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A wonderful and unsettling pre-Code film about an alcoholic playboy (Fredric March) who marries a sweet young thing (Sylvia Sidney) and proceeds to drag her down his path of dissolution. The depiction of their marriage is quite shocking, even by today's standards -- not only do they have an "open" marriage, they openly practice that freedom in front of their friends, suggesting a swinging lifestyle that wouldn't become approachable as subject matter in films for another 30+ years. March and Sidney give fantastic performances, and Dorothy Arzner, one of the rare women directors of the time, takes a matter of fact approach that leaves behind the melodrama and sentimentality that might have blunted this same story's impact in the hands of someone else.

One of the most refreshing aspects of "Merrily We Go to Hell," and one of the most shocking, is that Sidney's character does not suffer nobly while we wait for March to see the error of his ways and come back to her a chastened man. Instead, Sidney starts to behave just like him, coming within a stone's throw of alcoholism herself, and doing her own share of philandering. In that way, the film is even a little progressive in its equal treatment of the genders, even if that equality is the equality of debauchery.

Grade: A

Clever dialogue, fantastic acting, and several great scenes made this film a delight for me, but be forewarned, its main character may have you saying 'grrr', and reduce your enjoyment. Frederic March plays a newspaper reporter / playwright who has a drinking problem, and it's while he's drunk at a party that he meets a charming young lady, played by Sylvia Sidney. The two hit it off and despite the concerns of her rich father (George Irving), get married. Things get complicated when his ex-lover (Adrianne Allen) re-surfaces and he struggles to control his problem.

It's a very strong cast all around, and Sidney in particular turns in a great performance. She ranges from a sweet, naïve, and trusting soul, loving unconditionally, to hurt and confused, to woman whose solution is to give her husband a taste of his own medicine, in a rather shocking development. The scene with her partying with her own young lover (Cary Grant no less) and his friends and quipping "Gentlemen, I give you the holy state of matrimony, modern style: single lives, twin beds and triple bromides in the morning" is sad, empowering, and a little thrilling all at the same time. As they're in a bar that's practically a den of iniquity, it's all clearly pre-code, but there is an intelligence and honesty in this scene, and throughout the movie.

March is also strong as this affable but flawed man, and in early scenes we smile at his partying, at one point yelling "Is there a baritone in the house?" until he finds a barman to fill out a quartet with his friends so that they can break out in song. The warning signs are there in his tardiness and even at his wedding, as he and his best man (Skeets Gallagher) fumble for the ring, which he's forgotten. That scene is one of several that are well directed by Dorothy Arzner, as she cuts to guests making observations and the facial reactions of March and Sidney as they say their vows.

There is a lot of partying and revelry which may put some viewers off, but I found that allowed for some fantastic moments. In one, March asks Sidney to shut the door and hold him back from going to the other woman, and in a strong way she opens it wide and says "I'm no jailer - get out!" In another, as March and Allen 'play-act' a passionate kiss to the merriment of others right in front of her, we feel the shock and humiliation amplified by her brilliant facial reaction.

The title is clearly meant to titillate, but the film has real substance beneath. It's wild, but also realistic, though I didn't care too much for the ending. We see what destructive behavior leads to, and in that I suppose there is a message, but it's delivered without heavy-handed moralizing. The plot is a tad melodramatic, but it's daring and unique in the areas it explores. Well worth checking out, if you're in the mood for pre-code.

Once you get past the appalling title, this is a good picture. It's a Pre-Code film and must have been naughty in its day, but is tame by today's standards. It involves a fairly routine love story pulled out of the doldrums by Director Dorothy Arzner and by exceptional acting performances by the two principals, Frederic March and Sylvia Sidney. Poor Sylvia suffered through countless 30's tearjerkers and she is once again miserable here as the put-upon wife of drunken writer March. Was never a fan of Sylvia's, particularly as she became desiccated and more pathetic in later years, but she never looked lovelier and more appealing than in this movie. Skeets Gallagher plays March's drinking buddy and adds immeasurable stature to the film. He remains one of Hollywood's most shamefully underutilized and overlooked talents.

