Smart Woman

This early Gregory La Cava film is a nice comedy-drama, starring the beautiful and talented Mary Astor, who is the show's main attraction, because I have to admit that I found the other leading player, Robert Ames, who plays her husband, rather dull in this one.

The film's plot has to do with the marital problems between Astor and Ames, after the former arrives from a travel to France. Noteworthy performances by John Halliday as a debonair man of the world who befriends Astor and Edward Everett Horton as Ames' Business Partner, who's highly amusing in his role, as always, and gets to say a lot of witty lines & wisecracks.

Early 30's and Mary Astor fans will have a good time watching this film, which at 68 minutes, is very short by today's standards.

The great Mary Astor never looked better and rarely had such a juicy role. She had an incredibly long career, with nary a dud, and it spanned movies like this, the poignant "Dodsworth," the justly famous "Malteste Falcon," "Meet Me in St. Louis." Its highlight was the magnificently over-the-top "Great Lie," for which she won of the most richly deserved Oscars in that award's history.

Here she is a loving wife who returns from a trip to Europe only to learn that her husband plans to ditch her. She learns from his sister and his business partner, who become her partners in thwarting him.

He invites his old-digging girlfriend and her bossy mother for a weekend at their country home. So she invites a very eligible nobleman she met on shipboard and she and her cohorts collaborate to make it seem hat she is in love with him and more than glad her husband has found someone else.

The girlfriend is treated humorously, not cruelly. (An example of a cruelty in a comedy is the Gail Patrick character in "My Favorite Wife." Nor is the happy ending forced. Everything works out. The bad are dispatched, the good reunited.

Gregory La Cava directed and boy! This makes clear how different a fine director can make a relatively routine movie look from the way it would like if handled by a routine Doctor.

The premise behind the film is that if a husband leaves his wife then the wronged woman should jolly well try extra hard to get him back. It's appallingly sexist. That implied behaviour really annoyed me - I'd prefer some satisfying retaliation. So, for the stupid idea that the film promotes and the film's annoying resolution, I'm afraid this has to lose marks for just not connecting with me.

However, the film keeps you watching as Mary Astor (Nancy) gets up to tricks in order to win the totally unappealing Robert Ames (Don) back into her life. Ames is a poorly written character and everyone else in the cast gets their moment to shine apart from him. God knows why he is the centre of Astor's affection. This, in turn, for me, also makes Astor annoying. Nevertheless, it's an easy-to-watch passage of time.

In some ways, this film is a bit regressive in its views on women and marriage. After all, it seems to say that if a man cheats on his loving wife, she should move heaven and earth to keep him. But, if you can look past this, the film is quite enjoyable and worth your time.

The film begins with Mary Astor and John Halliday on a cruise. She went to Europe because her mother was there--dying. He is just a nice rich English nobleman who has fallen in love with her. However, despite his infatuation, she is loyal to her husband back home and Halliday must let her go. Unfortunately, however, when Astor arrives, the husband is not there to meet the boat...and she soon learns it's because he's met someone else--a younger woman! Instead of fighting her husband, however, she acts quite accepting of this--even offering to have the mistress and her mother come to their estate for the weekend! Personally, I would have shot the guy...by Astor has a plan. She invites Halliday and pretends that she, too, has met someone else.

It's all very sophisticated and clever--and very well written. I've actually seen several films like this, but this is one of the better ones--and a darn good movie for 1931. Intelligently written and with sparkling dialog--this film is a winner.

In the very aptly titled Smart Woman, Mary Astor plays a woman forced to play games when her husband strays and falls in love with another woman. It's based off the Broadway play Nancy's Private Affair, and while I couldn't find anything that linked it to Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, the entire time I was watching the 1931 film adaptation, I kept hearing "A Weekend in the Country" playing in my head.

When Mary's husband, Robert Ames, falls in love with Noel Francis, Mary's utterly destroyed. Her sister- and brother-in-law, Ruth Weston and Edward Everett Horton, convince her that the only way to win back her husband's love is to pretend she's relieved by the situation because she's fallen in love with another man. Before they know it, Mary's invited Noel and her mother, Gladys Gale, down to their country home for the weekend, as well as her in-laws, and the fake boyfriend she's invented, John Halliday. And while you're busy singing Stephen Sondheim's music, everyone's falling in love with everyone and trying to sort out their very messy situation!

All in all, Smart Woman is a cute movie with only one tiny flaw. Robert Ames's character isn't worth all the trouble! He's not very nice and he doesn't treat people very well. Still, if you're a Mary Astor fan, rent this one.