The Man in Possession

One of Robert Montgomery's best comedy situations. I am trying to find a DVD or VHS copy to purchase. None are available. All characters are portrayed to perfection. The pace is perfect, editing is excellent, great photography. Humorous situations take the viewer by surprise. You can tell that it was from a successful Broadway production. The writing is superb.

Reginald Owens does a terrific job as do all the other beautifully cast actors and actresses. This picture is a classic because it fits in so well with today's world as it also did in 1931.

Its message is timeless.

Clara played by Charlotte Greenwood is an added treat. C. Aubrey Smith emotes superbly under the most adverse conditions while a young Robert Montgomery is at his peak!

A penniless society girl living by her wits finds herself falling in love with the handsome sheriff's man sent to keep an eye on her belongings. What will happen if one of her suitors discovers that the fellow masquerading as her butler is both her lover and THE MAN IN POSSESSION?

This is a pleasant little drawing-room comedy which spotlights two stars of the past in serious peril of becoming forgotten. Robert Montgomery was both dashing & debonair. He handles the title role with much natural charm. Long-legged Charlotte Greenwood is a delight. Her delivery & timing are as fresh as today's coffee.

The rest of the cast is equally good: lovely Irene Purcell; sweet, elderly Beryl Mercer; plus Reginald Owen & Alan Mowbray as a couple of pompous twits. Sir C. Aubrey Smith is excellent as Montgomery's gruff, blustery father. As he normally played roles of great dignity, it is tremendous fun here to see his reaction when a platter of parsnips & gravy is smashed into his vest.

This is very defiantly a pre-Production Code comedy - Montgomery & Purcell go to bed together only hours after meeting. The sight of Purcell's torn chemise lying at the foot of her bed would never have been allowed a few years later.

Being from 1931 you'd probably not expect something which will actually make you laugh. You might just expect a stagey historical artefact....but you'd be wrong. OK, its style is 1930s but you'll be surprised how witty, well- made and genuinely funny this is.

Watched today, many 1930s comedies seem childish and stupid as though their target audience had the i.q. Of SpongeBob SquarePants. Some performances make you feel embarrassed for the actors. Some make you embarrassed to admit to being a fan of 1930s pictures. Not this though! This is one you'll try to make your friends and family watch.

They got the blend of silliness, absurdity and being able to empathise with believable characters exactly right. If performed today, the writing, including contributions from P G Woodhouse could not be improved on. Whilst not being FAWLTY TOWERS standard, as farces go, this is perfect.

Being from 1931 it's also a charming piece of escapist romance as well. Again, you might expect something sickeningly sweet and sentimental but this is definitely not. Even for a pre-code movie this one is remarkably racy. Irene Purcell plays a wonderfully calculating and conniving gold-digger who gets away with it by being sexiness personified. It's a great loss to cinema that she favoured theatre rather than film. She was absolutely stunning - and her performance in this outshines most of her more famous contemporaries.

It's such a treat to find a clever, witty and well produced comedy with such outstanding acting from a year not especially associated with this type of quality.

The Man In Possession (1931) : Brief Review -

Robert Montgomery as a cute butler in a sweet little pre-code rom-com. Since it's an early talkie, I noticed some issues with the sound and dialogue delivery. That was quite acceptable for the time, but it did affect my viewing experience. The film felt a bit slow given the pacing standards of motion pictures. Aside from that, I don't think there's anything that can stop me from calling it a sweet little rom-com from the pre-code era. The film has very little to do with the writing and screenplay, as the story feels smaller compared to what one can expect in an 80-90 minute movie. Raymond takes a job as a sheriff's officer and is asked to take possession of Crystal's house, which has not paid debts for a long time. She asks them to come back tomorrow, but the officer leaves Raymond at her house. Raymond does all the butler's tasks while Crystal tries to woo her boyfriends in hopes of arranging money. In the meantime, Raymond's brother, father, and mother arrive at the same house for dinner, as Crystal wants to marry Raymond's son for financial gain. After dinner, Raymond and Crystal make love and realize they are madly in love with each other. What will Crystal do now? Robert Montgomery portrays a sophisticated, humble, helpful, and considerate butler who also has some stylish flair-something similar to what we saw William Powell do in My Man Godfrey (1936) later. Irene Purcell was somewhat lackluster; I'm not sure why. She seemed tepid and quite typecast, which is why the chemistry between these two did not work. The laughs weren't plentiful, but the story was sweet, and the love story was even sweeter when viewed from an early 30s perspective. Overall, it's a good, one-time flick by Sam Wood, who has had much better silent comedies to his name. I enjoyed a few moments despite its flaws.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

You can't do much better than P.G. Wodehouse. Unless it's Robert Montgomery, who is both funny and sexy in this playful romp. Raymond is a Britisher just sprung from the stir for a "mixup about a car." His adoring mother is delighted to have him home, but his father and social-climbing brother want to pay him to leave the country so as to avoid the inevitable taint upon their names from association. Instead of taking their insulting offer, he gets a job as a sheriff's assistant, and his first job is to guard the belongings of a lady who owes many debts and is in danger of landing in the jug herself. Wouldn't you know it, it's the night her fiancé and his parents are coming to dinner. Dash the luck! Crystal's charm entices Raymond to pose as her butler instead of her jailer for the night. Of course, the fiancé is Raymond's boorish brother, who thinks he's landed the big bucks, and hilarity ensues.

The casting is perfect, from Charlotte Greenwood as the harried maid, Reginald Owen as the brother, C.Aubrey Smith as the blustering father to Irene Purcell as the sexy and enticing Crystal. It's a mystery to me why Montgomery isn't more of a household name. He was an MGM leading man with some of the most famous leading ladies - Garbo, Crawford, Shearer, Lombard, Loy - yet he's almost forgotten today. It's sometimes hard to see the sex appeal of stars from yesteryear, unless they have the kind of transcendent sexuality of a Gable or Harlow, but Montgomery had the boy-next-door quality of Jimmy Stewart AND the handsome suavity of Cary Grant all put together, and was a fine comedic actor.

Since this is a precode film, the sex is at least implied, as it absolutely would not be a few years later, or at least not without punishing the participants. Raymond and Crystal get intimate within hours of meeting, and apparently it was quite passionate, as the torn lingerie in several other posts suggests. As Crystal lies in sublime satisfaction the morning after, Raymond makes her breakfast, complete with rose and bacon spelling out "LOVE" on top of her eggs. Adorable with a capital A. Crystal's been living on her wits and the generosity of male benefactors for quite some time, so true love is a refreshing change. Both Raymond and Crystal are the kind of characters who would not go unpunished with the advent of the pointlessly moralistic production code in a few years, but here we get to enjoy two people who've made mistakes find each other and start anew.

Naughty double-entendres abound. Raymond's boss comes to the house to see how he's got on with the job, and says to the lady that he hopes she's had "satisfaction" while Montgomery's eyes roll suggestively.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Funny and touching, a chance to see how Hollywood did it right! You won't be disappointed.