Was surprised to learn that a strain of Womens Lib flourished in the early 30's, as our heroine declares her independence (more or less) from her inebriated husband and, in addition, her wedding vow did not include the words "honor and obey", which I thought were de rigeur until mid-century. This last may have been a directorial touch of a feminist director.

This is an underrated, under-appreciated movie, especially if you enjoy solid acting and are a sucker for a pretty face, to borrow a phrase.

Some time ago I became the owner of the Pre-Code Hollywood Collection. Me was told to watch first Merrily We Go To Hell (1932), one of the six films within this collection. And really I can say... it is a gem on its own. Maybe because it is the first film I've seen from director Dorothy Arzner and the second film I've seen with Sylvia Sidney, I got besmitten from the start seeing her in Sabotage (1936), but I was taken away with the whole as a combination of acting, directing, the story and some gowns.

Fredric March is awesome playing the drunk man, and later husband, just right and not lost in overacting. The parties go on and on. The marriage is more the real thing and not the Hollywood marriage after the Production Code came about. It is nice to see a young Cary Grant, in his first year of acting. Later that year he would have his breakthrough I think I can say fairly with Blonde Venus.

All along the storyline I wondered what the movie is trying to tell us. There are a few good aspects told about how relations can be. First the character of Mrs. Sidney, Joan Prentice, is that of a woman in love and want to do everything for her man, even let him go towards another woman. The next stage is trying to win him back by jealousy and then, the last stage, leaving her husband for good. And you can say in Hollywood in those days they also want an happy ending, but... Sorry, I won't go into spoilers. I didn't expected it, but a real good movie to watch.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (Paramount, 1932), directed by Dorothy Arzner, is not a horror movie about Satan worshipers who hold Black Masses in Transylvania, as the title may indicate. It's is a story about an heiress names Joan Prentiss (Sylvia Sidney) who meets Jerry Corbett (Fredric March), a drunken newspaperman, on the rooftop during a party. Jerry's ambition is to become a successful playwright. Within a short time he falls in love with Joan, but Joan's father (George Irving) disapproves of Jerry because of his careless ways. He offers to buy Jerry out of marrying his daughter, but refuses to accept the $50,000. Quite happy that Jerry's sole interest is in his daughter, he gleefully approves of the upcoming marriage. During the wedding ceremony, Jerry, somewhat drunk, forgets the wedding ring and finds himself in an embarrassing situation by placing a beer tap on Joan's finger. Time passes. Jerry writes the comedy play, "When Women Say No," and it gets produced. The leading lady turns out to be Claire Hempstead (Adrienne Ames), Jerry's former girlfriend. While the play proves successful, Jerry's married life is not, especially when Joan finds he's spending more time with Claire as well with the booze. Not wanting to be an old-fashioned wife, Joan decides not to let this bother her by dating Charlie Baxter (Cary Grant), the leading man of the play, to society functions. Disgusted, Joan finally does leaves Jerry without telling him she's pregnant with his child. Old Man Prentiss tries his best to keep Jerry from visiting Joan in the hospital, where she's in danger of possibly losing either her life or baby.

The title, MERRILY WE GO TO HELL, happens to be the catch phrase used by March several times in the story before taking a drink. The movie in itself is forgotten with a familiar plot quite common during the Depression era. Film titles using "Hell" in it were also quite common practice during that time, until the production code people stepped in and put a stop to that, for the time being anyway. This romancer may be of some interest to film buffs today, especially seeing it being an early screen appearance by Cary Grant, in his third featured role. He is first seen (in long shot) wearing period costume and wig in Jerry's stage play opposite Adrienne Ames, and later at a social function in dinner clothes after the play's opening, before his character disappears. Sylvia Sidney does what she does best playing a long suffering girl, a kind of role she played from time to time, possibly because of her sweet and tender face. Before the end of 1932, Grant would elevate to becoming Sidney's co-star in one of her most tender movie roles, MADAME BUTTERFLY.

