For Alimony Only

This decent if not brilliant social comedy starring Leatrice Joy is a bit of a disappointment, alas.

It does turn the standard 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl' plot on its head in an amusing way: Clive Brook is newly divorced and paying more alimony to Lilyan Tashman than he makes when he meets Leatrice Joy in a fine 'meet cute' scene. So the object of the entire movie is to lose the girl -- in this case, Tashman.

Unfortunately, the middle of the picture sags: what should be played at high speed with fast cuts for door-crashing farce is played at a moderate pace for little impact. And Brook is pretty much of a stiff all the way through. Joy is fun, however, and Tashman too, as is Casson Fergusson as a sheik with a receding hairline and no chin.

What is notable about this film is its easy acceptance, in the mid-20s, of women's rights -- and duties. Hubby Brook is not bringing in enough money to make ends meet, so Joy goes out and gets a job without batting an eye. Alas, this sort of attitude vanished with the years: a decade and a half later, when Stevens directed WOMAN OF THE YEAR for Metro, the big scene was the one in which Hepburn tried to make breakfast and failed miserably -- thereby demonstrating that she was not a real woman.

I think I prefer this movie.