Illicit

Barbara Stanwyck and James Rennie are ultra-modern 1930s lovers who shun conventional trappings such as marriage. She is afraid that marriage will kill the romance. Who has not had these fears? He is eternally patient, but his father maneuvers her into a commitment. Their marriage stumbles (whose hasn't) and the ex-girlfriend and ex-boyfriend enter the scene. Soon this thoroughly modern couple are acting like typical married folk and Barbara declares that the marriage has indeed killed the love. Stanwyck exhibits skills as an actress that will make her famous in better films later. Claude Gillingwater's portrayal of the father is excellent and serve as a good role model. Charles Butterworth (the faithful friend) was really quite a wit and succeeds in stealing a scene or two. I can overlook any technical flaws in the movie because I think that the central issues are still relevant today. Who has to compromise more in a marriage? The husband or the wife? Will each of the lovers do what is necessary to save the marriage when they know they have problems? All is not revealed until the final scene whose outcome is by no means certain. Good movie, not a great one, but good entertainment for a couple that talk to each other. I say watch it (if you can find it) and see if this pre-Code movie does not warrant your appreciation and was worth your time.

The plot of "Illicit" is similar to the plot of an early Bette Davis film called "Ex-Lady" made two years after this one. They should be similar - Edith Fitzgerald wrote both of them. "Ex-Lady" was based on an unproduced play, and "Illicit" actually was a play. Both concern women who don't want to get married and men who do. Anne (Stanwyck)(like Davis) is an unconventional free spirit afraid that marriage will destroy the romance she has with Dick (James Rennie). However, word gets around that the two have been weekending in Connecticut, and Dick's father (Claude Gillingwater) convinces her to agree to marry Dick. Thanks to an old girlfriend of Dick's and an old beau of Anne's, trouble brews in paradise once the rings are exchanged.

This is an early sound film, so the rhythm is off, and some of the sound has an echo. However, a few pauses that are a little too long don't really impede the fine acting. Stanwyck is wonderful and gives indication of the wonderful star she will become. She's funny, vivacious, and likable. Charles Butterworth plays a drunken friend very convincingly, and Claude Gillingwater is dignified yet warm as Dick's father. Rennie makes an attractive lover turned husband for Stanwyck. Joan Blondell has a small role as a friend.

The film is interesting because it's early Stanwyck, but also because of the independent woman angle which soon will fade from view with the ushering in of the code. Once the '40s hit, the independent woman became an uptight career woman wearing a tailored suit, her hair up, and sporting a stern attitude. Young, carefree non-virgins became a thing of the past. But these precode films are what helped mold the strong images of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck and are worth watching.

First time Stanwwyck captivated me. Attractive, cute, sensitive, intelligent. A master performance raising an overall OK movie to a different level. I fell in love with her character as an actress and as a young woman. Ann is a beautiful young lady full of sensitivity, common sense and intelligence. The movie reveals a conflict of feelings between two people triggered by their love toward each other. You would say it shows two characters with a behavior ahead of its time, but scratching the surface of the "mores" of the time, it really portraits a common conflict of love, in which the characters act in a mostly mature and civilized manner -I would add she way more mature than him, and this kind of acting does not have anything to do with the "mores" of the times. Quite the opposite,human beings have behaved maturely through history regardless of the prevailing social norms. Finally I would like to add that now I understand how Barbara Stanwick gained her reputation as a remarkable actress during her youth.

This movie creaks with age, but is memorable for being Barbara Stanwyck's first movie as a star. Miss Stanwyck gives an excellent performance, as always, but the supporting cast, particularly Charles Butterworth, steals the show as an amiable drunk whose bark is worse than his bite.

Am somebody that doesn't mind in any way melodrama, and there are many great ones from the classic film era (name from the 40s and 50s), as long as the film in question is done well. The story sounded really good on paper, even if it is melodramatic personified, and have always loved Barbars Stanwyck as an actress. When it came to melodrama during the "classic film" era, she was one of the greats when it came to actresses, Joan Crawford was another good example.

'Illicit', a very early film for Stanwyck, has been inevitably compared to its "remake" made two years later 'Ex-Lady'. It is not very often where there has been personal preferences for remakes over their originals (David Cronenberg's 'The Fly', from personal opinion, is one of the finest examples of preferring the remake over the original), but to me 'Ex-Lady' is the better film. Found it to be wittier, more daring, that it didn't take itself as seriously and that it has held up better. Am not saying by any stretch that 'Illicit' is a bad film, it isn't and it is definitely worth a look if only once perhaps but that is dependent on one's taste. It is namely to be seen if you want to see Stanwyck in an early role pre-stardom and if you want to see every film of hers in existence.

There are good things here. It is nicely photographed and the period detail in all senses is truly opulent. Absolutely love Stanwyck's clothes and she looks great in them. There are some amusing and moving moments.

Most of my mixed feelings rating though is for the acting, which, excepting a bland and quite stiff James Rennie in a nothing role, is very good. Stanwyck is wonderful with all the things that made her a great actress at her peak emerging here and the main reason to see 'Illicit' (will confess to having to give it less than a 5 if she wasn't as good as she was). Charles Butterworth is the other standout and is an amusing presence, and Joan Blondell is always worth watching. Ricardo Cortez is fine too.

Unfortunately, 'Illicit' comes over as very creaky and stage bound today. Or at least that's my perspective. The pace can be quite dreary and the drama that the quite thin story has feels too much of a very over-heated (a danger with melodrama) filmed play. 'Illicit' has more of a serious tone compared to 'Ex-Lady', so serious that it comes over as a little too glum in places. The sound is quite primitive and has an awkward flow at times.

Did find 'Ex-Lady' (really sorry for the comparison) to be better scripted, just preferred the wittier tone and the tauter pace of it and also found it more daring as said. Anything that may have shocked in 'Illicit' back then is reasonably tame now, whereas you could see much better how 'Ex-Lady' was ahead of its time. Although the acting is good, as said Rennie fails to make much of an impression and a large part of it is down to that his character is very sketchy.

All in all, worth a look but a bit of an oddity. 5/10