Also featured the cast of MERRILY WE GO TO HELL is Richard "Skeets" Gallagher as Buck, Jerry's reporter friend with a talent for tap-dancing, adding some amusing support during the film's serious moments; Kent Taylor as Gregory; and Florence Britton as Charlcie. Background music score includes "What a Little Thing Like a Wedding Ring Can Do" and "We Will Always Be Sweethearts," songs introduced in Paramount's 1932 musical hit, ONE HOUR WITH YOU starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.

In spite of good actors rising above somewhat average script, it's worth seeing as a curiosity on DVD (double featured with 1931's THE CHEAT), and on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 1, 2020). If the story may not be an attention grabber, the title definitely is. (**)

Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney star in Merrily We Go To Hell, the story of a nice rich girl who falls in love with an alcoholic newspaperman who has ambitions for greater things to turn his writing talents to. The title comes from a favorite drinking toast of March's.

Occasionally Fredric March turned in some fine performances of some dissolute characters. Later on he would get Oscar nominations for A Star Is Born and Death Of A Salesman and his part in this film can be seen as a harbinger of things to come.

For once Sylvia Sidney was not a child of the slums, she's a rich girl here who falls for March who keeps falling off the wagon. When he gets his play finally produced slinky actress Adrienne Allen comes between Sylvia and Fred. Incidentally playing a small role as Allen's lead in the play is Cary Grant.

The story verges into the melodramatic, but Dorothy Arzner gets some good performances from her stars and their support. Pay note to March's reporter sidekick Skeets Gallagher who has some interesting observations.

Fans of the stars should be pleased.

Frederick March and Sylvia Sidney star in "Merrily We Go to Hell," from 1932.

For those of us who only remember Sylvia Sidney as an older character actress -- and usually a pretty mouthy one at that -- seeing her as an ingénue is always a revelation.

Jerry Corbett (March) is a reporter and a drunk, still pining for the woman who broke his heart, Claire (Adrienne Allen). When he meets the lovely Joan Prentice (Sidney) from a wealthy family, the two fall for one another and marry.

Jerry wants to write plays, and he eventually is able to have one produced, early in the marriage. Unfortunately, one of the stars is Claire, and she's perfectly willing to take up where they left off. Jerry starts drinking again. Joan is heartbroken as well as hurt and starts drinking and partying herself. Finally, though, she returns to her father's home.

Nothing too surprising in the plot, but good performances all around. Sidney is pretty and vulnerable, taking a chance on a man her father disapproves of but whom she loves. March shows that Jerry is a weak man who in his heart doesn't believe he deserves the happiness he's had with Joan. Can these two find their way back to one another? Just guess.

Dorothy Arzner had a good sense of pacing, so the film doesn't drag or slow down. Worth seeing for the actors, not necessarily the story.

Cleo Lucas wrote 'I, Jerry, take thee Joan', her only novel, at the tender age of twenty-four and it has been adapted by Edwin Justus Mayer for Paramount whilst marking the last film directed for that studio by Dorothy Arzner before going freelance.

Early on in the film the newly engaged Jerry of Fredric March asks: "Have I a right to take a swell girl and make her a wife?" Thus setting the scene for another of Ms. Arzner's stealthy critiques of the married state.

As expected, her direction is impeccable, her editing seamless and the magnificent performances she has drawn from her two leading players makes this emotional rollercoaster riveting viewing.

The all-important chemistry between March and the enchanting Sylvia Sidney as Joan without which the film would not work, is palpable from the outset. Her character develops and grows in strength as the film progresses whilst in his fourth film for this director, his portrayal of a tragic drunk makes him perfect casting for the role of Norman Maine five years later. Classy English actress Adrianne Allen is Jerry's old flame whose reappearance spells disaster.

