It seemed like a good idea at the time------a cinematic pairing of upcoming stars Katharine Hepburn and Francis Lederer. Hepburn was the new sensation in Hollywood-----unique, talented and difficult to cast. Three of her first four films for RKO were critical and financial successes, but they were soon followed by two movies (Spitfire and The Little Minister both 1934) that failed to generate the excitement and acclaim of her earlier efforts. They also provided evidence (if any were needed) that Hepburn was a "special case" when it came to audience appeal-----folks either loved her or disliked her. Therefore, the cinematic vehicles she chose to act in had to be carefully selected to help ensure a reasonable opportunity for them to achieve a positive fan reaction. This probably launched the beginning of talk about Hepburn's being "box office poison"-----an accusation that would plague her through the 1930s until she definitively scored a twin success with The Philadelphia Story (1940) and Woman of the Year (1942).
Lederer (born Frantisek or Franz Lederer in Prague) was a handsome leading man-type actor who developed into a matinee idol in European films just before his arrival in the US in 1932. Although darkly attractive and warmly regarded by the critics, American audiences seemed not to be positively responding to him. RKO's strategy in 1935 was to cast Hepburn and Lederer together in a film with the hope that this combination would prove to generate a hit for both of them. The project was to be named Break of Hearts (BOH) and would be directed by Philip Moeller of the Theatre Guild. Then RKO started to film the picture. Trouble began shortly thereafter.
It turned out that Lederer was a temperamental and insecure actor, who initiated a quarrel with Moeller because he felt that the director was tilting BOH more in favor of Hepburn's character. During the second week of filming, Lederer walked off the set, and did not return. A desperate RKO sought out Charles Boyer to fill the void based upon his recent success in the film Private Worlds----and fill it he did. Hepburn and Boyer became a congenial acting couple and BOH was smoothly finished without further complications.
However, BOH did not meet box office expectations. Critics felt that Moeller was a static film director, and Hepburn's role of a long suffering serious composer providing endless support for a hedonistic symphony conductor left much to be desired as entertainment. BOH reinforced Boyer's growing reputation in Hollywood as an appealing Continental lover-type character who also had depth and conviction as an actor. Unfortunately, BOH's tepid box office results continued to complicate Hepburn's marketability and reinforced the impression that she seemed to have problems selling herself as a commercially viable artist.
BOH contained fine acting performances from its two principals and had an intelligent (if somewhat overwrought) script. However, the Boyer character was hard to like, and Hepburn's commitment to him grew tiresome to the film's audiences. In the end, their fans were underwhelmed. Hepburn made a modest comeback in her next film (Alice Adams (1935)), but continued on a mercurial career trajectory that was a feature of her work in the 1930s. She could not then realize that her best years were still ahead of her.
