A Notorious Affair

It's a credit to silent screen star Billie Dove that she actually manages to keep Kay Francis from walking away with this movie. It's a great role for Kay, as the lecherous Countess Balakireff, with some killer dialogue ("I never noticed you had pale blue eyes before. I hate pale blue eyes").

Dove, as heiress Patricia Hanley, elopes with starving violinist Paul Gherardi (Basil Rathbone), throwing away her family, fortune and fiancé in the process. Gherardi promptly begins an affair with the predatory Balakireff, as well as achieving fame and what is apparently a load of cash. When Balakireff throws over Gherardi, he suffers a nervous breakdown and is tended to by Dr. Alan Pomeroy, (Kenneth Thomson) Mrs. Gherardi's former fiancé.

Rathbone tries hard -- in fact, it's amazing that he remained so trim with the amount of scenery he was chewing. But Dove and Francis steal the movie from him effortlessly. It's the lovely Dove, with her luminous eyes, and the ravishing Francis that raise this film above the typical precode programmer.

Special credit goes to Thomson, who comes off as a complete loser in the opening scenes, only to return in the latter part of the film as a credible potential love interest. Also noteworthy is the gown Francis wears in the Christmas Carol scene, with a neckline that plunges to her waist.

The plot here is thin, but the team of Dove and Francis make it an interesting diversion.

Patricia Hanley (Billie Dove) married violinist Paul Gherardi (Basil Rathbone), despite the strong disapproval of her father and their high society friends. Dramatics ensue.

Billie Dove is the only saving grace of this movie. Her charm, beauty and engaging presence make this dull soap opera watchable. Less watchable is Basil Rathbone, who is miscast as a romantic leading man. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. or even Phillips Holmes would have been much better in the role. Kay Francis, as the other woman, acquits herself nicely, with her best films yet to come.

It should be noted that this film is one of Billie's few surviving Warner Bros./First-National talkies. For example, her four 1929 films are lost! Still, if you are a Billie Dove fan, you might enjoy this one.

Billie Dove, Basil Rathbone and Kay Francis star in this early talkie about "A Notorious Affair." Basil is a concert violinist who, in the beginning of the film, marries Billie and then becomes infatuated with Kay Francis. The film then bogs down into too much talking. The film has its moments of wit and has good supporting characters, such as Laura Hope Crews from "Gone with the Wind." But the film suffers badly from Billie Dove's wooden acting, particularly in scenes that matter most, especially the scenes between Basil and herself, the closing scene included. And, Basil Rathbone must have gotten better as he had more acting experience, because frankly his delivery was rather unaffected. There was no emotion in their words. What gives the film the life it has is owed to Ms. Kay Francis, as she is excellent as the smoldering, exotic and sensual temptress. She is missed so much when she is not in the scene. While "A Notorious Affair" is a must for Kay Francis fans, others need not bother. 6/10 for a memorable Kay Francis performance.

Stilted dialogue, melodramatic performances, and a formulaic story are what make "Notorious Affair" from 1930 bad.

It's bad today; it was the style back then. Plays and movies dealt in melodrama and in the upper classes.

The film stars Kay Francis, Billie Dove, and Basil Rathbone, who is woefully miscast as an Italian violinist named Gherardi, mispronounced in the movie as "Gerardi". It's a hard G, Guhrardi. Francis plays a complete slut who goes to bed with every man she meets; she goes after Gherardi, who is married to Dove. He succumbs.

In one hilarious scene, he tells her he's going home. She shuts the curtains to her boudoir, and he stands there, face full of desire, closes his eyes, and sighs.

Both Francis and Dove are stunning and beautifully dressed. Francis has a presence and sophistication. Dove is luminescently beautiful, with huge, expressive eyes and an oval face. It's such a shame nearly every one of her films is lost. She retired very early from films but lived until age 94.

Rathbone, with his outrageously bad accent and overly made up face, is wooden and too big for the screen, having come from the theater. Screen acting with speaking was very new.

The gowns are gorgeous.

This film is a great example of the old acting style and type of film made pre-code. Most of all, it's a chance to see the gorgeous Billie Dove.

This is a deliciously daft precode, notable for the appearance of a very pallid Basil Rathbone as a high-strung Italian violinist (or was he French?), one of the few available talkies made by wide-eyed, silent star Billie Dove, and mainly, the presence of a slinky, sex-mad countess Olga, played with great verve by Kay Francis, who early on establishes her credentials by trying out the stable boy and then checking out the older dude who works the feed duties: Kay is constantly on the prowl in a very modern sense, while the script sets up poor Billie as the put-upon wife who gives up fortune for love and finds out husband's real talent is infidelity.

For today's moviegoer, this is probably pretty dull stuff, but for the film historian, the fan of Kay Francis, or anybody who wants to enjoy the minor delights of an early "B" romance, this can be great fun.