Her Private Affair

A society wife who hasn't had an affair accidentally kills a man who claims he isn't trying to blackmail her. The only way Ann Harding's character could look guiltier than she does in this hysterical nonsense is if she was stood over the body with a smoking gun in her hand. Intensely irritating from beginning to end, the only (brief) bright spot is Elmer Ballard's turn as the murder victim's half-mad batman.

...and I didn't even like it. I watched this because Ann Harding had a starring role, and I had never seen a performance of hers from this early in her career. However, if you are coming to this film expecting the Ann Harding of "Double Harness" be prepared to be disappointed.

This film is better than some early talkies in the fact that the players move and speak naturally. It is worse than many others because there is little depth in the performances - they could all be cut out of cardboard as far as motivation goes. Compare this film to "The Dance of Life" from the same year - 1929 - and see what I'm talking about. This is the time-honored tale of the penitent wife who has strayed, with Ann as the wife, Vera Kessler. However, the man with whom she has strayed is portrayed as such an outlandishly capitalistic gigolo it's hard to believe he would have bothered to put down his adding machine long enough to do the deed for which he is blackmailing numerous women. Then there is the gigolo's roommate who seems to be doing his best Renfield imitation minus the compulsive consumption of insects, supposedly from being shell-shocked during World War I. Why the gigolo keeps this insane fellow around is not really explained.

Vera decides to pay the gigolo the blackmail money he demands, not because she fears her husband would leave her, but because she doesn't want to hurt him. However, when they meet, an argument takes place and she winds up shooting and killing the man in self defense. She runs away and avoids detection, but now she has two sins on her conscience - her infidelity and the fact that an innocent person has been arrested for the killing she committed.

My assessment - this film is worth watching for its historical value only.

Her Private Affair (1929)

** (out of 4)

Based on a failed Broadway play, this early talkie features Ann Harding as the wife of a judge (Harry Bannister) who has an affair with a lawyer (John Loder) who then begins to blackmail her. She's willing to pay and goes to his house to do so but he forces himself on her so she kills him. An innocent man is eventually arrested and the woman must fight her conscience on what to do. It always amazes me when I watch these early talkies that so many were taken from plays that either bombed on stage or were forgotten about by the time sound films came into play. Perhaps their rights were cheap? Either way, this isn't the worst early talkie out there but I doubt very many, if any, will find any true charm or need to view this. I think the only groups this film could be recommended to are fans of Harding or those who want to see all the early films to use sound. There are many problems with this film but we'll start with the most obvious, which is the bad sound quality. It's funny but after the first five minutes the film was already starting to bore me but I kept myself going by looking for the items that were hiding the microphones that the actors were speaking into. In a lot of cases they were quite obvious. Back to the actual film, the story itself is rather bland and predictable as this type of moral tale was popular in countless silent movies. It's rather obvious how everything is going to play out, although I'll give the film some credit for throwing in a nice little twist at the end. As far as the performances go, they're all rather bland and that includes Harding. I had heard from a few people that they liked her here but I found her to be all over the place with some of the blame probably deserving to go to the director. There are moments where it appears she has no idea where to turn so she just fidgets on screen. Bannister comes off rather weak and too laid back for his role, which doesn't help things. The movie runs a brief 71-minutes but there are plenty of sluggish moments that make it hard to sit through. Those curious about the early sound techniques might want to give the film a look but others should stay clear.

I'm so fond of Ann Harding, one of the early talkies' most revered actresses at the time, and now, sadly, virtually forgotten. She had a certain stillness and contemplativeness rare for the time, and usually she's so subtle, yet so expressive. But not in this rickety filmed play, where, for the only time I've ever seen, she overacts. But then, Vera, her character, has so much to overact about. Facing marital discord with her eminent judge husband (Harry Bannister, married to Harding at the time), she went off to holiday in Italy and became involved, though not to the point of Doing It, with a rotter lothario. Now, back in Vienna, he wants blackmail money, and she ends up unintentionally murdering him. The contrivances and coincidences just pile up: She just happened to leave an opera ("Carmen," which we see a bit of; Pathe appears to have spent some money on this one) to see the rotter as some friends were trying to run into her during intermission, and the man accused of the murder just happens to have her husband as the judge, and she convinces her faithful lawyer friend (John Loder, rather dashing) to defend him (before his good friend the judge her husband), but he never suspects a thing, and she just happens to faint on hearing the verdict, and the cleared suspect just happens to be her waiter on New Year's Eve, and her husband just happens to overhear a vital conversation between her and the suspect, and on and on until the end. Fairly ridiculous, but entertaining, and while I prefer the subdued Ann Harding, this hyper one's fun to watch.

Her Private Affair which was the second film of Ann Harding's career was taken from a flop Broadway play The Right To Kill which had a sad run of only 16 performances in 1926. But with the advent of sound even flop plays found a market as the movies looked for dialog laden subject matter to film.

I have to say this about Her Private Affair and particularly Ann Harding. Though like all the early talkies overacted, it's considerably less so than some of the items put up for Academy Awards. It also did not use title cards as many early sound films did, a carryover from silent days.

Sad to say it's a dull drama about a wife who becomes the victim because of some indiscreet letters to a cheap blackmailer played by John Loder. When Loder winds up shot to death, he's not terribly mourned, it's generally agreed he was a lowlife. Still the authorities do have their diligent duty to perform.

Her Private Affair though interesting in spots is not anything to stay up nights or wake up early to see, unless you are an Ann Harding fan.