-But the Flesh Is Weak

This film has several story elements that simply wouldn't fly today....plus the two male leads are unlikable pond scum. These would make this film a hard sell for most of today's audiences. First the story elements that are now taboo. Robert Montgomery plays a man who falls for a woman instantly and because he KNOWS he must marry her, he pursues her in a manner that clearly would have him arrested for sexual harassment, stalking and possibly rape if he continued in such a fashion! This was all meant to be cute but comes off as creepy today--and it's interesting to see what people thought was okay back in 1932. To make things worse, late in the film, Montgomery slaps his woman caveman style! I am sure N.O.W. would have a few things to say about this. Second, Montgomery and his father (an oddly miscast C. Aubrey Smith) are both leeches who live off rich society women--sort of like man-hos. This is hardly endearing, though once again the writers didn't seem to get this! Talk about creating a hole from which your characters have to extricate themselves!!! Well, somehow, the film is pleasant enough that if you can ignore the huge problems with the characters, it is still a decent time-passer. The writing AT TIMES is decent (particularly the non-stalker dialog) and the film has a few clever moments...though Edward Everett Horton is a bit wasted in the film. It's a glossy MGM production...with multiple problems.

I'm a big fan of Robert Montgomery, whom I think paired best with Norma Shearer. In his early dashing leading man roles, he's like a princely powder puff, smelling of lavender. In this movie, "But the Flesh Is Weak," he's a sticking rose. Like a bee after honey, he pesters Nora Gregor in frame after frame. The movie became too sickly sweet for me midway, and I was wishing for more scenes with Montgomery and Sir C. Aubrey Smith, who plays his gambling father, surprisingly far more dashing than Montgomery in this film. My guess is that another viewing might be more pleasant. Nora Gregor and Heather Thatcher deliver solid performances and are dressed beautifully. Nils Asther plays an even bigger powder puff in this movie, but he's a delight.

A couple of penniless gentlemen - father & son - would probably prefer not to have to live off the money of wealthy women -BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK...

Full of rather sophisticated, pre-Code dialogue, this sadly obscure film of romantic misadventures among the British upper crust should come as an enjoyable surprise to viewers looking for witty words & fine performances.

Robert Montgomery fits in perfectly with the tenor of this production. Dapper & handsome, with just the faintest tinge of scurrility about his demeanor, he fills the part quite nicely, while making it easy for the viewer to comprehend the type of mindset this sort of charming charlatan needs to survive socially.

Two excellent actresses play the women in Montgomery's life; both, unfortunately, are seldom remembered or recalled in Hollywood's histories. English Heather Thatcher is very touching as the lonely, monocled daughter of a duke; her unrequited adoration of Montgomery is quite palpable. Austro-Hungarian Nora Gregor is beautiful & slightly mysterious as the Viennese widow who captures Montgomery's gigolo heart; her confused hesitation in surrendering to his blandishments is both very human & utterly delightful.

Wizened Edward Everett Horton scores as a perplexed, suspicious lord who desperately wants Miss Gregor's love. Wonderful old Sir C. Aubrey Smith is nothing less than terrific as Montgomery's elderly roué of a father, constantly on the lookout for another rich widow to buy him supper. Smith was one of Hollywood's most distinguished actors - and his talent was never more on display than in the sequence here where his character discovers the awful consequences to personal honour of incurring an unpayable gambling debt.

Silent screen matinee idol Nils Asther enlivens the last few minutes of the film, playing a rakish prince. Eva Moore & Frederick Kerr are very humorous as elderly aristocrats. Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Ray Milland as a young man at Miss Thatcher's party.

This film has an impressive pedigree, based, as it is, on The Truth Game, a popular London stage play by Welshman Ivor Novello (1893-1951). One of the United Kingdom's biggest celebrities, Novello was a phenomenally successful stage & screen actor, composer & playwright. Brought to California by MGM in the very early 1930's, he spent a good deal of time waiting for the Studio to find a suitable American film project for him. Novello eventually wrote the continuity & dialog for -BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK, which would be one of the few substantial outcomes of his brief Hollywood sojourn.

C. Aubrey Smith and Robert Montgomery star in But The Flesh Is Weak which is a screen adaption of one of Ivor Novello's plays The Truth Game which was one of his minor works. Major enough however to get a respectable run of 107 performances in 1931 during the middle of the Depression. Probably because the author himself starred on Broadway during the run.

Ivor Novello was as Noel Coward, a one man creative force. Wrote, composed, acted in many of his own works. It might have really been worthwhile to see him in this, but Hollywood being what it is demanded a movie box office name. So Robert Montgomery as he did with Noel Coward's Private Lives filled the bill for MGM again.

No music in this one, Smith and Montgomery are not a pair of the most heroic of people, they're a father and son pair of con artists who prey on wealthy women of different generations. As it inevitably does, true love enters the picture, but some overwhelming financial considerations may have to take precedence.

C. Aubrey Smith cast against type, usually he's one of the most righteous of individuals on screen gets the acting honors here. At all costs he has to keep up appearances. The highlight is him making one too many passes at the gaming tables. If you remember in the Frank Capra film A Hole In The Head, Frank Sinatra gets caught in the same trap trying to impress Keenan Wynn at the dog track. It worked out in different fashion for both men.

It takes a considerable amount of charm to make these characters likable and Montgomery had that even in his worst films. I doubt we'll see a remake in these times of But The Flesh Is Weak. It's an interesting between the World Wars period piece though.

This features all the contemptible cliches that can mar a romantic comedy: 1) Love at first sight. At the mere sight of a pretty girl, the hero drops the more interesting one he has and immediately proposes marriage. 2) Unwanted attentions. William Haines could learn some tricks from this character, whose boorish insistence on forcing himself on the gal, even in her bedroom, brings her to hysterical tears. 3) Double standard. Both of them are offering themselves to the opposite sex for money, but, though she seems forced to it ("remember, it's harder for a woman") and he seems to freely choose it, she gets his wrath when she decides to marry Horton (before she's even acknowledged Montgomery as a possible romantic partner), and then she somehow gets his wrath again when HE decides to marry someone else for money (AFTER he spent the night with her and promised to marry her). 4) Battling lovers make a good marriage. Though they've known each other for only a few days, one or both has been mad at the other the whole time. Why should they be any happier later?

All that said, this still has its worthwhile moments. C. Aubrey Smith shines in a significant role as "Senior," Montgomery's dad. The father-and-son scenes are excellent. Asther makes a terrific gigolo, and Kerr plays his classic, amiable dodderer, though not quite at top form. Thatcher is fine as the girl who's not in the running, and the scene between her and Montgomery when he tells her how things are is excellently written and played. As to Nora Gregor, her English is not good, and, intentionally or not, her playing emphasizes the negative aspects of the odious cliches. It remained for Renoir to get a measured performance from her in RULES OF THE GAME.