Housewife

Self-described "just a housewife" Nan (Ann Dvorak) is married to hubby Bill (George Brent) who only earns $175 a month as office manager for an advertising firm. Scrimping and saving to make ends meet, she still manages to remember that Sunday dinner isn't Sunday dinner without Leg of Lamb (and even though complains about their lack of income, keeps a maid in the house to help her with her "housework"). Hubby has a meanie boss where he works who gives him no respect, so with wife giving him the push (she's been busy reading "Success" magazine) he quits and decides to start his own advertising firm, with strong wife by his side helping him come up with ideas AND helping him get new clients. And meanwhile - he brings over blonde Pat (Bette Davis) from his old office, a girl who once was in love with him in high school, and stills seems to hold the torch for him.

I guess the plot of this film sounds a bit silly, but I actually liked this a lot, though thought the ending was a bit tacked on and unsatisfying. Bette Davis looks very pretty in this film, and I love the chemistry between her and George Brent. Bonus - I love all the really gorgeous satin and crepe ruffled bias-cut dresses the women wear in this. Very good film, well worth seeing.

Until Bette Davis makes a play for George Brent, this film drags badly. Even then, there's little zip in the screenplay although it does become more interesting. Davis had a crush on Brent in high school but left for New York once he married Ann Dvorak, and now is hired as the chief advertising copywriter at the unheard of salary of $25,000 per year by the advertising firm where Brent works. (Brent earns $2,100 a year as office manager.) When Brent quits at the urging of Dvorak and starts his own firm, Davis is lured back to work for him and the trouble starts. This was the type of role Davis could eat up if it were in the hands of more capable screenwriters and the mores of the 30's permitted it. Then it might have been called "Homewrecker," with the emphasis on Davis rather than Dvorak. Still, it's fun to watch the stars and is a good example of an early Bette Davis film.

Housewife is the kind of film that drive feminists absolutely mad in presenting the woman as fit to be nothing more than the one who keeps home and hearth for the husband. It must have been especially galling for Bette Davis who definitely did not fit the mold of the message of this film.

Bette's not in the title role, she's the infamous 'other woman' of this Warner Brothers soap opera. The title role is played by Ann Dvorak, wife of George Brent, mother of Ronnie Cosbey. She tells Brent that he's not exactly showing a certain amount of get up and go needed to succeed in the world. That sends Brent off in the direction of Davis who is a career woman who just started working at Brent's advertising agency.

In the meantime Dvorak ain't taking this philandering lying down, she shows she's got some worldly ways after all and even gets an admirer in the person of John Halliday sniffing around.

But this is 1934 so films like this can only follow certain specific formula guidelines. All these people are so terribly civilized about all this infidelity.

1934 was the year Bette Davis finally got a breakthrough part in Of Human Bondage. Yet Warner Brothers would still cast her in fluff like Housewife. No wonder she took off for Great Britain.

WARNING: These comments may reveal portions of this film's plot.

This film takes you on a variety of "up's and down's" as you watch a young couple that is struggling during the depression make it big when the wife encourages her husband to strike out on his own in advertising. This portion of the film runs slow, and the entire film seems very melancholy, until the plan works and suddenly the couple is rich, pulling you up.

Then you are pulled back down when the now successful husband hires an old high-school flame onto his staff and starts an affair. The wife won't grant the husband a divorce, however, pulling the mood back down again. To throw a curve into the mix, (as if there weren't enough already), the couple's son is struck by a car. This changes both their minds about the divorce -- now she wants one, and the husband doesn't!

The film ends on another high note, with a happy ending that appears from no where. Up to this point, many portions of the film have run rather slow, just as the beginning of the film. This happy ending appears from no where -- the couple reconciles in the courtroom at their divorce.

Overall, the film surprised me. For a 1934 film to focus on the depression, adultery, and a child struck by a car doesn't seem to be much of the "happy-go-lucky" films of that era when people didn't want to be reminded of their problems -- or so I understood.

Parents, the kids won't like this one since it is a drama. They probably shouldn't see it anyway, considering the philandering of the husband and the car hitting the child. The big draw here is the "other woman," played by Bette Davis. If you can catch it on cable, you might want to check this one out.

While the premise sounded pretty old-hat and familiar and the title not particularly appetising (not to mention trusted reviewers not caring for it), 'Housewife' did have enough to make me want to see it. The main reasons being Bette Davis, an acting legend, and Ann Dvorak, always a pleasure to watch. But also because of my appreciation of the genre 'Housewife' fits under and of my love for classic, pre-1970s film (though my film taste is made up of all decades and genres).

'Housewife' though could have been so much better. It is watchable and does have its good things, including Davis and Dvorak. There is also though nothing much special in 'Housewife' and has a lot of major drawbacks, with the story almost single-handedly bringing the film down. All did much better work, performances and films, despite coming off quite well this is lesser early Davis in terms of films and even a lot of her previous films are better.

As said, Davis commands the screen without over-doing it, though to me it wasn't a going through the motions type of performance. The best performance as others have said belongs to Dvorak, a sheer delight and perhaps the best and only real exceptional thing about 'Housewife'. The film looks good and is amiably scored.

It does pick up in momentum a little in the middle act where things got more eventful. There are moments where the dialogue isn't too corny or overwrought.

The story sadly badly undoes 'Housewife'. It is a slow-starter and takes far too long to find its footing. For so much of the length, the story is very flimsy in content and what there is is so been there done that that there are so few surprises. Then the film gets very rushed and cramped towards the end, culminating in an "out of the blue", very silly and tacked on ending that doesn't ring true for a second.

George Brent is very take or leave for me generally as an actor, and here he came over as very bland as a character impossible to feel anything for. The direction is very routine at best, which is a good way to sum up too much of the pace too. The characters are sketchy and only Dvorak's has much likeability. The script was in sore need of a tightening up and wit.

All in all, watchable but a big disappointment. 5/10