Party Husband

PARTY HUSBAND is a saucy pre-coder starring Dorothy Mackaill and James Rennie as a modern young couple who believe marriage should allow each to maintain his/her individuality and friends. At first everything goes well; they are happy together and each pursues a career. They continue to ignore warnings from her mother (Helen Ware) and close friend (Dorothy Peterson).

Then along comes a flirtatious writer (Mary Doran) who sets her sights on Rennie. Mackaill is warned again by her boss (Donald Cook) who once had an affair with Doran. As Doran moves in on Rennie, the marriage starts to falter. Can the young moderns salvage their marriage and love? Mackaill is excellent, looks great, and can zing the snappy comebacks with the best of them. Rennie is OK but seems (at 41) way too old for the part. Cook, Doran, and Peterson are all solid. Helen Ware gets a great scene toward the end of the film.

Others in the cast include Louise Beavers as the maid, Paul Porcasi as the artist, Joe Donahue as the best man, and Gilbert Emery as Holliday.

And there's a terrific scene on the night boat to Albany where Mackaill and Rennie have an argument and he walks out. She runs after him into the rainy night, but the boat has left the dock in Newburgh. She watches Rennie just standing there in the rain, lit my lamplight. We only see him from Mackaill's position on the boat. Beautifully done.

The best man tries to give a humorous speech at the wedding of James Rennie and Dorothy MacKaill, but they razz him off the speech. They're going to have a modern, companionate marriage, even though Helen Ware, Miss MacKaill's mother, wonders about grandchildren, when her daughter gets a job for publisher Donald Cook. Soon he's making advances, while Dorothy Peterson goes on the make for Rennie. Can their ideals sustain a marriage in the face of weak gin and temptation? It's an open and fairly honest pre-code, even though the film-makers definitely come down on the side of the old-fashioned ways of doing things. It was a frequent result of these movies, a way to have one's cake and eat it, just like Demille's model of opulent license for six reels, and Christian redemption in the seventh. Everyone is young and attractive, and the leads become grouchier as their high talk proves no barrier to temptation. Miss Ware gets the best lines.