Ambivalence runs through Ms. Arzner's oeuvre, never more so than in the ending here which is both happy and deeply tragic.

Everybody here is terrific, and Paramount brought out its A-list stars for the leads, Sylvia Sidney as heiress Joan Prentice and Fredric March as aspiring playwright Jerry Corbett. They are a young couple who marry in spite of the fact that Jerry is an alcoholic who is still stuck on a past heartbreak, stage actress Claire Hempstead.

The plot treads a conventional path full of precode tropes - infidelity, drunkenness, open marriage, the inconvenient pregnancy, and the wealthy family of one spouse distrusting the not so wealthy other spouse and his motives. But yet it is interesting because of several - "Wow did they do that back then?" moments.

For example - Jerry works at a newspaper. When somebody makes an insulting remark about his upcoming wedding, Jerry punches him in the throat. And yet nobody gets fired or arrested. Prohibition is still in force, and everybody drinks everywhere. Nobody even bothers with the discretion of a flask. There is booze at private parties, booze in public places, booze everywhere. When a turkey gets accidentally dropped on the floor, the alternative is... canned chicken??? Ugh. I would think the couple didn't want to have me over for dinner in the first place. Then there is Jerry's hit play up in lights - "When Women Say No - a satirical comedy". Yikes!

Need I mention that the art design and Sylvia Sidney's fashions are gorgeous. With Skeets Gallagher as Jerry's best friend, the great Esther Howard who seems to be in some kind of relationship with Skeets' character and had a marriage end because of her former husband's drinking - she's always memorable, and Cary Grant as one of Joan's extramarital escorts with what seems to be his original nose.

Although this story has been done a million times since, Dorothy Arzner's subtle yet brash film still has something different to say which makes this worth watching.

Being not just that rarest of 1930s Hollywood creatures: a woman film maker but also someone in an openly long term same sex relationship I wonder whether she had to try harder than her male contemporaries? She certainly delivers goods with this, imbuing energy and emotion into this very thoughtful drama. It's not just a simple story about alcoholism as it could easily have been considering this is 1932. It is a surprisingly deep examination of a strained and complex relationship which is particularly insightful for the time. Above all though it is a piece of entertainment. Unlike how this subject might be handled today, it doesn't get too bogged down in depressing misery but instead keeps the story moving forward, keeping your eyes glued to the screen with a really fast pace.

It's not just Ms Arzner's energetic yet thought provoking direction which elevates this above a lot of the output from 1932, it's Frederick March. Sylvia Sidney is fine in this (not as good as she was in CITY STREETS, Rouben Mamoulian's masterpiece made a year earlier) but she and the rest of the cast are just not on the same level as Mr March. His characterisation of someone who knows he could have everything yet also someone who knows he is going to destroy not just his own but his wife's life too and someone who knows he can't do anything to stop himself is incredibly natural, authentic and heartbreaking. He achieves this, even when he's being decidedly horrible by being so endearing and likeable. Of all the actors the 30s, he was one who had real depth and demonstrates this fully here making his character both fun and sad, ambitious yet weak and spineless, devoted yet deceitful... a real person.

Despite my gushing praise for this, or maybe because of it, I can't call this a great film. Because it's good I can't just compare it with other films of that era but have to put it in the same category of all pictures from the last hundred years. It's no MIDNIGHT COWBOY or TRAIN SPOTTING thus my fairly low rating... but as films from 1932 go, it's one of the best.

It's pretty funny to think that in the span of seven years, one movie could have "hell" in the title, and another broke barriers by having an actor say, "damn." In this pre-Code drama, Fredric March is an alcoholic who tends to toast his drinks by uttering the title of the movie. Sylvia Sidney, a good girl who loves him in spite of his behavior, doesn't quite get that he actually means his toast. It isn't long before he does drag her down with him. . .

