Man of the World

The oldest and least entry in the Lombard Collection is this would-be sophisticated melodrama, about ex-journalist con-man William Powell who appears to look out for wealthy Americans vacationing in Paris being blackmailed after having been caught in compromising situations – when he’s really the one behind the whole scheme (with a couple of associates in tow).

Lombard (who subsequently married her co-star) plays the young niece of one such victim (Guy Kibbee); this is the earliest of her films that I’ve watched and, frankly, if it weren’t for her voice she’d be unrecognizable from her later zanier output. Here, she’s given a very plain look indistinguishable from many an early 1930s leading lady; in fact, it was only with her performance as a temperamental theatrical star to John Barrymore’s madcap impresario in Howard Hawks’ magnificent screwball comedy TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934) that she acquired her distinctive – and captivating – personality.

Anyway, the film makes for a mildly interesting artifact due to its unusual plot and setting (though obviously shot on the Paramount back-lot); Powell’s is actually a thoughtful characterization – but Lombard is merely decorous (needless to say, I’ve always preferred her in comedy roles as opposed to drama). Also in the cast is Wynne Gibson as The (vindictive and somewhat pathetic) Other Woman, a role that would practically be replicated wholesale in NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (1932) which, coincidentally, is included on Universal’s “Mae West Glamour Collection” set!

All in all, however, director Wallace fared much better in his more sympathetic depiction of another band of crooks years later in the winsome comedy THE YOUNG IN HEART (1938).

This was the film when William Powell and Carole Lombard, through working together, fell in love and married in the same year. At this stage in her career, Lombard was still somewhat embryonic, having not yet developed into her proper persona, though she was an attractive and winsome ingénue. Powell, on the other hand, who was already 39, had fully matured, whereas Lombard was only 23. The story and screenplay were both by Herman Mankiewicz (1897-1953), brother of the director Joe Mankiewicz, uncle of Tom (whom I knew), and related to numerous others in the film business. It is rather sad tale of a basically good man who has become such a 'man of the world' that he cannot be true to himself and thus cannot find the happiness he craves. The story is set in Paris, at the peak of the period of its American tourist and bohemian invasion. Although not filmed on location, there are some convincing cafes and a very funny scene where a genuine Frenchwoman and her large number of children, gabbling in impeccable patois, squeeze Powell and Lombard off a park bench. So the script had such excellent touches. The quality of the film was very good, considering how recently sound had come in, and no one seems too obviously to be speaking into a microphone concealed in a vase of flowers. William Powell really is superb in this film, and it is his showpiece, and it must have helped boost his career a lot. The marriage of Powell and Lombard would only last two years, but it seems to have done them both a world of good, and they remained friends. The film had two directors, Richard Wallace, who was two years younger than Powell and is best known for the John Garfield film THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943), and an uncredited Edward Goodman, who only directed two films, both in 1931. I presume it was Wallace who finished the Goodman picture, rather than the other way around, but that is just a guess. I have no idea what was behind it all and why Goodman disappeared from the business that year, as he did not die until 1962. One of the mysteries we will probably never solve! Guy Kibbee plays a rich American tourist, father to Lombard, and does so with his usual geniality and large girth. Wynne Gibson plays the hard-bitten Irene, who has been Powell's partner in fleecing rich Americans in Paris for some time and does not want to let him go. She says: 'I know it is all over between us,' but clearly in her mind it is not. She appeared in 50 titles before retiring in 1956. She specialised in played hard-boiled women. Will Powell, who has found true love, be able to reform? Can it work in the society of that day? The film is well worth watching and finding out for yourself.

Not every vintage film from Hollywood's Golden Era is a classic, and "Man of the World" exemplifies this. Michael Trevor is the shady operator of a scandal sheet that blackmails Americans who are in Paris. Trevor meets a young woman, who is visiting the city with her fiancee, and who is also the niece of his latest target. Despite the complications, he quickly falls for her, experiences a change of heart, and wants to clean up his act. Unfortunately, the plot plods, and the cast coasts. Ordinarily, viewers would expect much from a film that stars William Powell and his then-wife, Carole Lombard, who plays the American tourist; however, the cast disappoints.

