he can claim a large fortune from his father which was bequeathed to him in his will. However, if he cannot provide proof of his marriage, his uncle "Henry Foley" (Charles Sellon) gets it instead. That being said, he becomes quite concerned when he is pulled over by the police and watches while another suitor for Alice by the name of "Joe Blair" (Robert Livingston) speeds by in his own car hoping to prevent the marriage at all costs. Meanwhile, yet another man named "Geroge W. Parker" (Sam Hardy) also has an interest in Peter being married due to the fact that he is owed quite a bit of money and the marriage will help him out in that regard. That being said, with Alice suddenly being unavailable due to Joe Blair's intervention, George recommends his secretary "Julia Thorpe" (Nita Martin) who is quite promiscuous and would love the opportunity to share in Peter's wealth. The problem, however, is that Julia has a boyfriend named "Bull Morgan" (Paul Hurst) who is not only extremely jealous of anybody who flirts with her, but he is also quite intent upon arresting Peter for his unsafe driving and taking him to the jail without any further delay. What none of them realize, however, is that Uncle Henry has his own agenda, and he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the money. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I genuinely liked this film due in large part to the character interactions and the completely ridiculous plot. I especially liked the performance of Paul Hurst who played his role to near perfection. Admittedly, this film is quite dated and--except for possibly Robert Livingston--all of the other actors were quite unknown to me as well. In any case, despite these minor issues, I still enjoyed this film for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.