How many times has Fredric March played in a movie with a drunk scene? I can come up with seven, off the top of my head. The point is, he's had tons of experience, and he does it very well, so if you like to see him in these types of roles, you can give this one a whirl. Merrily We Go to Hell is a very nasty pre-Code movie, with an enormous amount of suggestive dialogue, and situations that, two years later, would never have been filmed. Open marriages, promiscuity, and orgies are made pretty clear, even though nothing is showed. To me, this was a pretty black-and-white film. Bad guy, good girl, bad behavior, good heart. I'd recommend watching My Sin or Call Her Savage instead if you want some pre-Code fun.

Frederic March is a good reporter. He's nursing a broken heart over Adrianne Allen, with a lot of alcohol being the prescription. Somehow, he and heiress Sylvia Sidney fall in love and get married. For a while, all is well. He's working hard on getting plays written, and then produced. But when one of them becomes a hit, they go on the party circuit, and Miss Allen comes back into March's life. Between the booze and Miss Allen, their marriage falls apart.

It's a beautifully performed movie, with the leads excellent in their roles. Still, it excites a peculiar question for me. Can a movie be too well written? There are far too many lines that are both witty and insightful for this to have much verisimilitude; yet Miss Sidney's pain is always there, always oh, so very real. With Skeets Gallagher, George Irving, Esther Howard, Charles Coleman, Cary Grant, and Robert Greig not playing a butler.

I would say what piqued me the most about this film is its title and it stars. The title was controversial even then BUT I found myself wanting more out of it. Then I have a huge spot for March (Best Years and Dr Jekyll and Hyde) and Sidney (Sabotage).

Ultimately, its a melodrama about two people who decided to marry quickly. Its a dramatic version of the comedy of remarriage that was quite common at the time. I would say, Its not really dated, per se, but it feels a bit drab. I guess this 'open' marriage storylines lacks the sensible reason for the March Character to freely going out and about nor does Sidney's character is given reason to accept him back. The story really does not give a lot of strong background into the reasoning of the characters AND ultimately makes the remarriage plot not as fulfilling compared to its comedic counterpart.

Conversely, the acting here does the heavy lifting. Both March and Sidney has extensive theater background but is able to really find a naturalistic footing in their performance. Drunk and uncontrollable March to Inconsolable Sidney. They just match well in this film.

A Bit Mixed on this but this is definitely watchable. Would recommend to watch for any fans of Pre-code.

Bottled Love Melodrama where love misunderstandings intersect with alcoholism.

Although it has an interesting cast, led by the energetic Fredric March and the beautiful Sylvia Sidney and where a young Cary Grant even appears, in one of his first appearances in cinema, in the year of his debut in Hollywood, this work lacks a plot and a direction at the height of so much stardom.

The story is banal and the development implausible. It ends up bringing tears, in a semi-open ending, without ever having truly conquered the spectator.

The time left posterity much better both in drama and especially in comedy.

Merrily We Go to Hell (MWGTH) provides a useful example of one of the downside aspects of the Studio System that flourished during the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1928, Fredric March was one of America's better known and most promising young stage actors---primarily because of his recent celebrated performance as Tony Cavendish (a spoof of John Barrymore) in the hit play "The Royal Family of Broadway." A movie career inevitably beckoned, and accordingly March signed a five year contract to be a film actor employed by Paramount Studio. Soon he was hard at work making many movies----some worthwhile and others less so.

In 1931, he had the good fortune to star in the stylish (and now classic) Rouben Mamoulian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde---for which he received his first Academy Award. March's performance was so remarkable.and distinctive that one could reasonably assume Paramount would willingly have provided him with more significant roles to utilize his obvious talent. Alas, that is not the way the Studio System operated. Shortly thereafter, March appeared in a routine vehicle titled Strangers in Love. Then, about six months after he made Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, March starred in MWGTH. It was cut from similar cloth as Strangers in Love, and from an artistic point of view--it proved to be equally disappointing to March.