The script is credited to Herman J. Mankiewicz, whose name also raises expectations; however, the pedestrian story is strange and un-involving. While Powell is competent in his role, he seems uninterested, and his character never comes alive; although he and Lombard reportedly met on the set, his romantic interest in Lombard is tepid and lacks sparks. Lombard's Mary Kendall is bland as well, and the part could have been played by any number of young actresses of the period. Guy Kibbee as Lombard's uncle is always fun to watch, and Wynne Gibson and George Chandler as Powell's partners in crime are professional. Director Richard Wallace, whose credits are somewhat underwhelming, does not distinguish himself here, and the entire film seems tired. Within a few years, Powell would hit his stride with "The Thin Man" and Lombard would develop her comic style in "No Man of Her Own;" however, "Man of the World" does little for the reputation of anyone.

About the only thing that this pre-Code drama is significant for is that William Powell and Carole Lombard met on the set of Man Of The World and were married shortly thereafter. They did another film while both were at Paramount, Ladies Man and then were divorced with Powell leaving Paramount for Warner Brothers and a short stint there. Neither of these films is anything close to that third film they did, My Man Godfrey.

Powell along with Wynne Gibson and George Chandler has a nice little racket going in Paris. A former reporter he prints a newspaper if you can call it that of gossip distributed among visiting Americans. But for a consideration he'll make sure the item never gets printed. We have a political blogger in my area who actually does the same thing, so this racket I know well.

But problems ensue when he actually falls for visiting American tourist Carole Lombard who is a niece of Guy Kibbee whom Powell has already put the bite on.

Bill Powell was at a crossroads in his career, during the silent era he mostly played villains, that clipped mustache of his was guarantor of those kind of parts. Here he is a rat, but a rat with a conscience. How that plays out you have to watch the film for.

Powell and Lombard are good, but Wynne Gibson as a woman who knows the score in life gets all the acting kudos in Man Of The World. She should have done a film called Women Of The World.

Man Of The World is not a classic like My Man Godfrey, but Powell and Lombard do have good chemistry. Of course they had better chemistry once they were divorced.

... and yet I give it a mediocre rating, not a poor one. That's because who would expect an early 30's film starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, and Guy Kibbee with strong support by Wynne Gibson to be anything less than excellent? I know I wouldn't. The film is tortuously slow after starting out with a couple of promising scenes. The film opens with drunken American Harry Taylor (Guy Kibbee) accosting Michael Trevor (William Powell) on the streets of Paris thinking he was somebody else - he is. It turns out Trevor is an alias for an expatriate who was a stand-up journalist in America but had to take it on the lam after he got left holding the bag for something that is never clearly explained. At any rate, in the film Michael later explains that after he paid wrongfully for someone else's misdeed he decided he would start making others pay. Thus he starts a blackmailing racket in Paris without anybody truly knowing who he is but his two partners - Fred and Irene (Wynne Gibson). He has one rule though - he never victimizes women.

He ends up blackmailing Harry Taylor for some fling with a blonde, but makes it look like he's doing him a favor by being a go-between for the unscrupulous scandal sheet operator that will print the news and Harry. This ends all of the clever scenes in the movie. Carole Lombard plays Harry's niece, Mary, who instantly falls for Michael, and the feeling is mutual. Michael wants to make a clean breast of his past to Mary, leave the crooked life behind him and marry the girl.

The monkey wrench in the works? Wynne Gibson as Irene - she's Michael's ex and she's none too happy about it. She spends the rest of the movie being a shameless clinging back-stabbing harpy to the point where you want to chase her off with a mallet and let the two lovers have a happy ending.

The acting and production values are the reason I give this one even five stars. William Powell's acting is the centerpiece of this film and he splendidly conveys - without that much dialogue - the persona of a man of the world with the weight of the world on his shoulders. However, the pace is awful, the conclusion will leave a bad taste in your mouth, and normally I would blame the director for such great performers putting my feet to sleep at times, but director Robert Wallace had and would direct some pretty good early talkies that didn't crawl along like this one at all, so I guess the cause of the mediocre result will always be a mystery.

Recommended only to see Powell and Lombard together in the film that started their relationship and ultimately brought about their marriage.