Honor Among Lovers

In this romantic melodrama from Paramount Pictures and director Dorothy Arzner, Claudette Colbert stars as Julia Traynor, secretary to wealthy business mogul Jerry Stafford (Fredric March). The two work great together, but when Jerry reveals that he has romantic feelings for her, Julia states that she has a boyfriend, Philip (Monroe Owsley), and that they are to be married. After some time in drunken commiseration with his dissolute pal Monty (Charlie Ruggles), Jerry comes to accept the union of Julia and Philip, and even allows Philip to invest money for him, which leads to problems for everyone. Also featuring Pat O'Brien in his feature debut.

This is light on plot and style, and its appeal rests with the performers, all of whom are good, although Owsley makes one wonder what Colbert saw in him. Ginger Rogers is amusing as a dim-bulb chipper companion of Ruggles. This marked one of the first appearances of March's mustache.

Julia Taylor (Claudette Colbert) is a crackerjack Girl Friday for focused businessman Jerry Stafford ( a mustachioed Fredric March) who is impressed by more than her efficient and invaluable assistance to him. When she informs him she is to marry another he has to fire her due to his romantic feelings regarding her. Reluctant to make his romantic intentions known, she commits to a reckless financier (Monroe Owsley in a typical unctuous turn), a smug adulterer who eventually goes bust. To save him she offers herself to the ever noble Stafford who responds by bailing him out no strings attached.

Colbert and March always paired well together and in "Honor" they do so again but Dorothy Arzner's direction lacks passion as the couple find their way into each other's arms eventually in what is mostly a dull affair that relies on more reason than raciness.

Easily the least of the early Dorothy Arzner's I have so far seen, 'Honor Among Lovers' doesn't begin to deliver the saucy preCode frolics promised by the title, and the presence early on of a pert young Ginger Rogers raises expectations soon dashed.

Claudette Colbert gets top billing but bears little resemblance to the sleek screen goddess she would soon become. Typically of Ms Arzner the men are a sorry lot - Monroe Owsley in particular being an absolutely charmless creep as Claudette's lawful wedded (heaven knows what she ever saw in him in the first place) - while Fredric March - who sports a distracting moustache - despite playing a hot shot investment broker shows far more interest in courting the married Colbert than in his job.

You might think that one of those early 1930s 'women's films' about a girl who marries the wrong man is not for you? Don't think that - this is brilliant! OK, essentially it is just a trashy soap but it's fantastic - honestly!

So why would a Cagney fan watch this? It's made for women, it's written by a woman, directed by a woman and staring THE woman of the 1930s. This isn't the usual type of movie I'd consider watching but because I'm weirdly infatuated with Claudette Colbert I gave it a go. So glad I did! It might be because I wasn't expecting much but I found this absolutely enthralling.

For a film made in 1931, it's extraordinarily well made and the acting is outstanding. We've got none of that theatrical, silent movie type over-gesturing or gazing wistfully into the camera which plagued many early 1930s pictures - this has naturalistic acting and realistic, believable real characters.

The story is nothing original - a pretty girl, chased by two men marries the wrong one. It's not however a sickly sweet romantic melodrama (like one of those mushy Kay Francis films), no, this works so well because its two leads are so utterly real and likeable. You become totally engaged with the romantic dilemmas and emotional traumas of Colbert and March. They're both so natural and real, avoiding the usual clichéd stereotypes.

Claudette Colbert is dazzling, her perfectly well developed character is flirty and bubbly but also sensible and intelligent. Fredric March, playing a millionaire isn't the usual over entitled cad, he's charming and suave but he's also sensitive and a genuinely really nice guy. Dorothy Arzner's supporting cast also give refreshingly proper performances as well portraying real people: Charlie Ruggles plays his usual inebriated friend and Ginger Rogers, still in her 'Betty Boop' phase is fun.

This has a much more modern feel to it than a lot of early 30s films whilst still retaining that naive charm of the era. It's 100% entertaining.

It's a pre-code romantic drama in New York City in 1930-1931. Being pre-code allows the characters' morals to be more suspect than in later films. Wealthy Wall Street tycoon Jerry Stafford (Fredric March) is in love with his highly efficient secretary, Julia Traynor (Claudette Colbert). However, he's not the marrying kind, so he invites her to accompany him on an around-the-world trip. She has a young boyfriend, Philip Craig (Monroe Owsley), near the beginning of his Wall Street career. Philip and Julia plan to marry when they have enough money, but Jerry's aggressive pressure on Julia prompts them to marry immediately. Jerry is not impressed and fires Julia.

The film follows Philip's efforts to build his business as a broker for Jerry and Monty Dunn (Charles Ruggles), one of Jerry's friends. Things have appeared well on the surface for a year, but Philip is encountering serious financial trouble. Jerry re-enters their lives, which ends in a highly conflicted climax.

"Honor Among Lovers" is early filmmaking by Dorothy Arzner, the only woman who directed sound films in those years. By modern standards, it's unpolished, but Colbert and March make the best of a thin story. The studio cinematography features long shots, and the pacing is quite pedestrian. It's interesting, mainly as a period piece.