By 1932, it was increasingly difficult to make a believable romantic comedy that presented a chronic alcoholic lead character as also being a charming, appealing and fun-loving hero. And even in this pre-code era, it was getting somewhat tiresome to offer the idea of an "open" marriage as a good way to sustain a meaningful life style between two people who claimed that they were truly in love with each other. Nevertheless even with good acting and Dorothy Arzner's careful direction, the narrative of MWGTH made it particularly difficult to empathize with the March character. And while Sylvia Sidney's sweet and endearing heroine was quite likable and attractive, this just did not seem enough to make us care about how the story was ultimately resolved. That was too bad, because Sidney made her long-suffering wife very likable. And "Skeets" Gallagher's best friend role also came across effective as well. Strange, but I never before noticed how much Gallagher facially reminded me of Joe E. Brown.

Making films like MWGTH must have provided a serious wake up call for March in terms of how not to successfully sustain a budding movie career. When his Paramount contract lapsed, he did not renew it. March (and other actors of similar stature---most notably Cary Grant) subsequently insisted on becoming a free-lance artist, which enabled him to be more choosy about the roles he would agree to play in the future.

MWGTH is an interesting vehicle to illustrate the kind of films that talented contract players like March had to make under the Studio System at its zenith. He would never allow himself to be put in that situation again. March appeared in some later films that may have been beneath him. But the choice to do so was now his alone.

As a practical matter, it seems that the plot elements of drunkenness and wanton behavior have limited entertainment appeal when offered as inducements to see what is presented to the public as light romantic comedy. Fortunately, March went on to create a major film career that ranks among the greatest in Hollywood history.

Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Reporter Jerry Colbert (Fredric March) is in a drunken state when he meets the beautiful Joan (Sylvia Sidney) who just happens to be the daughter of a millionaire. The two hit it off but before long Joan realizes that Jerry has a major issue with alcohol. At first her love is enough to keep him away from the drink but before long he's back on the bottle.

MERRILY WE GO TO HELL has one of the greatest titles of any movie in history but sadly the film itself isn't all that great or even good for that matter. This here is another Pre-code that manages to have some good performances that go wasted on a story that just isn't all that interested. What's worse is the fact that the story is pretty darn predictable from start to finish without any real surprises or fresh moments.

The best thing going for the film are the performances. March, fresh off his Best Actor Oscar win for DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, offers up a good performance in the role of a drunk who can't help but want to party more than stay with his wife. Adrianne Allen plays his former lover and she offers up a fine performance. George Irving has some excellent moments playing Sidney's father. You've even got an early performance from Cary Grant. As far as Sidney goes, she's certainly the best thing about the film. She handles the dramatic moments perfectly but the greatest part comes at the start of the picture with that bubbly personality, which makes you understand why an alcoholic would give up the bottle for her.

This here was years before THE LOST WEEKEND so the subject of alcoholism isn't really dealt with in a strong or graphic way. More than anything we just see the March character as either having too much fun or passing out during moments that he's needed. As it stands, MERRILY WE GO TO HELL might appeal to fans of the cast but the film itself has quite a few problems.

Plucky rich daddy's girl Sylvia Sidney falls for charming drunk reporter Frederic March. Enabling, delusion, mutual dive ensues.

Sidney's work is the reason to see this one -- she tirelessly, valiantly tries to breathe life into this otherwise badly-written, badly-directed 'racy' pre-Code weeper. (It pains me to say that: Dorothy Arzner was the only female features director in Hollywood in the 1930s, and reportedly part of Nazimova's crowd of fabulous lesbians).

March's work is general and repetitive -- thoroughly unconvincing. It's an amateur's performance. He got a chance to make amends a few years later as the charming drunk in the superior 'A Star Is Born'.

Newcomer Cary Grant gets a few seconds screen time as a hot side piece in the tawdry perdition sequence. Old vaudevillian 'Skeets' Gallagher keeps threatening to do something as magical as his name, but never gets the chance.

'Merrily We Go to Hell' is a waste of a great title. Pity.