The Devil to Pay!

Ronald Coleman had been a star of the screen for several years when talkies came in, and what a boost it was to his career. His Oxford English accent is so enthralling I could listen to him recite the farmer's almanac and not be bored.

Coleman plays Willie Hale, a 30ish playboy from a wealthy family who spends his time womanizing and gambling. Yet, he's a likable rogue - not only likable from the standpoint of the audience but by family and friends too. He has yet again gone broke due to his constant gambling and sells off his possessions in a foreign location to settle his debts and provide passage back home to England. When he gets there, he at first is met by a father who insists he'll kick him out - he's had it with Willie and his layabout ways. However, five minutes alone in a room with Willie and his charm, and Willie is not only forgiven by dad, dad has given him one hundred pounds to boot.

Willie then goes for a day's recreation with his sister and her friend, Dorothy Hope (Loretta Young). Dorothy is set to be engaged to the Grand Duke Paul that very night, mainly just because her dad wants royalty in the family, and there is nobody else special in her life. That changes after her day with Willie, and soon there is a scandal brewing as Dorothy refuses to go through with the marriage as planned.

Ronald Coleman is always a delight to watch in these early talking films he did for Sam Goldwyn where he is playing the confident adventurer or cad or both. He has a demeanor akin to Errol Flynn, but he is unable to display Flynn's physical agility due to a disabling wound he received during World War I. However, what he lacks in physical agility Coleman always made up in agility of soul. Loretta Young, only 17 when this picture was made, shows the beginning of her trademark sweet girl that can erupt into a ball of fire when the occasion calls for it. Myrna Loy plays Willie's girl from the past - Mary Crayle - a showgirl. Here Myrna is still playing a part similar to the exotic vamp parts she got stuck with so often over at Warner Brothers when she was a contract player from 1926 until shortly before this movie was made in 1930.

This is pretty much a light and breezy romantic comedy from start to finish. If you're in a mood for the kind of escapist entertainment that lightened the hearts of audiences during the Great Depression, this little film fits the bill.

It's all very predictable but written, acted and produced so exceptionally well that this nonsense becomes strangely enjoyable. What's astonishing is how well made and modern this is - it's hard to believe this was made in 1931.

Essentially this film is just an excuse for Ronald Colman just to do what Ronald Colman does: be charming, suave, witty and nonchalantly amusing. That basically it and you'll wonder if a whole picture can be nothing more than Ronald Colman doing Ronald Colman...surely he can't pull that off for a whole hour and a half - but he does!

In comparison with the dross which comprised the majority of what was being churned out in 1931, this is such a refreshing exception. Watching this, you can understand why Sam Goldwyn, all these years later, is still remembered as one of Hollywood's greatest producers. He made sure everything was perfect, he knew exactly how to entertain an audience, he knew how to make pictures. What's also refreshing is that this is a comedy about the super-rich, the English aristocracy in fact and yet the characters are normal, they're believable and kind of real. They're neither the bloated, pompous stuffed shirts or the cold, emotionless, evil and callous caricatures which they're normally portrayed as - they're just real people acting normally.

It's not just the star who shines in this. Besides the outrageously likeable Mr Colman, we've got a cute dog, we've got Myrna Loy being a blonde bombshell with an English accent, we've got loveable old grump Frederick Kerr (of Frankenstein and numerous Jessie Matthews comedies) not to mention Loretta Young. No, why would we not want to mention Loretta Young? She's remarkable in this - not only is she impossibly pretty (if this were made now, you'd think she had to be CGI generated because it's hard to believe that anyone can look so absolutely perfect) but she acts as though she's being doing talkies for decades. The big, big, big question you will ask yourself when watching this is: if this whole crew can act so well, so convincing and naturally why, oh why is the acting in most 1931 films was so truly awful!

This is not a hidden gem or anything like that but it's pleasant and amusing. What this guarantees and importantly it does it without being at all slushy and sentimental in any way (again refreshing for a 1931 film), is a cheerful and warm hug. The script is still actually quite funny today which I think is because it doesn't resort to being stupid or slapstick so it can still raise a smile from a modern audience. As fluffy lightweight romantic comedies go, this is one of the best.

Light and airy early comedy with Colman laying it on thick in his quasi-philosophical turn as the prodigal son. It's all very British and very there you know, with touches of sentiment to complement the humor. Only after it was over did I realize some of the characters - especially the pampered females - actually got on my nerves.

Willie Leyland (Ronald Colman) returns to England to old girlfriend (Myrna Loy), but meets new girl (Loretta Young). The repartee between the characters is delightful. My favourite scene is when Ronald Colman is writing a letter to Myrna Loy to break off their relationship. He has gotten a dog upon his return to England, and he asks for the dog's comments while he's composing the letter.

The film is well done, and the charm of Ronald Colman and Loretta Young makes the story a "must see".

This film directed by George Fitzmaurice, who made so many excellent films, is well up to his excellent standard. It is crisp, witty, with some wonderful lines, and has the inimitable Ronald Colman in the romantic lead. Colman plays the irresistibly charming younger son of a wealthy English peer. He is financially irresponsible (spending, for instance, £15 of his last £20 in the world on a cute little terrier whom he names George), but open, wildly generous, contemptuous of lucre, irreverent in the politest possible way, and hopelessly sentimental. He is so dashing that all the women fall in love with him. His girlfriend is a star of the music halls, and hence in 1930 a denizen of the demi-monde, played with her typical svelte, narrow-eyed silkiness by the youthful Myrna Loy. Fitzmaurice was not a great user of closeups, and gals of that day had their faces half-hidden with those awful clinging hats anyway, so we do not get as good glimpses of the faces of the two heroines as we would like. The director seems more interested in the charming Colman, anyway. The romantic female lead is the youthful and fresh-faced Loretta Young, who had not yet become the proto-Julie Andrews we generally know her as, but was still a blushing girl exuding all the sweetness of a rose garden and laughing merrily and heartily the whole time. It is obvious that a character with her terrific sense of humour was needed to appreciate the snob-busting social anarchism of the refreshing aristocratic character played by Colman. The plot barely matters, as is so often the case with these light and amusing films. This is just such fun.