The Man in Possession

One of Robert Montgomery's best comedy situations. I am trying to find a DVD or VHS copy to purchase. None are available. All characters are portrayed to perfection. The pace is perfect, editing is excellent, great photography. Humorous situations take the viewer by surprise. You can tell that it was from a successful Broadway production. The writing is superb.

Reginald Owens does a terrific job as do all the other beautifully cast actors and actresses. This picture is a classic because it fits in so well with today's world as it also did in 1931.

Its message is timeless.

Clara played by Charlotte Greenwood is an added treat. C. Aubrey Smith emotes superbly under the most adverse conditions while a young Robert Montgomery is at his peak!

The Man In Possession (1931) : Brief Review -

Robert Montgomery as a cute butler in a sweet little pre-code rom-com. Since it's an early talkie, I noticed some issues with the sound and dialogue delivery. That was quite acceptable for the time, but it did affect my viewing experience. The film felt a bit slow given the pacing standards of motion pictures. Aside from that, I don't think there's anything that can stop me from calling it a sweet little rom-com from the pre-code era. The film has very little to do with the writing and screenplay, as the story feels smaller compared to what one can expect in an 80-90 minute movie. Raymond takes a job as a sheriff's officer and is asked to take possession of Crystal's house, which has not paid debts for a long time. She asks them to come back tomorrow, but the officer leaves Raymond at her house. Raymond does all the butler's tasks while Crystal tries to woo her boyfriends in hopes of arranging money. In the meantime, Raymond's brother, father, and mother arrive at the same house for dinner, as Crystal wants to marry Raymond's son for financial gain. After dinner, Raymond and Crystal make love and realize they are madly in love with each other. What will Crystal do now? Robert Montgomery portrays a sophisticated, humble, helpful, and considerate butler who also has some stylish flair-something similar to what we saw William Powell do in My Man Godfrey (1936) later. Irene Purcell was somewhat lackluster; I'm not sure why. She seemed tepid and quite typecast, which is why the chemistry between these two did not work. The laughs weren't plentiful, but the story was sweet, and the love story was even sweeter when viewed from an early 30s perspective. Overall, it's a good, one-time flick by Sam Wood, who has had much better silent comedies to his name. I enjoyed a few moments despite its flaws.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

With his own upper class upbringing and perfect diction that went with his stage training, Robert Montgomery was one American who felt at home and could be accepted when he played in films like The Man In Possession. Montgomery plays the charming, but slightly spoiled upper class Englishman whose family just wants him out of the way because he did a stretch in the joint. For some white collar crime I'm sure.

In any event when C. Aubrey Smith playing his Colonel Blimp like father offers to stake him to passage, somewhere, anywhere out of the country Montgomery leaves any way and gets a job as a bill collector.

Wouldn't you know it on the first day on the job as a trainee with Forrester Harvey, Montgomery is left with the client to guard what might be repossessed. The client is the lovely Irene Purcell and because she's expecting guests at a dinner party Montgomery agrees to be her butler so he doesn't seem out of place.

All I can say is that for a glorified repo-man Montgomery is one fast worker.

Back in the early days of sound the studios bought all kinds of material for dialog and this film is based on a play originally done in London that did not have a long run in Depression era Broadway. One thing that MGM did do here was hire P.G. Wodehouse to spice up the dialog which he did. I'm not sure how much of this Wodehouse, but I'll bet the good stuff is from him. Some of the best is from Purcell's maid Charlotte Greenwood.

Puncturing English pretensions was a Wodehouse specialty and he had a couple of fine examples of pretentious fatheads in the cast with Alan Mowbray and Montgomery's brother Reginald Owen. It's for Owen the dullard's prospects that C. Aubrey Smith wants to get his slightly soiled son out of sight and out of mind. These two definitely could have been Wodehouse originals.

MGM later remade this for Robert Taylor and Jean Harlow as Personal Property. Owen actually repeated his role there.

Even a smear of Wodehouse is always good and if that's your cup of tea than The Man In Possession is your kind of film.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It consistently made me laugh, and the comedy could stand on it's own legs to this day. I'd love to see a remake of this movie....or, perhaps even more appropriate, I think it's tailor made to be a great Broadway comedy. The ensemble cast interact wonderfully with each other...the timing is unforced and perfect. The reactionary facial expressions are enough to carry this movie on it's own. I wonderful movie spiced by more than just a hint of naughty-ness, this must have caused quite a hub-bub in it's time.

Being from 1931 you'd probably not expect something which will actually make you laugh. You might just expect a stagey historical artefact....but you'd be wrong. OK, its style is 1930s but you'll be surprised how witty, well- made and genuinely funny this is.

Watched today, many 1930s comedies seem childish and stupid as though their target audience had the i.q. Of SpongeBob SquarePants. Some performances make you feel embarrassed for the actors. Some make you embarrassed to admit to being a fan of 1930s pictures. Not this though! This is one you'll try to make your friends and family watch.

They got the blend of silliness, absurdity and being able to empathise with believable characters exactly right. If performed today, the writing, including contributions from P G Woodhouse could not be improved on. Whilst not being FAWLTY TOWERS standard, as farces go, this is perfect.

Being from 1931 it's also a charming piece of escapist romance as well. Again, you might expect something sickeningly sweet and sentimental but this is definitely not. Even for a pre-code movie this one is remarkably racy. Irene Purcell plays a wonderfully calculating and conniving gold-digger who gets away with it by being sexiness personified. It's a great loss to cinema that she favoured theatre rather than film. She was absolutely stunning - and her performance in this outshines most of her more famous contemporaries.

It's such a treat to find a clever, witty and well produced comedy with such outstanding acting from a year not especially associated with this type of quality.