Faithless

Faithless is a film about a rich society girl (Tallulah Bankhead) and an average, middle class citizen (Bob Montgomery) who fall in love. The two are at each other's throats though, because each wants to live off the money he or she has. The two do not marry because of this quarrel, and although she loses her money, she lives by borrowing from her wealthy friends and he loses his job and scrounges for jobs during the Depression. Finally, the two meet again, poor and hungry, and decide to marry since they have nothing else to lose. But the Depression gets them down, and an accident forces her to make some tough decisions.

Bankhead is beautiful at first and becomes appropriately harsh as her character loses her money. She is not exotic the way Marlene Dietrich was, but her accent is detectable.

Montgomery is excellent in this movie. His character is consistent and good and perhaps because of this and his five o-clock shadow, he is absolutely gorgeous.

Overall, this is an entertaining pre-code film with a great cast and a few surprises up it's sleeve.

The wonderful Tallulah Bankhead shines in her last Hollywood film of the 30s, playing a spoiled heiress who loses her money and her man (Robert Montgomery), as well as her dignity, on the way to learning what is important. Typical weepie of the early 30s is a terrific vehicle for Bankhead in the kind of role often played by Constance Bennett----glamorous, slinky, and bitchy. Excellent dramatic support from the usually comic Hugh Herbert.

FAITHLESS is neither a great classic nor an artistic masterpiece nor even a very original story. In simple, straightforward fashion it tracks the downfall of a spoiled heiress (Tallulah Bankhead) ruined by the Depression who struggles between love for an ad executive (Robert Montgomery) and addiction to the high life which she can no longer afford. For a while she manages to sponge off old friends from her social circle but is rejected when it becomes clear to them that she is hopelessly broke. And down and down she goes. Her personal fate parallels that of the economy – from the hedonistic roaring 20's to the sober, desperate 30's. The movie even opens with a series of newspaper headlines tracking the progress of the economic downturn from late '29 until '32 when this plot goes into action.

The chief attraction is Bankhead, who made few films, most of them abysmal. This was one of the good ones. She is coiffed and made up to look like Garbo in GRAND HOTEL. The result is certainly striking from the neck up, though she looks a bit dumpy and ill-at-ease in some of Adrian's more extravagant gowns. No matter. With her distinctive voice, vivid personality, physical agility and polished theatrical diction, she never fails to delight or at least intrigue the viewer and this scenario gives her opportunities to explore a wide range of emotional states. There is nothing original about the fallen woman story, but Tallulah is a true original. She is in particularly fine form delivering witty banter, as in a scene in which she converses with Montgomery's brother (Maurice Murphy), who introduces himself as a metallurgist ("What kind of metal do you urge?") Lines like that roll off Bankhead's tongue with effortless aplomb. Montgomery is his usual spiffy self, delivering a competent, honest performance.

The strains of "St. Louis Blues" rise from the soundtrack as Bankhead contemplates prostitution as a way to get money. That melody was so often used as cinematic code for "prostitute" that someone should take a count.

MGM wasn't a studio known for films probing into grittier subjects like the Depression, but this film is an exception. Its riches to rags tale is a little melodramatic, but so telling of the era. We see quite a bit of its struggles: being hungry, wanting to work but being turned away again and again, getting a job but having the company go under, standing in relief lines but having the food run out, and having to make a tradeoff between getting healthcare for a serious injury or saving the money. We also see the dilemma of crossing a picket line for a job.

The men on strike have a point, they have kids to feed and have no other recourse against bosses who've halved their pay such that they no longer have a living wage (and they use this term). So does the man looking for a job who is desperately broke and figures "any pay is better than zero pay." Maybe the owners have a viewpoint too (though it's not shown), that this is the only way the company can remain solvent, but it feels instead a depiction of how capitalism can crush the working class when it's not organized, and people are pitted against one another.

The cast to this one is quite good, and features Tallulah Bankhead before she took a lengthy absence from the screen to return to Broadway (her next film was Hitchcock's Lifeboat in 1944). The banter rolls off her tongue and she looks gorgeous in the gowns by Adrian. Robert Montgomery plays his part very well too, particularly when the couple finally do connect when poor. They figure there is nothing left to do but love one another and laugh at their pathos, and they're quite charming together. I've also never seen Hugh Herbert any better, and it's because he's not so goofy; he plays the part of a rich married man who takes advantage of Bankhead's dire financial straits for a quid pro quo relationship that clearly makes her queasy.

As a fallen socialite, Bankhead becomes the kept woman of this married man; as a poor woman, she eventually resorts to walking the streets. It's a sad commentary on the one thing of value she perceives she has left. Had the film been made when the Production Code was being enforced a couple of years later, she would have had to suffer a terrible fate, but the film is delightfully pre-Code. Montgomery's character may display a little old-fashioned male ego early on, insisting that he be the breadwinner, but it's wonderful that he accepts her through everything that happens, and in a true display of love, simply says it's all forgotten and they'll start together from that moment on, not once but twice. It's a lovely sentiment of sticking together, and it extends to the goodwill of the landlady of the small room they've rented. For a melodrama this is a great window into the Depression, and it has a great message.

For most of the 1930s MGM scarcely noticed there was a Depression going on, suffocating its films in production values and stars. But this fairly ludicrous soap opera starts Tallulah Bankhead out in Art Deco trappings and flouncy evening gowns and sends her down, down, down the social ladder, from high-priced mistress to woman of the streets. It's all for the love of Robert Montgomery, on a less precipitous but still steep downward path (he starts out as a $20,000-a-year ad man, a fortune in 1932, and becomes an unfortunate scab truck driver). Tallulah gets to laugh her throaty laugh and break mirrors and throw tantrums, but you see why she didn't become a movie star: It's not an expressive movie face, and the voice, fascinating as it is, hasn't much variety. Plus, this sort of part was so familiar -- think Ruth Chatterton, Kay Francis, Constance Bennett -- that one suspects audiences tired of it. Despite the ridiculous plot conveniences and unconvincing happy ending, it's a frank film coming from this studio, and the dialog has moments of sharpness. Hugh Herbert is good in an Edward Arnold kind of role, and Tallulah's something to see and hear, even if another throaty laugh or "dahling" is always just around the corner.